The Complete Guide to SEO for Small Businesses (2025)

In my work as a consultant, I talk to many small business owners who feel overwhelmed by the idea of tackling website SEO improvements. The reasons for this overwhelm are myriad, but usually boil down to two key things:

1. SEO feels like a futile effort when competing against big-name brands
2. There are so many different parts to SEO that it’s hard to know where to start and what to do

If you identify with either of those statements, you’re in the right spot. This guide is for small business owners who want to improve their SEO in a manageable, maintainable way.

What is SEO?

SEO, or search engine optimization, is the process of improving a website’s position in search results. This can involve a few different steps including:

• Improving your Google Business Profile
• Making sure your business address and phone number are correct
• Fixing technical problems with your website
• Getting other reputable websites to link to yours
• Writing content like blog posts

Today, this process also includes improving how your website appears in AI-generated search results like ChatGPT conversations and Google’s AI Overview or AI Mode. When you do SEO for AI tools, it’s called generative engine optimization (GEO).

Why is SEO Important?

SEO is important for small businesses because it’s a good way to improve traffic to your business, either online or on foot if you have a brick-and-mortar store.

The companies that appear at the top of search results (or around you on a map) get there through optimization. If you want to appear when your customers search for information, then you need to focus on SEO too.

Is SEO a Type of Advertising?

While SEO is a type of digital marketing, it’s not a form of paid advertising. (Advertising is marketing, but not all marketing is advertising).

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a complementary type of digital marketing that does involve paying for ad space in search engine results.

Search engine advertising requires a slightly different strategy than SEO, so we aren’t covering PPC in this guide.

How Much Does SEO Cost?

You don’t have to pay for ads to improve your SEO, but that doesn’t mean the process is entirely free, either.

There can be several costs associated with SEO, including:

• Paying for an SEO tool
• Buying premium SEO plug-ins for your website
• Purchasing an SEO audit or consultation
• Hiring someone to write content for your website

Luckily, there’s a big range of SEO strategies and tasks—from simple implementations you can do yourself to more complex, technical activities that might require the help of an expert.

You can decide how much you want to do yourself and what your budget is for additional help or tools.

SEO Terminology Cheat Sheet

There are several terms that you’ll want to familiarize yourself with before diving into more resources and learning about SEO.

Technical SEO

Technical SEO involves several processes that change how computers (including Google’s search engine crawlers) read and understand your website. Regular technical SEO maintenance can improve the way your site loads for human users, too.

On-Page SEO

On-page SEO refers to actions that you take on your own website pages. This can include writing content, updating images, creating funnels, and more.

Off-Page SEO

Off-page SEO is the process of improving how your brand appears on other websites, such as through local listings and citations, backlinks, and more.

Keywords

Keywords are the terms that people type into search engines to find information. These can range from one word (“shoes”) to entire sentences (“Hey ChatGPT, I need new running shoes, what should I buy?)

Keyword Volume

Keyword volume refers to the number of people that searched for a particular keyword. This is usually expressed as a total per month and can be global or the amount for a specific country.

Keyword Difficulty

Keyword difficulty is a measure of how hard it will be for you to rank highly for a given term. Difficulty is scored on a scale of zero to 100%, with 100% being the hardest due to lots of other companies focusing on that keyword, too.

Search Intent

Search intent refers to the why behind someone’s keyword. It’s a descriptor of what a searcher wants to find or get out of a search result. The most common types of search intent are:

Informational	The searcher wants more information on a topic
Navigational	The searcher is looking for a location, either online or in the real world
Commercial	The searcher is interested in making a purchase and they’re conducting research
Transactional	The searcher has made their purchase decision and is ready to buy something specific

SERP

SERP stands for search engine results page, i.e. what you see when you Google a keyword.

Meta Title and Description

Meta titles and descriptions are what appear on a SERP and tell you the name of a website and what the listed page is about.

What’s the Best SEO Strategy for Small Businesses?

The best SEO strategy for a small business depends on the type of business that you operate. Many people think that a small business always needs a local SEO strategy, but that’s not true.

Take me as an example — I run a small business that’s entirely online and service-based. For me, it makes more sense to spend my time creating blog posts that answer my customer’s questions vs. optimizing map listings for an office location that people can’t access.

A 6-Step Guide to Improving Your Small Business SEO and GEO

What	Why	How
Business Website	A domain that you own is essential for appearing in search results. It lets you control information about your business.	Use a website builder like Squarespace or Shopify, or work with a web designer
Google Search Console and Google Analytics	These free tools show you information about how people find and use your website.	Visit the Google Search Console and Google Analytics landing pages to log in with your Google account; follow each tool's setup steps.
Google Business Profile	This is another free tool that lets you publish business information online, post photos, and respond to reviews.	Log in to the Google Business Profile site with your account to claim and customize your profile.
Semrush	Semrush is my SEO tool of choice; you can track website issues, research keywords, and more all in one spot.	Claim your 14-day free trial with our promo code, or register for a free Semrush account to check it out.
Keyword Research	Picking keywords with the right balance of search volume and difficulty can help you rank in Google and ChatGPT search.	Use Semrush or our free keyword research tool.
SEO Reports	Automatic reports from Semrush or another SEO tool alert you to any dips in your rank or website health.	Set up the reports that interest you most in Semrush.

