Intro

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Spending time and money on SEO can be a powerful tool for small businesses. Online searches are growing daily. SEO enables people in your region to find you online when searching for products and services in your industry.
SEO is effective in lead generation, whether you are an online or offline business. It drives sales and engagement.

The Ultimate List of Reasons Why SEO Matters for Small Businesses

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1. Improves Brand Visibility

SEO helps your brand reach more people in your area and beyond. The primary purpose of SEO for small businesses is to get your name to come up among the top results. It leads to better sales as people are likely to click on the top results on a search engine.
A visibility score metric tells you the extent of your site's visibility among search results.
Take a look at the visibility score of our website from SEMrush.
Try Out These Tips To See Your Brand Awareness Grow:

• Link building is the key. Work on quality backlinks—for example, quality external guest blogs and reviews linking to your site.
• Get going with Local SEO. Use the word San Antonio or your area's name in your content and listings.
• Write useful content. For example, a painting company's blog on the most popular interior color schemes.

2. Helps Lead Generation

SEO impacts the way people buy products and services in San Antonio. A large segment of people searches online before purchasing. If your business is listed among the top results, it's likely to get a call or a footfall soon.
For example, If you sell sports gear. A local might find your name in Google and decide to order online from you.
Another way to get leads from SEO is to focus on keywords. Research on the hot keywords in your domain while you plan your content and site headings. Use popular keyword research tools like UberSuggest and Google Trends for best results.
For example, Take a look at this keyword suggestion for “San Antonio Lawyers” from Ubersuggest.
Invest in Ads and Social media. For example, a small sporting company's attractive Ad for a sports shoe can generate better leads than a large competitor.

3. Builds Credibility And Trust

When your small business pops up on the front page of Google, it's gaining in authority. A lot of factors go into getting you a spot on the top. This includes excellent content, navigation, reviews, and more. It's a process that takes time but yields long-term results.
For example, a new resident to San Antonio searches for plumbing services, and your company comes up on top. It hints that you are reliable and rated well by locals.
Similarly, if many people leave good reviews online about your plumbing services, it's bound to create trust.
For example, look at these positive reviews for a plumbing company in San Antonio.
SEO with a good strategy can perform even after your campaign. For example, you may still get listed on top result pages weeks after your drive due to good customer reviews or great page content.

4. Encourages Better Site Design

The ease with which people get around your website plays a significant role. User experience is one of the factors Google looks at when assigning SEO scores. You also contribute to better site navigation and design when you invest in SEO.
Intuitive UX design and navigation help load your pages fast. Your users will be able to get around to any page without getting stuck.
For example, look at the Core web vitals assessment for Amazon. It passes all four tests in the Google Pagespeed Insights tool.
Here Are A Few Proven Best Practices To Improve UX For Better SEO:

• Simplify your site's navigation. Keep the site layout as clean and uncluttered as possible. For example, avoid multiple grouping categories on the same page.
  For example, Have a look at this simple navigation menu from dhgate.
  
• Optimize your site pages to load fast. Run them on tools like Gtmetrix, Pingdom, or Google Page Speed Insights to identify page elements slowing it.
• Design for mobile devices. Your pages should look and work without errors on any device.

5. Brings Focus on Quality Content

In SEO, the function is greater than form. Your website's content always takes precedence over its visual aesthetics. Your customers will not stay long if the site looks good but has sub-par content.
One of the benefits of SEO for small businesses is that it reiterates the importance of quality content. Quality and relevant content is the surest way to beat your competition in San Antonio.
Use the following tools to get your content to world-class levels:

• Hemingway: This free app can be used online or in your browser. It helps you write bold and clear sentences. Aim for grades 6-8 to improve the readability and clarity of your content.
• Grammarly: One of the most popular writing assistants out there. It can help you with punctuation, grammar, and sentence recommendations.
• ProWritingAid: Helps you proofread and spellcheck your content.

6. Keeps You Informed About Latest Trends

The buying choices and interests of people change all the time. As a small business in San Antonio, it pays to keep tabs on what's hot.
SEO keeps you informed about the latest trends in the industry through keyword research and trending topics. It also tells you about the latest Google search algorithms and best practices. These insights could be a game-changer.
For example, stocking up on items in demand can boost sales.
Following Top SEO Blogs Like The Following Will Always Keep Your Knowledge Fresh:

• Moz blog: Moz is one of the most respected SEO blogs. It features helpful content on all SEO aspects for your business.
• Ahrefs blog: Ahrefs is your one-stop shop for everything on technical SEO and backlinks.
• Clickz blog: Everything you need to know about digital marketing can be found here.

7. Helps Beat Bigger Competitors

SEO and other digital marketing strategies are a boon for small businesses. It gets you into a level playing field with your competitors online. You no longer have to worry about them spending more on billboards and other forms of local marketing. Everyone stands a chance to win with SEO.
Let's say you own a small stationery business in San Antonio. Your competitors can be giants like Staples. With a powerful SEO campaign, you can get as many or more leads as Staples in the area.
Take a look at this Example. When I searched for “buy water bottle online,” I saw a small bottle store in San Antonio is competing with ecommerce giant Amazon.
Here Are Our Top Tips For Using SEO To Beat The Competition:

• Audit their site often to see gaps in your design and content strategy.
• Research the top keywords they use and implement better and more unique keywords.
• Constantly work on content with high quality and a local flavor.

