As someone who’s constantly working with small business owners on optimising their website, search engine optimisation tips {along with social media tips} are sadly what I dream of. Yes, I know. ~sigh~

 Anyway, as small business owners, we all want our websites to show up on Google and other search engines and that is only going to happen when you’ve optimized your site well.

Although SEO can be confusing and overwhelming and there are times when you have to call in the experts, there are also, quite a few smart and savvy tricks and tips that you can start applying to see results right away:

1.Optimise Meta Title Tags

The first and easiest thing you can do to optimize your website for search engines is to optimize the SEO Title or Meta Title or Title Tag with your keywords.

For instance, for this post, my meta title is 5 Power-Packed Search Engine Optimisation Tips for Small Businesses and my keyword is “search engine optimisation tips. “

This is the title that shows up when someone is viewing search results, in the tab when someone is looking at my page, in the bookmark when the page is saved AND when someone socially shares this page. Umm, yes, it is seen pretty much everywhere and SO is SO important.

2.Include Your Keyword in the URL

Now this may not be possible everywhere, but wherever you can, make sure your keywords are included in the URL structure.

For example, the URL for this post also has the keyword “search engine optimisation tips”.

3.Have Fresh Content that is Relevant, Engaging and Yes, Optimised

Search engine spiders love fresh content that is unique and useful besides being, optimized. So, if your site does NOT have a blog, it’s time to get one right now. Here are 10 reasons your site needs a blog, in case you’re interested and here are 30 ways to always have fresh and engaging content.

4.Give and Get Link Love

While getting links pointing in to your site is a good idea and will help with search engine optimization, linking out to established, relevant sources is also good. Plus, when you link out, you also have an opportunity of reaching those audiences via trackbacks or having them return the favor. You can also, get sites to link to you by sharing awesome content, guest posting and interviews.

Word of advice: Be very careful about link exchanges or buying links. Google doesn’t take these kindly and can actually penalize your site.

5.Don’t Go Overboard with On-Site Optimisation

It is easy to get carried away and stuff your keywords into your posts. Bad idea! Your content must always be written with the reader in mind. Your pages and posts must serve your customer first and then, the search engines. When I create SEO content for business blogs, I run the posts through various checks to ensure this.

Time to Take Action

What YOU can do right now?

• Go over the last blog post or website page you wrote and review it.

• Can you see the keyword clearly in the headline, the title, the URL?

• Does the content provide useful and unique information to your customer?

• Are you linking to established sources or sites to support your content?

• Is your keyword present in your content way too many times? Or is it missing altogether?

Want to Read More about Smallbiz SEO?

Check out my latest post on The Mogul Mom where I share my step-by-step keyword research guide to help you find the perfect keywords for your niche or business.

Like these search engine optimisation tips?

Tell me what else you’d like to know about SEO for smallbiz in the comments!