SEO (search engine optimisation) sounds technical, but the idea is simple: help search engines understand what you do and trust you enough to show you to the right people. For a small business, a handful of basics make most of the difference. Here they are, in the order we tackle them for our own clients.
1. Make sure Google knows you exist
A brand-new website isn't automatically on Google. Google finds sites by following links, and a new domain usually has none. The fix is free:
- Add your site to Google Search Console and verify that you own the domain.
- Use URL Inspection to request indexing of your homepage and your most important pages.
- Submit your sitemap, a file that lists every page on your site.
A few days later, search Google for site:yourdomain.com. If your pages appear, Google knows about you. Do the same in Bing Webmaster Tools, which also covers DuckDuckGo and Yahoo.
2. One page, one topic, in your customers' words
Google ranks pages, not whole websites. If everything you do is squeezed onto one page, it's hard for any of it to rank. Give each important service its own page, and describe it the way customers search for it. A customer types "car service Ioannina", not "automotive maintenance solutions".
3. Titles and descriptions
Every page has a title and a short description that often appear in the search results. They are your shop window:
- Title: what the page is about plus your brand, around 60 characters, so it isn't cut off.
- Description: one clear sentence that makes people want to click, around 150 characters.
4. Your Google Business Profile
For local businesses, this is often more important than the website itself. It's the box with your map pin, hours, photos and reviews. Fill in every field, choose the right category, add real photos, and keep your hours up to date. Then ask happy customers for reviews. Reviews are one of the strongest signals for appearing in local results, and they persuade the people who read them.
5. The same details everywhere
Your business name, address, phone and website should be written exactly the same on your site, your Business Profile, social media and every directory. Google cross-checks them. Consistent details build trust, while small differences create doubt about which one is correct.
6. Fast and mobile-friendly
For most local businesses, most visitors arrive on a phone, and Google mainly looks at the mobile version of your site. A slow site, or one that's hard to use on a small screen, loses both visitors and rankings. Test your site at pagespeed.web.dev and on your own phone using mobile data.
7. Content that answers real questions
Think about the questions customers ask you every week: prices, timelines, "do I need this?". Answer them on your site. Every clear, honest answer is a page that can be found by the next person asking the same question. That's why we publish articles like this one.
8. Links from real places
When other trustworthy sites link to you, Google takes it as a recommendation. Good sources for a small business are local directories, suppliers and partners, local news and associations. One link from a respected local site is worth more than a hundred from random ones.
What to avoid
- Buying links or "submit to 500 directories" packages. Google treats these as spam.
- Stuffing keywords into text until it reads badly. Write for people.
- Copying content from other sites.
- Anyone promising the first page of Google in a week. Nobody can promise that honestly.
How long does it take?
Getting indexed takes days. Showing up when people search for your business name usually takes a week or two. Ranking for local searches such as "web design Ioannina" takes weeks to months, and broad national terms take longer still. SEO is a habit, not a one-off job. Check the Performance report in Search Console every month to see which searches bring people to you, and build on what works.