Best 2021 SEO Guide for Small Business Owners

Are you still wondering what SEO is? How to increase your organic reach? How to rank in Google first page? Then don't worry you have landed in best place. This post have a step by step SEO guide for your new ecommerce business. On Page SEO checklist which you just cant miss.!! Also sharing 1 Secret Tip , which I bet you didn't know.

Table of Contents

# Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

# ON PAGE SEO

# OFF PAGE SEO

# Don't make these 8 ON-PAGE SEO mistakes in 2021

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO one of the common acronym that many small business owners must have heard but still wondering its need. Don't worry Girls, I am going to break it down for you in most simple way. SEO stands as search engine optimization. In simple terms, that means making your content or website easily visible in different search engine. This is an organic process.

Their are mainly 2 types of SEO:

1. On Page SEO

2. Off Page SEO

You need to focus on both On Page and Off Page SEO to start ranking in search engines like Google, Bing and others.

Now you must be wondering what is 'ranking'?

Ranking is nothing but a number assigned to your website by the search engine. For example - if your website ranks #1 in Google that means ' you website is famous', whereas if your website ranks #871231236 that means ' need to work hard to optimize your website'.

ON PAGE SEO

On page SEO includes all the techniques that is done to improve ones website. It mainly consist of the 7 following segments:

1. Keyword Research

2. Page Title

3. Meta Description

4. URL

5. Images

6. Website speed

7. Content optimization

OFF PAGE SEO

Off Page SEO is every that one needs to do outside website to improve its ranking on search engine. This mainly include building organic backlines and social media presence. When other websites link your content this gives search engines like google a green signal , that your content is authentic and valuable. Eventually, improves you SEO rank.

Lets dive into ON PAGE SEO .

I am going to share some important tips about on page SEO and make sure that you are not making any of these 8 mistakes. Also 1 Secret Tip, which I bet you had no idea.

Don't make these 8 ON-PAGE SEO mistakes in 2021

1. Not doing proper keyword research

Always remember keyword is the key. It is one of the integral part of SEO. Let me tell you what actually a 'keyword' is,- it is nothing but the first word or words you put in any search engine (Google) and it shows you some result. Their are properly 3 type of keyword-

• Short tail keywords- single word

• Medium tail keyword- 2 to 3 word phrase

• Longtail keyword- 4 or more word phrase

The results or pages that pops up on search engine (Google ) are called Search Engine Result Pages (SERP). Pages appear on search engine based on your site ranking by SERP.

Find a keyword that is most relevant to your niche then check that particular keyword's search volume, competition, domain authority and cost per click (CPC) using different tools like ubersuggest, google keyword planner or keyword everywhere . Incase your initially selected keyword have high difficulty level or high competition, try to find similar keywords with less competition or less search volume. This will increase your chance of ranking in Google. You can use above mentioned tools or Google Auto correct to find similar keywords which will have less competition, low search volume as well as low difficulty level.

Always chose the keywords with less competition, low search volume and less difficulty level. As a beginner, consider keywords with followings:

• Search volume - 500 to 1000

• Difficulty level- 15 to 20

For instance looks for keywords with similar level of search volume or SEO difficulty like " free printable for kindergarten."

2. Ignoring Tags [#H1, #H2,.......]

Tags are one of the important part of SEO but we often ignore it. Google have recently stated that Tags like H1 help google "to understand the structure of the page", not only that it also helps people to understand the structure of the page.

As we know that Tags are important , lets understand where to use which tags.

H1 tag should be wrapped in your title with keywords. Some of the platforms like WordPress automatically identity's your title and wraps it in H1 tag. But in case if you are using any other platform then you have to manually do it.

Did you know keywords in your sub-headings are also identified by Google ?

So, let me tell you H2 & H3 tags have a potential to cause a dent. Never ever ignore these tags.

Use H2, H3 tags along with your keywords in at least one of your sub-headings and see the magic.

3.Not Optimizing Images

This is another important step for on page SEO that we often ignore. This mainly includes giving a proper descriptive file name for your image as well as adding Alternative Text (Alt Text). This helps google to understand better about your products as well as helps you to rank higher.

When you are saving an image its important to save it with a proper name. Like, Blue-Silk-Scarf.jpeg instead of IMG12345.jpeg. Also don't forget to add keywords in the file name.

Alt text helps visually impaired people to understand the image. This is like a small description with important keywords. It is suggested to use the same keywords as that of file name. Like, if your file name is ' Blue-Silk-Scarf.jpeg' then your Alt Text will be' Blue-Silk-Scarf '

4.Dont Stuff Keywords

I have seen many people who thinks that adding keywords in every other line will help them to rank.

