Most small business owners hear “SEO” and immediately picture spreadsheets, keyword tools, and complicated software.
Without getting super technical, there are a handful of basic changes and updates brands and website teams can make to improve their web presence. And knowing where to start is the first step.
Here are five basic SEO tips business owners can use to improve their searchability and the impact they have.
1. Claim and Fully Fill Out Your Google Business Profile
If you have a physical location or serve customers in a specific area, this is the single highest-ROI thing you can do.
Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) powers the local map results, helps Google better understand and match your business to relevant searches, and it’s completely free.
How to do it:
- Go to business.google.com and search for your business.
- Claim it if it exists or create it from scratch if not.
- Fill in every field: hours, phone, website, service area, description, and category.
- The more accurate the information the better.
- Upload at least 5–10 real photos of your location, team, or product.
- Ask customers to leave a Google review, even 5–10 reviews can make a significant difference.
Impact: Very High — especially for local search.
2. Use Accurate Page Titles and Meta Descriptions That Actually Say Something
Every page on your website has a title tag and a meta description.
Those are the headlines and snippets people see in Google results before clicking on a link. Most small business sites leave these blank, or they default to being autogenerated. This is a big, wasted opportunity as it could be the first introduction to your company.
How to update these:
- In WordPress, install the free Yoast SEO or Rank Math plugin, both let you edit these fields easily.
- For each key page, write a title under 60 characters that includes your main keyword (e.g., “Plumbing Repair in Tampa | Smith & Sons”).
- Write a description under 160 characters that tells people what they’ll find on the page and why to click.
- Prioritize your homepage and services pages first.
Impact: High — improves both rankings and click-through rate.
3. Make Sure Your Site Loads Fast on Mobile
Google uses mobile-first indexing, meaning it primarily looks at the mobile version of your site to determine your ranking before looking at desktop. A slow, broken mobile experience can quietly tank your SEO, even if everything else is done right.
How to find your mobile site speed:
- Run your site through PageSpeed Insights (pagespeed.web.dev). It’s free through Google and tells you exactly what’s slow.
- Compress any images before uploading. Use a free tool like Squoosh or TinyPNG.
- Oversized images are a huge drain on site speed.
- Essentially, make their sizes as small as possible without compromising on quality
- If you’re on WordPress, install a caching plugin like WP Super Cache (free).
- Choose a mobile-responsive theme, most modern themes are, but double-check by resizing your browser.
Impact: Medium — but compounds over time.
4. Target One Keyword Phrase Per Page and Use It Naturally
A keyword phrase in SEO is the main search term people type into Google, and each page should focus on one of these so it clearly matches what the user is looking for. You should include that phrase naturally in the content, not spam it, so Google understands the page is about that specific topic.
And you don’t need a complex keyword strategy to start.
Here’s how it breaks down:
- Decide what one phrase you’d want each page to rank for.
- Make sure it appears naturally in the page heading, first paragraph, and a few times in the body.
- That’s the long and the short of it.
How to do it:
- Put yourself in your customers shoes, how would you search if you were looking for a product or service?
- For example, “Affordable dog grooming Brandon FL” beats “professional canine care services.”
- Use Google’s free Keyword Planner (this is through Google ads) or just look at Google’s autocomplete suggestions in the search bar for ideas.
- Include your keyword or phrase in the H1 heading, the first 100 words, at least one subheading, and the page title.
- Don’t stuff it in where it doesn’t make sense. Write for humans first and search engines and chatbots second.
Impact: High — foundational to how Google understands your content.
5. Build Internal Links Between Your Own Pages
Internal linking, the linking from one page on your site to another, is one of the most underused and easiest SEO tactics. It helps Google crawl your site, understand which pages are most important, and keeps visitors on your site longer.
In SEO, “crawl” means Google sending out little automated bots (like tiny digital scouts) that move through your website, reading your pages and collecting information so Google can decide what your site is about and where it should show up in search results.
How to do it:
- Any time you write a blog post or services page, link to 2–3 other relevant pages on your site using descriptive anchor text (e.g., “learn more about our roof repair services,” not just “click here”).
- Make sure your homepage links to every major service or category page.
- If you have a blog, link back to your service pages whenever relevant.
- A simple audit: open each page and ask, “Does this page link anywhere useful?” If not, add a link.
Impact: Medium — low effort, steady benefit.
Ready to Go Further?
These tips are just the beginning. A solid SEO foundation can take your business from invisible to unavoidable, but doing it right takes strategy, consistency, and expertise. That’s where O’Connell & Goldberg comes in.
We help small and medium businesses build SEO systems that actually generate leads and increase web traffic.
Contact us today to inquire about our SEO services and find out where your business stands.