A Beginner’s Guide to 10 SEO Tips for a New Small Business Website

Just launched your small business website and wondering why no one’s finding you on Google? Don’t worry – you’re not alone! Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) might sound like something only big tech companies need to worry about, but it’s just as important for small businesses too. The good news is, you don’t need to be an expert to get started. In this guide, we’ll break down 10 beginner-friendly SEO tips (plus a couple of bonus tips) that’ll help your new website start climbing the rankings and getting more visitors.

This article is based on 25+ years of working on SEO and is my view of what works and what doesn’t.

We’re keeping it simple, friendly, and jargon-free. So grab a cuppa and a biscuit, and let’s get into it.

1. Make Sure Your Website Loads Fast

People don’t like waiting – especially online. If your website takes more than a few seconds to load, visitors might just hit the back button and go elsewhere. Google notices that and could push your site down the search results.

Here’s what you can do:

• Use smaller image files – big pictures slow things down
• Avoid loads of fancy animations unless you really need them
• Use a good hosting provider that doesn’t let your site crawl at a snail’s pace

Fast websites = happy visitors + better rankings. Simple as that.

2. Use Keywords That Real People Are Actually Searching For

Imagine you run a cake shop in Birmingham. You might think “Artisan Confectionery Provider” sounds posh and clever – but people are more likely searching for “cake shop Birmingham”.

That’s what keywords are – the words people type into Google. Your job is to work out what your ideal customers are searching for, and then use those words on your website.

You can start by:

• Typing ideas into Google and seeing what auto-completes
• Looking at the “People also ask” and “Related searches” bits (although these seem to be a bit contrived at times)
• Ask your friends what they would search for to find the product or service that you provide

Once you’ve got some keywords, naturally work them into your page titles, headings, and content – but don’t just stuff them in everywhere. It needs to sound normal and make sense.  Don’t repeat the keywords too often – for example don’t say “We are an artisan confectionery provider, if you are looking for an artisan confectionary provider in Birmingham you have come to the right place.  Take a look at our products and see why people recommend us as an artisan confectionery provider.”  Read the content back to yourself and ask “would I speak like that?”

3. Write Helpful Content for Your Customers

Google’s job is to show people the best results for what they’re searching for. So your content needs to be useful, clear, and written for humans (not robots).

Let’s say you sell handmade soap. A blog post titled “How to Choose the Right Soap for Sensitive Skin” would be helpful for your customers – and Google loves that kind of thing.

Try this:

• Answer common questions people ask about your products or services
• Explain how things work, or what to expect
• Use easy-to-understand language, like you’re chatting to a mate

Helpful content builds trust and encourages people to stick around on your site – both of which help your SEO.

4. Get Your Page Titles and Meta Descriptions Right

When your site shows up in Google, people see your page title and a short summary underneath it (called a snippet). If those two things don’t grab attention, searchers may not click on your result.

Your page title should include your keyword and tell people what the page is about (and possibly include your brand name). I like to put the most important thing in the title at the front (and no, usually the brand name isn’t the most important thing).

The snippet can come from the meta description (but more often than not doesn’t, from tests that we do – it depends on the search being made) and if you use it, the meta description tag should explain what the visitor will see if they click the result. Keep it short and snappy, don’t stuff it with keywords.

For example:

Page title: Homemade Soap in Brighton | Natural & Vegan-Friendly | Sarahs Soaps

Meta description: Discover handmade, eco-friendly soap in Brighton. Perfect for sensitive skin. Free delivery on all orders over £20.

Many website builders let you edit these yourself – check your settings or ask your web designer.

5. Use Headings to Structure Your Pages

Just like this blog post, using proper headings (like H1, H2, H3) helps people scan your content quickly. It also helps Google understand what each page is about.

Here’s the idea:

• H1 – The main title of the page (only use one of these per page)
• H2 – Subheadings for different sections (like this one)
• H3 – Sub-subheadings if you need to break it down even more

Using headings properly makes your content easier to read – and easier to rank.

