It’s no secret that leads generated from search engines convert at a 14.6 percent rate, which remains far higher than outbound leads at a 1.7 percent conversion rate. This is why businesses large and small have incorporated SEO strategies into their digital marketing practices, making search engines a highly crowded and competitive place.

At the NALA, we offer a Directory Management service that syncs online listings for small business owners, providing them with a dashboard that allows them to also respond to online reviews and keep track of keyword rankings. However, SEO is an ongoing strategy with many components besides online listings, so our team has provided a few tips your small business should implement in its digital marketing.

No. 1: Focus on quality rather than quantity when targeting keywords. Although your business will want to optimize its website and blog for keywords, avoid “keyword stuffing,” which will actually be a detriment to your brand’s overall SEO.

The goal is not to use your keywords as many times as possible. Instead, you’ll want your small business’ keywords to come up naturally within its content -- in a way that doesn’t feel contrived for readers and search engine algorithms alike.

No. 2: Research long tail keywords for your brand’s offering. In the last few years, Google’s algorithms have become more advanced. These updates to the search engine intend to provide internet users the most apt results and relevant information to their search queries.

Unlike traditional short keyword phrases, long tail keywords are highly relevant to your small business’ specific niche, product, service or topic. They also have low competition level, comparatively low search volume and, generally consist of at least 3 words.

Because long tail keywords are phrases that are far more specific, they yield highly-targeted information that search engines find the most favorable, thus becoming necessary for businesses to research and track. Adopting long tail keywords will allow your brand to dominate a specific niche within your industry, attracting consumers that are most likely to convert and make a purchase.

No. 3: Be sure to include metadata descriptions for search engines. The meta description itself is additional verbiage that summarizes the link on the search results page for the user. These descriptions mainly function to provide searchers the opportunity to decide if a particular website has the information or content they’re looking for, but websites with meta descriptions are also prioritized more by search engine algorithms.

Meta descriptions should also contain keywords, naturally. This will demonstrate the relevance of your small business’ website and content to Google, boosting your overall organic ranking.