1. Launch Your Business Website

If you don’t already have a website for your business, start here. A website that you own is a must for SEO and GEO. It’s important that your site:

• Be a standalone website, not just a page about your company on Facebook or a booking service like MindBody or Vagaro.
• Have its own domain, like www.explodingtopics.com. If you’re using the free domain that came with your website builder (like yourcompanyname.squarespace.com), you might run into some SEO issues.

If your budget for digital marketing is limited, prioritize having a dedicated website for your business above all else.

2. Set up Google Search Console and Google Analytics

When you have a website for your business, you can set up Google Search Console and Google Analytics — two free and useful tools for understanding how people find you online.

Google Search Console shows you what keywords people type in when they find your site in search results. You can also do things like:

• See how many people clicked on your site in traditional Google search results
• Make sure that Google can access and crawl your website (this is essential to show up in Google search results)
• Update your sitemap if your website changes

Google Analytics is a useful tool for analyzing how people arrive on your site, whether it’s through search results, a link on another site, through social media, or something else. And once someone lands on your site, you can see information about:

• How long they stayed on your site or a specific page
• Which pages they visited on your site
• If they downloaded specific assets, like a free PDF guide
• Which videos they watched

Tip: While Google does walk you through the process of creating both a Google Search Console account and a Google Analytics account, I like Semrush’s detailed guides to the process:

• Google Search Console: The Ultimate Guide
• How to Set Up GA4: A Complete Step-by-Step Guide

3. Claim your Google Business Profile

Google Business Profiles are a useful tool for businesses that:

• Have a physical office location
• Have a physical store that customers can visit
• Provide services, like electrical work, in a specific geographic area

(Online-only businesses can skip this step, but it doesn’t hurt to set up a profile either way.)

Like Google Search Console and Analytics, Google Business Profiles are free. You can claim your profile by visiting the Google Business Profile management portal and entering your business name.

Once claimed, you’ll be able to add photos, contact information, hours of operation, and more to your profile. Your customers can leave reviews that will be visible in Google search results, too.

Having control over your Google Business Profile is important, as it lets you:

• Keep your information up to date
• Gather valuable social proof that can entice potential customers to visit your shop or call for an appointment
• Respond to positive and negative reviews
• Answer frequently asked questions
• Publish updates and offers for your customers

4. Pick an SEO Tool

When you have your website and online profiles squared away, it’s time to begin the process of actively optimizing your website and its content.

To do this, you’ll need a reliable SEO tool. I like to use Semrush as an all-in-one SEO platform for:

• Monitoring my website for any errors
• Researching my competitors
• Tracking my rank across Google and ChatGPT search results
• Analyzing new keywords I’d like to target

While I do recommend purchasing a paid Semrush plan due to the incredibly broad array of features it provides, you can absolutely do essential small business SEO tasks with the free plan.

A free Semrush account will allow you to:

• Check up to 10 of your competitors’ sites every day
• Monitor 10 keywords you’re trying to target
• Track your changing position on up to 10 keywords
• Evaluate the health of your website backlinks
• Get tips for further optimizing your site

5. Conduct Keyword and Competitor Research

Now for the tricky part of the process: conducting keyword and competitor research.

I like to start by researching my top competitors to see what keywords they’re ranking for and how well they’re represented across Google and AI search. Here’s how I do it:

• Run my own site through the Semrush Domain Overview tool to get a baseline understanding of where I stand in search results and what sites are considered by search engines to be my top competitors
• Scan my known competitors’ sites (if different from what was presented in Domain Overview) through the same tool to see what keywords they’re targeting and how highly they rank
• Compare my site to my competitors’ sites using the Keyword Gap analysis tool, which shows me the differences in our keyword reports
• Look up keywords that interest me using the Keyword Overview tool—this lets me see more information about volume, competition, and related terms
• Turn the keywords I want to target into content groups using the Keyword Strategy Builder

Once I’ve got my keywords selected and grouped, I can begin creating content around the terms and tracking my progress.

6. Set Up SEO Reports

If you want your website to rank for specific keywords, you need to use them on your website—both on landing pages (like “Home” and “About”) as well as in blog posts that provide useful information to your audience.

You can track how well your efforts are paying off by setting up a series of SEO reports. When using Semrush, I like to get the following reports delivered on a weekly basis:

• A position tracking report for both Google search results
• A position tracking report for ChatGPT search results
• A site audit report (so I can immediately catch and fix any technical errors that happen on my website, such as a broken link)

When Should You Hire an SEO Consultant?

If you simply don’t have the time or inclination to DIY your SEO, that’s okay. You can always hire an SEO consultant to help. In fact, I recommend hiring an expert any time you:

• Plan to rebuild or relaunch your site—you don’t want to accidentally move technical issues from one site version to another
• Encounter a technical SEO issue you don’t know how to fix, as it’s better to have someone address small problems before they snowball
• Continued low search rank despite your best efforts … SEO can be tricky, even for seasoned practitioners, so there’s no shame in struggling with a DIY approach
• Want the most accurate list of keywords to target, as an SEO pro will have access to tools that you probably don’t
• Notice that your site is becoming slow to load or isn’t working on some customers’ devices

Start Improving Your SEO Now with Tools for Small Business Owners

AI apps like ChatGPT aren’t built for SEO, so you might not get accurate information about keywords and competitors out of a standard chat. You need a purpose-built SEO tool.

Semrush is my choice for an all-in-one SEO platform. You can try the full suite of tools out for two weeks, for free, using our exclusive Semrush promo code. And if you want to stick with the free version, be sure to pair it with the Exploding Topics library of free SEO tools, too—we’re adding more on a regular basis!