Search Engine Optimisation, or SEO, can be difficult for small websites. They simply don’t have the capacity or the amount of content needed to compete with the major players in the online space, and this can lead to a number of major challenges.
Unfortunately, these challenges can cause smaller websites to suffer, ultimately leading to poor search engine rankings and low traffic. Some of the biggest SEO challenges for small websites include:
- Local SEO Optimisation:
A lot of small business websites don’t realise how important it is to optimise their sites for their location. Since a lot of small websites are meant to be complementary to an offline business, it is very important to target your content to people who live in your area. This means that you should use location specific keywords.
However, if you live in a major city or built up area, location related keywords can become quite competitive. This means that you may find it hard to rank highly for them, especially if you are competing against larger businesses with a bigger online marketing budget.
- Generating Enough Content:
When it comes to optimising your website for different keywords – and therefore appearing high enough to matter in search engine rankings – high quality content is the key. Generating decent content can be difficult for small business websites, especially for those without a significant online presence. It can be expensive and time consuming to continuously write new blog posts and articles, especially if you are paying someone to do it for you.
- SEO Analysis:
Search engine optimization best practices are continuously being updated according to updates in the algorithms of search engine crawler bots. In recent years, major search engines have begun to lean towards high quality, informative content, rather than that which is written with the sole purpose of getting your website to rank highly. It is therefore very important to undertake a regular SEO results tracking analysis of your website to make sure that it is staying up to date with the current best practices and not being penalised by Google or any of the other major search engines.
- Getting High Quality Backlinks:
One major factor that search engine crawlers take into account when determining your SEO ranking is the backlinks that you have. If you have high quality backlinks – that is, links back to your website from other high quality websites – you will have a much greater chance of ranking higher. However, it can be very difficult for small website owners to build relationships with other website owner, especially if they don’t have a big marketing budget to play with.
Effective SEO Is Still Possible:
However, it is important to note that it is still possible to undertake effective search engine optimisation if you run a small business. Be smart about what you do, use your time wisely, and consider consulting a professional if you are having trouble getting your site to rank highly in the search engine rankings.