Those of us who live in the world of SEO know we bow to the SEO gods — otherwise known as Google. Google dictates what we say, how we say it and whether or not we ever say it again. Most of the time, we’re pretty cool with it. If you’re the owner of a small business, or even a marketing company in Utah with small business clients, the SEO gods are smiling upon your future.
When you examine current trends and speculate on Google’s reasoning in the next several years, it’s easy to see why small businesses will be favored.
Social Media Results
Google is looking towards incorporating social media-based results onto the search engine results pages. More and more social media users are relying on their favorite platform for online content. It wouldn’t be surprising to see content on search engine pages based on the interests of the consumer’s social media contacts. Small businesses benefit here because they can create closer relationships with local groups and consumers than national brands.
Long-Tail Keywords
Voice-to-text technologies create more conversational searches. People speak in long-tail keywords, not broad generalizations. More users are searching for a larger group of specialized phrases. Instead of searching “Utah lawyer,” consumers are searching, “Where can I find a dog bite lawyer near Farmington, Utah?”
Long-tail keywords give small businesses a chance to optimize SEO and gain better search visibility, versus before when larger companies used big SEO budgets to bury smaller competitors.
Searching Local
Google has been perfecting the local search algorithm for quite some time. It’s just going to get better over time, and consumers love it. What tourist in St. George, Utah hasn’t searched, “Best hamburger near me?” Most local businesses are small businesses, so local searches should inevitably boost responses for these groups.
Personalization
Personalization is the new frontier. The more personalized the user experience, the happier consumers seem to be. Digital assistants like Siri and Cortana are gaining popularity because they can gather large amounts of personal behavior information and create the ultimate personalized experience. An easy way to personalize is to use location and purchase history. Both of these elements favor businesses that are small and local.
SEO Is Easier
The more advanced search engines like Google become, the easier it is to enter the game. It sounds counterintuitive, but overall SEO is becoming less scary. Keywords are easier to use. This means instead of spending all your time trying to decipher the complexities of SEO, small businesses can spend more time building relationships with consumers.
