You have probably already heard the importance of local SEO for small businesses and most likely have implemented it as part of your marketing plan. After all, it is always beneficial to target your marketing efforts effectively to ensure you are reaching the right people. Nevertheless, this is not to say that local SEO is easy. In fact, it can be very hard for small businesses.
Below, we will take a look at seven different reasons why SEO is hard for small businesses:
1. Link building and media coverage are harder
There is no denying that it is more difficult for small businesses to develop the leverage they need in terms of media coverage and link building. This is because big sites and brands with exceptional reputations seem to be able to get links without even trying. However, once you start getting mentioned in authoritative publications, it will get easier and easier to get your name out there and links back to your website.
2. You have less powerful software and fewer tools at your disposal
Another reason why small businesses struggle with local SEO is that they have less powerful software and fewer tools. Big businesses can afford to spend a lot of money on great software. They will have a number of different tools at their disposal that enables them to automate their local SEO techniques with greater ease. Small companies must look for more affordable and even free software and tool options.
Web platforms like Wix and WordPress offer solutions with low barrier to entry for SEO, but many times a WordPress seo expert or wix seo expert is needed to really push the needle.
3. Big businesses have been doing SEO longer
Big businesses were not born that way. They had to build themselves up to reach that stage. Therefore, the chances are that they have been at it longer than you have. Lots of small businesses have not been around for long, and this can be tough. Time is everything, and SEO is not something that can be perfected overnight.
4. It is harder to keep up with the changes in local SEO
There is no denying that the world of SEO is changing all of the time. This not only relates to the newest and latest trends that are going on when it comes to digital marketing but it also relates to changes that Google makes in terms of search algorithms and such like. It can be hard to dedicate a lot of time and effort to stay up to date with everything that is going on.
5. There always seems to be some other priority
This is something that a lot of business owners can surely relate to. Although you may have all of the best intentions, it can be very difficult to make SEO a priority all of the time. After all, there are so many different things that are happening in the world of SEO and so many different techniques and strategies that you can make the most of. It can feel like a full-time job staying up to date with this and doing all of the necessary things you need to do in order to enhance your online presence.
6. You Have A Lower SEO Budget
Of course, one of the main reasons why it is more difficult for small businesses when it comes to local SEO is because they have a smaller budget. There is no denying that you have to spend money if you are going to make money. However, you cannot spend money that you do not have. A lot of big businesses have huge amounts of money to spend on marketing, and this can put you at a disadvantage. Nevertheless, it simply means that you need to be savvy when it comes to your marketing spend.
7. Google Favors Brands
In SEO we love to whine that Google favors brands, but the truth is,
everyone
favors brands. All other things being equal, Google ranks big brands higher in the search results because they have user behavior data indicating that people click more often on recognizable brand websites. So if you want to compete on a keyword that bigger brands are also going after, you’ll have to work that much harder to prove that your small business marketing blog content is relevant and worth the user’s time. For many branded keywords, you’ll never be able to beat the bigger companies.
Is Small Business Local SEO Still Worth the Trouble? Yes.
Now listen: We’re not saying you should give up on SEO. In fact, you
have
to do at least the bare minimum SEO if you want to have a reasonably viable presence online. Basically, if you have a website, you want to accomplish three things:
- Help potential customers find your site via search.
- Make sure your site is easy to navigate once they’ve found it.
- Make sure it’s obvious what they should do next, whether that’s calling in or adding something to a shopping cart – and convince them to do it.
These tasks, especially the second two, involve the principles of web design, usability, and conversion rate optimization as much as they do SEO. But to accomplish #1, you’re going to have to think about search engine optimization. Of course, you should have other sources of traffic for your site – PPC/remarketing, social media, email marketing, word of mouth – but if you neglect SEO, you’re leaving a great potential source of brand-new leads untapped.
So there you have it; seven different reasons why local SEO is harder for small businesses. When you consider everything that has been discussed, it is not hard to see why a lot of small companies struggle when it comes to local SEO. This highlights why it is so important to choose a marketing company with care. You need to find local visibility marketing experts for small business (that will be able to put together an effective localized search engine optimization strategy that fits into your small business budget.