SEO isn’t rocket science, or at least, not for small to medium sized websites. Unless you’re aiming to rank for very competitive keywords (in which case rocket science would probably be simpler, quicker, and cheaper), most SEO is pretty simple and you can almost certainly do it yourself if you feel the inclination.

Hiring SEO services is easier and saves time, but it can be expensive. To this end we can offer SEO advice and evaluation instead of a full package, which can be expensive, if you prefer. Sometimes not even that is necessary. Much can be done to improve the rankings for small websites with just a little guidance.

As with all search engine opimisation, content is king. Identify the search phrases you’d like to rank for and check where and how often they appear on your site. Aim for somewhere at around one occurrence of each per 100 words. Too many and your copy will look spammy and it won’t read well. Too few and search engine crawlers won’t pick up on the keywords and decide your page is relevant. Write for real readers, but keep your keywords in mind, and if you sell it, describe it.

Make sure your html is tidy, meta tags are populated, and the site looks professional. Ask for opinions from your mates and pay attention to what they say.

Once the site is up to scratch, submit it to some local directories. Google Places (the new name for the business directory linked to Google Maps) is free and inclusion is pretty much guarantees to all comers.

There is a great deal more to SEO, but to be entirely honest, small local businesses who are looking for publicity rather than full scale eCommerce probably don’t need to know too much about it. Make your site a good one and the rankings will follow.