According to Google there are over 200 different factors that they grade on to determine how a website will rank within their Search Engine Results Page for any given search. Given that they grade on over 200 of them, and the fact that most small businesses don’t have the resources to hire a team of SEO experts, I will list the 6 factors that I have found are a must for any small business hoping to achieve rankings in their area, and more importantly, results that turn into sales.

The below list is by no means all inclusive…

On Page Search Engine Optimization

On page search optimization is the practice of getting your site ranked though changes to your website. There are many ways to accomplish this, some good, some bad, a.k.a. White Hat SEO and Black Hat SEO. Generally writing good quality content with frequently searched keywords (careful to much keywords also known as “Keyword Stuffing”), cross linking, adding relevant keywords to meta-data, and providing fresh & updated content will increase the frequency of the Search Engines Indexing your site. Having a good understanding of how the search engines index your website also helps with your website optimization. You can read more about this in my prior post about Google Caffeine.

Off Page Search Engine Optimization

Off page search engine optimization conversely is everything you do to raise your ranking with the search engines outside of your website. Link building is a popular strategy for this. Another tactic is submission of correct content and information about your business to sites that the search engines consider “authoritative”, ensuring you have links to your website posted on these sources. It’s a good practice to make sure you link to sites with a good Page Rank. This will ensure the search engines look at your website favorably.

Link Building

Developing good quality inbound links to your website is probably one of the most effective ways to improve rankings with the search engine. This is often the most time consuming component of SEO, but can yield large measurable results. Directory Submissions with differing anchor text on each, Link Searches is another useful, but advanced exercise in which we let the search engines find the sites for us to link to. Article writing, forums and blogs are also quality ways to get inbound links. Often, many small business owners skip this as it takes time, patience and work.

Ratings & Reviews

Never under estimate the power of consumer reviews. A study done by ComScore showed that up to 87% of consumers purchase decision was based upon reviews, and 97% of those said that they made a purchase based their decision a review. Also notable was the fact that consumers were willing to pay up to 20% more for quality services based upon favorable reviews. It is essential for businesses to generate positive reviews from consumers for local search ranking. Read here why Google changed its review index

Local Search Optimization

Local Search, in my opinion is the best search optimization technique for small business. Local search is nothing more than a query that includes a local factor, such as “Plumbers Portland OR”.

According to Google 20% of the searches they receive are local. Want to know how big this is? Every day 600 million local searches are done on Google alone. Try to get that kind of traffic anywhere else, it’s not going to happen. Clearly Local Search should be a priority for any small business.

Quality Content

Fresh Content, Blogging, Article Submissions and Forums are all great ways to promote via the web, and can spotlight you as a trusted industry leader. They’re also excellent ways to get your business indexed for obscure searches or front end keywords related to your business. Blogs, Articles and Forums are also great ways to generate inbound links to your web property. Blogging takes work on the business owners part, as such commitment and dedication are keys to it ultimate success.