Without foot traffic, it can be difficult for small businesses to fulfill their goal of finding customers amid the COVID-​19 outbreak. Now is the time to focus on search engine optimization (SEO) since shopping is primarily being done online during this prolonged quarantine. If your small business client’s website isn’t on the first page of search results, it won’t be seen by 75% of America's online shoppers, making finding customers more of a challenge than it needs to be writes Kelsey McKeon for The Manifest.

And yet, according to a survey by The Manifest, only 30% of small businesses have an SEO strategy to enhance their website’s organic ranking. Why is that? As it turns out, most small businesses are worried about the cost of SEO and are disheartened by the fact that results aren’t always immediately noticeable. However, SEO is actually less expensive than paid advertisements and, in this period of online-​dependent sales, small businesses will likely see results quickly. Not only that, a place on the first page of search results helps establish a business’s credibility and trustworthiness when finding customers. When was the last time you personally went past the first page of search results? Probably not recently, if ever.

Here are a few SEO strategies to aid in finding customers recommended by The Manifest.

Keyword Optimization

First off, when finding customers, small businesses should invest in researching which keywords and phrases their target customers are using to find products and services that are the same or similar to the ones they’re offering. Once effective keywords and phrases have been identified, they should be worked into your small business client’s title tags, URLs, image alt text and meta descriptions. “Identifying keywords and working them into your website copy is an easy way to help your website rank in Google,” says McKeon.

High-​Quality Content

Your clients also need to have their keywords and phrases integrated into their website’s content. Zack West, a project manager for Novomotus, says, “Having a few pages with content strongly optimized for SEO is a good place to start.” So, to help with the finding of customers, include keywords and phrases in your client’s product/​service descriptions and add pages such as FAQs and blogs that incorporate them, as well.

Backlinks

Adding links on other websites that lead to your client’s site (backlinks) are another SEO tactic that will drive website traffic. The Manifest suggests building up these links by making connections with bloggers who can add your hyperlink in their posts and being active on third-​party websites that relate to questions concerning your client’s business type, such as Yelp, Tripadvisor and such.

AudienceSCAN on AdMall by SalesFuel has audience profiles on search-​related audiences such as Sponsored Search Result Responders and Directory Search Responders, and on different types of shoppers. Each audience profile holds the information on marketing and purchase intent you need to create a successful SEO strategy for your small business clients. Finding customers will be easier with this information at your client's disposal.