3 Common SEO Mistakes Small Businesses Make

A lot of small businesses make mistakes when it comes to SEO that end up dropping the traffic to their website.

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the practice of improving your website so that it ranks higher on search engine queries. Because SEO is constantly evolving, it’s important to base your website on the latest SEO trends.

It’s not uncommon for me to find some “old” practices in place on small business websites that are hurting how they rank in search results. Here are three of the most common SEO mistakes I see with small businesses and how you can fix them:

1. Keyword Stuffing

It used to be common practice in SEO to load up your website with keywords. This practice of keyword stuffing was used to manipulate Google’s search algorithm.

This made for some really awkward website content that was full of keywords but not very pleasant to read.

However, Google has continued to develop and improve its algorithms so people get better search results. Google now can detect keyword stuffing. So, if you used keyword stuffing in the past on your small business website, this will now hurt your SEO rank results.

So, make sure you use your keyword, but distribute it throughout your writing without going overboard.

I generally aim to use my keywords in my main header (H1), in at least one subheader (H2 or H3), and then once or twice in each subsection of text. I also make sure I include my keywords once in my meta description and once in my URL slug.

2. Sharing Low-Quality Content

Good SEO isn’t just making sure you mention certain keywords. Google places a big emphasis on content. As Google’s algorithms become more advanced, they are becoming better at identifying which websites provide the best content, instead of which ones just have the most keywords.

If your small business website has poor-quality content, not only will this mistake hurt your SEO score, but you’ll hurt your reputation with potential new clients.

You’ll want to make sure your website content is:

• Accurate, relevant, and useful

• Original (and definitely not plagiarized)

• Grammatically correct and has no spelling errors

• Readable (think short, easy-to-read sentences that your readers will understand and enjoy reading)

• Credible (Google cares about E-E-A-T, which stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness)

Some great questions to ask yourself as you’re coming up with content:

• What information and knowledge can I offer?

• How can I be helpful?

• How can I demonstrate my expertise and experience through content on my website?

3. Not Configuring Website for Mobile

It’s critical to have your small business website configured for mobile devices. What that means is making sure your website not only looks good on a desktop but also functions well on a phone or other mobile device.

Google recognizes that a majority of search engine visits now take place on mobile devices. Starting back in 2016, Google started mobile-first crawling and indexing. This made it so that the web version of websites is the only one that really counts for how you rank in SEO.

Not sure if your website is configured for mobile? One quick way to check is to visit your website on a mobile device. Is it user friendly? Easy to see? Easy to navigate?

Another surefire way to check is to log onto Google Search Console (and create an account if you haven’t done so!) and use their mobile usability report.

If you are building a new website or updating an old one to make it mobile, look for website builders that create responsive designs. Google recommends responsive design above any other method.

Most website builders with responsive designs will give you a way to see your website in both desktop and mobile formats. Make sure you check both versions to make sure it looks and works correctly either way.

I use Squarespace for my website, and you can see how my responsive design changes from desktop to mobile versions in the image above.

How to Fix Your Small Business Website SEO Mistakes

If you want to identify any SEO mistakes on your small business website outside of these three, there’s a couple ways to do this. You can utilize online SEO audit tools like Moz or ahref. They all have versions you can use for free, which is a great way to get started with SEO.

But if that all sounds intimidating or you just don’t have the time, I can help. I offer SEO Consulting and Marketing Services for small businesses that work for your budget. Reach out if you want to chat.