6. Make Your Website Mobile-Friendly

Loads of people use their phones to browse the web now. If your site looks rubbish on a small screen, you’re in trouble – both with users and Google.

You can check if your site is mobile-friendly using Google’s free tool (just search “mobile-friendly test”). If it’s not, have a word with your web developer or switch to a responsive website theme.

Key things to watch:

• Text should be big enough to read
• Menus should be easy to tap
• Images shouldn’t overflow the screen

A good mobile experience = better rankings and more happy visitors.

7. Add Alt Text to Your Images

Alt text is like a short description of an image. It helps people using screen readers understand what the image shows, and it gives Google more clues about your content.

Don’t overthink it. Just describe what the image is. For example, if you’ve got a photo of your handmade chocolate cake, the alt text might be: “Handmade chocolate cake with strawberries on top”.

Adding alt text is usually easy to do when you upload images through your website editor.

If the image is purely decorative, such as borders, spacers or something like a line between sections, it’s perfectly fine to have an empty alt tag, but I’d still include it as alt=””.

8. Get Other Websites to Link to Yours

Links from other relevent websites to yours (called backlinks) tell Google that your site is trustworthy and worth recommending. There used to be the idea that the more links you get, the better, but see our article about links not being so important.

How to get them:

• Ask local business directories to list your site
• Write guest posts for blogs in your industry
• Get mentioned in local news or community websites
• Make useful content that others want to share

Avoid dodgy “buy 1,000 backlinks” offers – Google hates that and could penalise your site.

9. Keep Your Business Info Consistent Everywhere

If your business name, address, and phone number (NAP) look different across various websites (like Google, Facebook, Yelp, etc), it can confuse search engines – and your customers.

Make sure your NAP is the same everywhere:

• On your website
• On your Google Business Profile
• On any directory listings

Consistency helps boost your local SEO – especially if you rely on nearby customers.

10. Keep Improving Over Time

SEO isn’t a one-and-done thing. It takes time, and Google doesn’t update overnight. But if you keep at it and regularly improve your content, your site will get stronger over time.

Some ideas for ongoing improvements:

• Add new blog posts or helpful guides each month
• Update old pages if things change
• Check your site speed and fix any issues
• Keep building useful links

It’s a bit like growing a garden. Keep watering it, pulling out weeds, and planting new things – and it’ll grow nicely.

Well done for getting this far, as a reward I’ve included a couple of bonus tips below (twelve for the price of ten, how about that as a bonus?).

Bonus Tip: Set Up Google Search Console

This free tool from Google shows you how your site is doing in search results. You can see:

• Which pages are getting clicks
• What search terms people are using
• If there are any issues with your site, although some of the issues are just Google saying “did you know about this”

It’s free, and only takes a few minutes to set up. Just search for “Google Search Console” and follow the steps.

A Second Bonus Tip : Don’t Expect to Rank for Areas That You Are Not Based In

Many searches are local – for example if you are a firm of accountants, a baker, or hairdresser you are likely to be servicing local clients, and Google know this.  I’ve sure you have seen sites that say “we can service clients in …” and then list lots of locations in the belief that Google will say “well, they are based in Manchester but say that they can service clients in London, Leeds, Chester, Norwich etc so we need to show them in the results for those areas as well”.  It just doesn’t work like that, if someone is looking for a service that you provide in their local area Google uses things like the NAP mentioned above and other sources to check where you are based.

Final Thoughts

Starting SEO for your small business website might feel a bit overwhelming at first, but you really don’t need to do everything all at once. Even just doing a few of these tips can make a real difference to how your site performs on Google.

The most important thing is to make your website helpful, easy to use, and focused on what your customers actually want. Do that, and Google will take notice over time.

So don’t stress about being perfect – just start with what you can, and build from there.  Many of these can be done by you, as the website owner, there’s no need to panic if you get an email saying that your SEO isn’t working and that you need to use XYZ Ltd to improve your SEO.

Remember, you’ve got this!