The term “SEO” tends to put a great many people off since it seems technical and as if it’s something that only large companies with their own teams can handle. However, at its core the concept is quite simple: SEO is all about helping Google to understand what your business is and who your target audience is, so that when someone nearby searches for exactly what you provide, they end up finding you. You don’t actually need to have a technical background in order to get the basic points right. That’s why I’d say you should begin here.
Set up your Google Business Profile — seriously, do this first
If there’s just one item on this list that you carry out, choose this one. This is the result that appears when someone searches for “[your service] near me” or looks on Google Maps. It’s free, the setup takes only about twenty minutes, and for the majority of local businesses it attracts more real customers than almost any of the other items on the list.
Talk the way your customers search, not the way your industry does
Companies usually present themselves using a particular “professional” type of language, but in reality customers don’t search in that way. A person searching for a makeup artist will type “wedding makeup Malappuram”, not “bridal artistry services”. Look at your website and see if it actually uses the words that a real customer would enter into Google; if it doesn’t, then that’s a simple remedy with a considerable benefit.
Make sure your site loads fast, especially on phones
You’ll likely be found on people’s phones, especially when they’re comparing you with two or three other options. Should your website be slow or difficult to use on a small screen, people won’t stay around—they’ll simply move on to the next one. Google also keeps records of this, meaning that a slow site will gradually damage your position in the search results.
Keep adding something new every so often
A website which has not been updated for a year subtly suggests to visitors and to Google that perhaps the business is no longer very active — without having to do anything dramatic. For example, adding a blog post here, including new project photographs there, or making a minor amendment to a service page. In fact, that isprecisely the reason why having a blog page such as this one is worthwhile: it provides you with a natural and low-pressure means of keeping the site feel active.
Be consistent everywhere you’re listed
Your business name, phone number, and address must be identical everywhere—on your website, with Google, on Facebook, on Instagram, and in any other directories you appear in. Minor discrepancies, such as ‘Shibila Digital Marketing’ in one place and ‘Shibila Marketing Services’ in another, gradually confuse both customers and Google as to whether or not it is the same business.
SEO is not a one-off solution, and I won’t say that it produces immediate results since it doesn’t. However, it’s one of those areas in which small, steady efforts actually do accumulate, and the level of visibility you achieve only continues to grow the longer you keep sticking to it.
