Why should local businesses take SEO seriously?

Designing and maintaining a stunning website, and updating your social media platforms, is a big part of succeeding online. And this applies to all companies, large or small. However, this is only part of the digital process necessary to grow your business online. Search Engine Optimisation or SEO, is the other part of the equation. And is equally important. After all, there is no point in investing time and money in a website that performs well, and looks great, but does not get picked up by search engines. Here at Pumpkin Web Design, we are Preston’s leading web design, web marketing and SEO experts. And we work with a range of clients across a number of different industries to provide the full web package, including SEO support. So, why should local businesses take SEO seriously?

What is SEO?

So what is SEO? And how can it help? Well, put simply SEO is all about making changes, on and off page, to help improve your websites performance on search engines. This involves knowing what search engines are looking for, and how search engines make decisions about ranking websites.  And then using this knowledge to rank higher, and attract more traffic, from the Search Engine Results Page, or SERP.

Google for example, uses 200 different indicators to decide on the quality, and ranking position, of your website. These indicators include:

  • original, relevant and informative content- so to optimize for search engines you might consider reviewing your content
  • page loading time- decreasing the time it takes for your website to load will help your website not only perform better, but also get better results
  • well structured pages- this also helps your potential customers find what they need

What is the SERP?

The SERP is the list of websites that search engines provide as a source of information, answering the users search query. The number one spot on the SERP attracts around a third of all traffic to the page, with pages below that sharing the remaining portion. As a result, if you want your business website to get noticed, landing in that top spot, should be one of your primary goals. And this can be achieved with SEO.

At the same time, the SERP also provides extracts from your website, so that users can read the small description or extract, and make a more informed decision about which result to choose. A convincing and well thought out meta-description here, can go a long way to attracting interested potential customers.

Why should local businesses take SEO seriously?

So why should local businesses take SEO seriously? Well, there are a number of reasons, including:

  • Increasing the organic traffic to your website- paying for ads is great, But is it sustainable? If the answer to that is no, you need to be attracting organic traffic. This means traffic that you haven’t paid for. And making changes to your website content, and layout, and using some off page SEO techniques too, can really help improve this. More traffic, means more opportunity for sales. So it is well worth considering.
  • Better user experience- By making changes to your website for the purposes of SEO, your website will automatically become more user orientated. Your website will load faster, and your layout and structure will be better for your potential customers to skim through, and find what they need. As a result, these satisfied browsers are much more likely to make a purchase or sign up to your email list.

For more information, or for professional SEO advice, get in touch with the professionals today, here at Pumpkin Web Design.

Pumpkin Web Design Ltd is a small and highly results driven digital agency working for like minded clients in Preston, Chorley, Southport, Blackburn, Burnley, Morecambe,Wigan, Manchester, London, Warrington, Blackpool, Lancaster, Leyland, Lytham St Annes, Bolton, Chester and the UK. Our services include web design, SEO, content marketing, video production, brand design and much more.