Let me tell you,- that's not how it works!

While working on your content always place keywords naturally and in a most relevant way. Pay more attention on your content, keywords will follow the flow.

But this doesn't means that you will only use your keyword once.

NO NO!! Never do that.

You can use your keyword 8-10 times based on the need of the content.

Also keep this in mind :

Say, Google thinks that your page have a particular keyword - 'India' but that keyword appears only once in the whole page. Then google wont be confident to suggest that particular page .

But if 'India' appears 10 times in that page. Google will be confident and will suggest your page.

Eventually it will help you to rank.

Another important think to keep in mind is add Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) Keywords. These are the keywords that are similar to the product that you are providing. For instance you are selling 'Blue Silk Scarves'.

Then these are the related searches that are being suggested by google. Try to incorporate as many keywords you can from these. This will increase Google's confidence and will increase your possibility to rank higher.

5.Long URLs

One of the most underrated part of on page SEO is URL optimization. Its pretty weird but for Google URL optimization is more important then Title Tags. We often keep those long URLs without knowing that it is affecting our SERPs.

So always keep these things in mind : a) URL should be short.

b) It should include only the main keyword.

For instance you are looking for 'blue pottery' then your link should be like these:

a) Adding the keyword only.

b)Adding a subfolder and then adding the keyword will also work.

c)Adding few extra words is considered OK.

6.Not Optimizing Meta Description & Title

Meta description and title not only helps google to understand the content better but also your target audience. They also plays an important role in your ranking. So never keep your meta description blank. Always and Always make them SEO friendly .

These are the few tings to keep in mind while doing your meta titles:

a) Put the most important keyword in the beginning of your title. For instance you are selling online course on fashion illustration for beginners. So the tittle will be:

"Fashion Illustration: A complete beginners guide on Adobe Illustration."

b)Always try to incorporate numbers in the beginning of the title.

We will continue with the same example of a fashion illustration. So the title will be:

"5 important tools that a fashion illustrator cant survive without."

This title have 2 important elements - firstly it includes a number hooks the target audience and secondly it includes a negative connotation which immediately grabs audience attention.

c)Add year in the title. Its always better to add the year in your title as this helps the audience to understand how latest that particular content is. For instance,

"Fashion Illustration: A complete beginners guide on Adobe Illustration.[2021]"

d) Titles with a question performs better.

Statistics have shown that that tittles with questions performs better then statement titles. So before framing your title always keep that in mind. For instance,

"Do you want to know about these 5 best fashion illustration tools ?"

Rich meta description formula.

Meta description helps your user to understand your content. this should include your keywords and should give a small detail about your product. Try to keep it crisp and include your keywords in it as google highlights the keywords in your content that matches your audience requirement.

Always remember a good meta description increases your Click Through Rate(CTR).

Try to follow this templet while writing a meta description.

7. Forgot Links

When I say links, it mean internal links and external links. Let me tell you the secret of SEO - link building. Link building plays a significantly huge role in SEO.

So practice adding links from today.

Internal links are the links of your old post. This not only increases your page authority but also helps your target audience to navigate better through you site. It also acts as a guide that helps your audience to understand the range of products that is being offered by you. While linking always keep in mind that high authority pages should be linked to your low authority pages. This boosts your low authority page.

There are several tools that can help you identify your low authority pages like Ahrefs . This site is a one stop solution for your SEO. They will list down all the pages with both low and high authority and you can link according to the content need.

External links are often called outbound links. They are the links from related sites ( preferably higher authority). This has following benefits:

a) Helps you to understand your product better.

b)Gives google a green signal, that your site is legit.

c) It gives google a better understanding about your product as a result it start preferring your site.

8.Didnt Boost the Site Speed

It is highly recommended to optimize the speed of your site for both mobile and desktop. So its REALLY important to have a good hosting and good platform. Trust me you will never regret this investment . Also use tools like google console to check the performance of your site on both mobile and desktop. Anywhere above 80% is considered optimized, incase if your site speed is less than the required percentage immediately fix it.

Remember one think.

If your site takes more than 3 mins to load, this will increase your bounce rate and eventually will affect your ranking.

As promised its time to share the secret tip. So here it goes........................

9.Voice search

Yes you got me rights its voice search!! The secret is Voice search. With the increase in tech savvy population voice search have made its own way. Also new technologies and AI have made it easy. Few things need to be followed for voice search:

a)Make your content crisp and concise.

b) Have a short title.

c)Get an SSL certificate.

d) Domain authority plays a key role. Higher the authority higher is the chance to rank.

e) Optimized site speed.

Hope this has helped you and have answered all your query regarding On-page SEO. Keep building your business and keep growing.

All the best.