Search engine optimization is a big challenge in today’s world for most business owners. It is a significant investment that will increase the website’s online visibility and drive sales in business. If it is done correctly, that will be generous. Otherwise, nothing will work. Sometimes many business owners are not ready and have vague expectations.
As a result, they face a couple of challenges on this path of their journey that hinder them from reaching their goals. This guide will walk you through the common challenges that are a big deal for small business owners. You will find practical tips and solutions to overcome and move forward.
This is one of the most common challenges that many new businesses and startups face, as they have only just started operating as a service. However, this should not stop business owners from investing in SEO. It is possible to optimize your websites even with your tight budget. There are some minimal efforts and steps that you can do for your website to have some SEO outcomes. These actions can be considered as a solution to this challenge:
Before relying on website optimization for professionals, it is recommended that business owners have minimal knowledge of SEO and understand the basics of how it works. By reading professional materials and engaging in online courses, you will be able to increase your website’s SEO performance. You will be able to determine which strategy worked for your website by putting your knowledge into practice. By analyzing further, you will improve your strategies and approaches.
The majority of SEO professional tools are paid and to analyze the whole performance you should have a subscription. However, there are free ones that partially cover those paid tools. You can take a look at free tools to find keyword ideas or run the website audit. Moreover, there is a list of extensions that are super useful in this phase. These tools provide valuable data and you should lean on that information during the early stages of your website optimization. At least, you can try free-limited versions of professional tools like Semrush and Ahrefs.
You will regret it if you don’t pay attention to your competitors. Most businesses fail because their competitors overtake them and there is a certain number of businesses that fail because of not keeping up with their competitors. This is a big challenge that may hinder many startups and small businesses from growing and succeeding in their SEO journey. However, there are certain tips that may help your startup’s website thrive in the big competition:
Competitor research is an inseparable part of SEO and you can do it in a professional way to benefit. You can compare your competitors’ websites and find the improvement gaps. Based on the data you gathered you will find content ideas or find some creative visual improvement opportunities. Your website will become more user-friendly and increase user experience, positioning itself as a unique product.
Working on your own brand authority will help your business stand out from the competition and make your customers recognize your unique tone of voice. This practice can include consistent content publications, ongoing brand mentions in other articles, and promoting your business on online platforms. You will gain brand authority and will be able to influence your future SEO efforts.
Impatience in SEO is annoying, as SEO is a “marathon”. You will not see the results immediately as it takes time. Business owners might think their investment, time, and efforts are going in vain, however, good optimization will return your investment with a form of revenue increase.
All you need is to be patient and keep investing in your website SEO. Sometimes, it is possible to not see the expected results. Meanwhile, you had better take a deep look at your optimization and focus on the data analysis. Analyzing the data and making improvements based on that, will help you test and improve your optimization to move further.
Google requires specific actions that all business websites should have. From the SEO perspective, core web vitals are critical parts to pay attention to. In other words, these are essential metrics like page loading speed, visual stability, and user experience that all websites should optimize.
Having this improvement included in your website, will increase the website's authority. Those websites are more likely to get ranked on Google.
To bring your website authority to this level, you should cover these tips:
The poor loading page speed might directly impact on conversion rate, as the majority of people leave the website because of this issue. To optimize your page loading speed, you might need help from developers, as the size of your web page's elements, such as images and scripts are the main reasons for loading speed. You can compress the images and visuals with some free image-compressing tools on your own, however, you have to minimize the scripts with the help of a developer. Optimize your loading speed in this way and monitor it weekly with professional tools.
All the websites should have a simple structure so that the user can easily find what he is looking for. This improvement can impact your conversion rate, as the user will interact and navigate easily. In addition to this, optimizing your website for mobile is a must. Your website should have the same interface for other devices like tablets and mobile phones. All these improvements should be made while creating your website. Failing to do this, will be a result of low conversion rate and harmed brand reputation.
Quality content is the backbone of an effective SEO. Google prioritizes websites that have quality content and share value for users. However, creating quality content is an ongoing challenge for business owners, as it requires time and effort. Sometimes, many business owners may rely on AI content generators, however, they still lack the quality. Here are some tips to follow:
Start by developing a comprehensive content strategy that aligns with your business goals and target audience's needs. Understand your audience's pain points, interests, and preferences. A well-defined strategy provides direction and purpose for your content creation efforts.
If you want to keep your website content at a high level, you need to rely on professional content creators who have solid experience in the field. Assign roles and responsibilities to team members or freelancers, and establish guidelines for writing, editing, and proofreading. The process will improve the content consistency and quality.
AI content generators are becoming more and more popular, so many business owners have decided to replace their content creators with tools. However, they lack the nuanced understanding and creativity that human writers bring to the table. Overall, AI-generated content will harm your website authority, and SEO performance, and can bring the ranking drops. So It is recommended to avoid using AI-generated content on the website. At least they are good to be used as assisting tools.
These are the common SEO challenges that most business owners encounter during their SEO journey. Focusing on the given tips and solutions, as a business owner, you can overcome the big competition by providing unique and valuable content. Quality content is the seed of an effective SEO strategy. Keeping your website navigation simple and optimized increases your conversion rate. Keep your patience and focus on analyzing and improving your optimization.
Aram Sanamyan is an experienced SEO specialist at Andava Digital Marketing Agency. Aside from his work, he enjoys writing highly educational and informative articles about digital marketing and sharing his expertise and knowledge. Chess and watching football are his favorite pastimes.