8. Benefits Your Offline Business

There is often a misconception that one must only put time and money in SEO if you do business online. This is not true. Any company, regardless of its nature, can immensely benefit from SEO.
For example, a clothing store in the San Antonio area can generate more sales by promoting offers on its website. Customers can then walk in and buy.
Here is another example - Starbucks. Even though Starbucks generates most of its sales offline, it continuously promotes itself through social media, SEO, and more.
SEO can help you get more leads if you sell goods online. Use SEO as a funnel to drive more footfalls for offline small businesses.
Follow Our Three Handy Tips:

• Promote your store and any events and promos on your site, directories, and social media.
• Update your Google My Business (GMB) profile with correct contact and location details.
• Link positive reviews and articles from reputed sources to your site.

9. Saves on Your Marketing Costs

Cost savings are the real deal-breaker among all the benefits we discussed. Every small business has some type of marketing and advertising budget. This can include billboards, flyovers, calling, etc. It's often costly and yields poor results.
SEO, on the contrary, is great for this purpose. You can get your brand to reach a huge segment with minimal spending. The cost of SEO depends on your needs.
For example, you can start with a shoestring budget with in-house help. Or, you can spend more for an SEO agency or expert to handle your campaigns.
SEO shows results for long durations. You can sustain great results with minor tweaks in strategy.
For example, you may just have to update your content with trending keywords every few months or even once a year.

10. Gives Tracking & Reporting Insights

A big difference between traditional marketing and SEO is tracking. Standard billboards or call campaigns are rarely insightful when tracked.
For example, you can't tell how many people on a San Antonio street looked at your billboard. Whereas, You can easily tell how many new visitors came to your site in a day or week.
Have a look at this screenshot from Google Analytics, which shows the different kinds of metrics like new users, bounce rate, number of sessions, etc.
Each KPI of SEO is indicative of its performance. A few top metrics you can measure are:

• SEO score
• Number of new visitors
• Conversion rates

There are plenty of paid and free reporting and tracking tools for SEO. Here are our top three tool recommendations:

• Google Analytics: It's free and offers plenty of insights on a wide range of SEO metrics.
• Siteliner: Helps you identify duplicate content on your pages that reduces SEO scores.
• Moz: Monitor your site visibility, ranking, and web traffic.

11. Use SEO Learnings for Other Initiatives

You can use your insights about customers and domain in other sales and marketing activities. SEO offers plenty of data about customers and their buying habits.
For example, you may notice an upward surge in searches for Christmas trees around December. This can guide you in creating an effective sales campaign if you are in a similar industry.
For example, See how the search trends surge for “Christmas trees” during December.
SEO campaigns can tell you what people are searching for and clicking. This data captured from SEO campaigns are helpful for other sales teams.
Here Are Some Tips For Leveraging SEO Data:

• Use SEO search trends to create curated content and Ads for your social media pages.
• Use any emails registered by new visitors for your mail campaigns.
• Data gathered from online polls on your site can be used to improve product features or pricing.

12. Great for Public Relations and Engagement

SEO helps you build long-term reputation, loyalty, and equity for your small business. A good SEO rank elevates your brand visibility. You tend to gain more followers and a solid local rep if your business appears in Google's coveted Local-3 pack.
Maintain great Local SEO scores by constantly engaging with people in your area. You can do this by curating content and Ads around local events and festivals.
For example, post a blog on the best desserts during Thanksgiving if you run a local food business. It can be specific to San Antonio or a general article that connects all.
Try and sponsor local events or promote them on your site and social channels. This helps build a local following that drives positive engagement.

Important SEO Stats

• Featured Snippets appear on 12.29% of all searches per an Ahrefs survey.
• Travel-related search queries made a 30% higher comeback in Q3 2020. Source: Advanced Web Ranking.
• Voice searches accounted for almost 50% of online searches in 2020, as per a Comscore report.
• As per Search Engine Land, 15% of Google search terms have never been used before.
• Over 70% of marketers think that SEO is more effective as a strategy than PPC. Source: Databox
• According to Ahrefs data, the average cost to hire an SEO professional is between $100-$150.
• Google still commands 69.3 percent of the global market share for a search engine. Source: Net Market Share.
• 67.6% of people click the top-5 organic search results on Google. Source: Search Engine Land.

Importance of SEO for Your Small Business - FAQs

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1. Is SEO Worth Spending On for Small Businesses?

SEO can reward through sales and ROI both for small and big businesses. You must surely invest in SEO to expand your reach in the local area. It helps establish your brand in San Antonio.

2. How Much Will It Cost Me?

You can perform simple SEO actions at little or no cost in-house. If your need long-term results, hire a pro. This could cost anything from $100-400 per hour, depending on the services you need and the length of the campaign.

3. What Are Some Must Know Tools for SEO?

Whether you are a beginner or a pro, some tools are indispensable for SEO. This includes Google Analytics, Google My Business, and Google's Page Speed Insights tool. All of them help you run and track an SEO campaign.

4. Will SEO Matter for My Physical Store?

Yes, contrary to what people say, SEO works to drive actual footfalls in your store. Using SEO to boost your store visibility on Google gets you more customers than traditional marketing. Don't ignore it.

Key Takeaways

Get on the SEO bandwagon if you own a small business in San Antonio. It is one of the best marketing decisions you will ever make. It offers the perfect value for money. You also reap these benefits:

• You will create quality content with a focus on local events and trends.
• Keep up to date with your competitor strategies and position in the local markets.
• Access several insightful metrics to propel business growth in the right direction.
• Build a reputation in San Antonio as a company to be trusted and respected.
• A high-quality site that loads fast and is compatible with mobile devices.