Over a third of all internet activity begins on a search engine. For small businesses, this makes the first page of Google a hot commodity. It also emphasises the importance of various SEO practices — including its crucial subsect, search engine positioning.
So what exactly is search engine positioning, you ask?
In simple terms, it’s a collection of processes and practices that help a web page appear higher in search engine result pages, or SERPs.
It may sound a lot like SEO, but there’s a slight difference between the two. As opposed to broader SEO practices, which focus on improving a website’s overall ranking, search engine positioning takes a more targeted approach — optimising content on individual pages to be more relevant to search queries and appeal more to Google’s algorithm.
How does search engine positioning work? And why is it so crucial for small businesses? Read on for a comprehensive overview.
Benefits of Search Engine Positioning for Small Businesses
Businesses have a lot to gain from search engines like Google — but that’s only provided they understand how to use it right.
Consider this: Over 90% of Google users only ever visit the first page. Furthermore, the top link gets roughly 25% of all clicks, while the 10th result gets only about 2%.
Clearly, ranking even a single place higher on Google can be transformative. This is where search engine positioning comes in. Some benefits businesses can expect include:
- More organic traffic
- A competitive edge
- Brand recognition and authority
- Increased visibility and sales
In turn, each of these benefits also boosts a business’s bottom line.
For instance, it’s estimated that over 80% of all customers find trust to be a deciding factor in buying decisions. Proper search engine positioning practices can help businesses establish authority and earn this trust.
What are the Key Elements of Search Engine Positioning?
To understand what elements go into a search engine positioning strategy, it’s essential to be aware of how search engine algorithms work.
Google’s algorithm, for instance, takes into account several factors, including the relevance of content on a page, as well as the website’s reputation and functionality.
As a result, an effective search engine positioning strategy should ideally involve:
- Keyword Research: To get to the top of Google rankings, businesses need to know what audiences are searching for and — more crucially — identify what phrases are being used in these searches. This helps craft more relevant content.
- On-Page SEO: This refers to a collection of practices that improve the content of a page for search engines and users. On-page SEO tasks include fixing heading, updating internal links, and optimising URLs, among others.
- Backlink Building: High-quality backlinks from other websites act as a vote of confidence — informing search engines that a particular page is valuable and hence, deserves to rank higher.
- User Experience: Factors like how fast a web page loads or how well it works on various devices can also be crucial to determining Google rankings. Low bounce rates, for instance, are known to result in higher positions.
How to Develop a Solid Search Engine Positioning Strategy
Based on the elements discussed above, here are some tips businesses can implement to improve their website ranking that are commonly recommended by search engine optimisation specialists.
How Small Businesses Can Research Keywords
Anyone looking to improve the quality of keywords on a webpage must answer the following four questions.
1. How relevant are the keywords?
Businesses that include specific keywords — even if they have low search volumes — can bring in more relevant users, leading to higher engagement and conversion rates.
2. What is the audience’s intent?
Are audiences coming to a specific page looking for information or ready to make a purchase? Keywords must account for audience intent and cover every stage of a customer’s journey.
3. What is the competition doing?
A competitor’s page is a useful place for businesses to identify overlooked keywords that they can include more creatively in their own content.
4. What tools do I need?
Businesses can leverage one of several tools to help with keyword research, including SemRush, Ahrefs, or even Google’s very own keyword planner.
Perfecting On-Page SEO
To effectively optimise a page for Google rankings, businesses must ensure that all content on that page is unique, helpful and matches audience intent.
Some actionable steps to take in this regard include:
- Use keywords strategically — in headings, sub-headings and the first paragraph — while avoiding errors like keyword stuffing.
- Write clear, concise and effective meta tags and meta descriptions to help search engines and users understand what to expect from a page. Tags should be no longer than 60 characters, while descriptions should be limited to 160.
- Include internal links to help search engines understand how pages on a website relate to one another, and users navigate web pages with ease.
- Write helpful image alt-texts so Google understands the context behind the images on a web page and can rank them more effectively on an image search.
Building High-Quality Backlinks
High-quality backlinks are a crucial component of off-page SEO practices — giving a website more authority and signaling to search engines that a page can be trusted.
Ask any SEO consultant, and they’ll tell you that the most effective strategy to build backlinks is guest blogging. But several other techniques can help, too. Such as:
- Creating more shareable content — like infographics or high-quality articles containing data-driven research
- Partnering with influencers and industry experts to promote content
- Finding broken links on relevant websites and offering to replace them
- Researching competitor’s links to create even better, more relevant content
- Building partnerships with peers and business associates
Common Search Engine Positioning Mistakes to Avoid
There are several mistakes small businesses make when crafting a search engine positioning strategy — especially when they’re doing so without the support of an SEO consultant. Here are some of the most prominent errors:
- Keyword stuffing: Not only does overusing keywords make content hard for users to read, but it could also lead to Google penalising a business page for attempting to manipulate its algorithm.
- Duplicate content: Apart from being unoriginal, duplicate content can result in indexing issues or incorrect pages showing up on Google.
- Poor website functioning: When designing a web page, some businesses tend to go overboard, including heavy images or too many plug-ins. This makes web pages load slower, more clunky to operate, and less likely to rank high on Google.
- Lack of monitoring: Businesses that don’t consistently review their SEO practices and find areas of improvement will struggle to stay ahead of the competition. Several tools can help with these audits, including Google Search Console or the SemRush Site Audit Tool.
Future Trends in Search Engine Positioning
Search engines have come a long way in the last couple of decades — going from manual indexing to introducing AI-powered assistants like Google Bard. It’s safe to assume then that the future of search engines is equally dynamic.
In recent years, we’ve been introduced to concepts like “zero-click searches,” which, as the name suggests, refers to searches that result in zero clicks from a user because the answer is immediately visible on the search engine results page without the need to click through to a website. In addition, we’ve also seen an explosion of multimedia content, as well as a rise in voice searches.
These trends are transforming the way we think of search engine optimisation for small businesses — making it imperative for all businesses to craft more helpful and personable content and deliver it in new and novel formats.
Summer Days Digital, is proud to be at the forefront of this revolution, exploring new ways to improve website rankings as well as developing future-proof strategies to help small businesses just like yours stand out in a competitive environment. To learn more about how we’re doing this or to discuss your current state of play with a search engine optimisation specialist, don’t hesitate to reach out for a chat!