5 SEO mistakes small businesses make
The five SEO mistakes we see over and over again at small businesses — and how to fix each one this afternoon.
SEO doesn't have to be complicated. Most small businesses lose ground on the basics — not because they're hard, but because nobody told them what mattered.
Here are the five mistakes we see most often, and how to fix each one today.
1. Generic page titles
Your page title is the first thing Google reads and the first thing humans see in search results. "Home — Acme Co." tells nobody anything. "Acme Co. — Local SEO consulting in Boulder, CO" tells you exactly what's on offer.
2. No meta descriptions
If you don't write one, Google grabs a random sentence from your page and uses that. It's almost never the sentence you'd choose. Write a real 150-character description for every page that explains what's there and why someone should click.
3. Slow pages
If your page takes more than three seconds to load, Google penalizes you. So do humans. Compress your images. Drop the auto-playing video. Test on a phone over LTE, not on your office wifi.
4. No internal links
Every page should link to two or three other pages on your site. This helps Google understand your site structure and helps visitors find their way around.
5. Treating your blog like a graveyard
One post a year doesn't help. Two posts a month for six months will move the needle. Write about questions your customers actually ask you — those are the things they're searching for.
Want help? See our plans.