Today’s market environment has become very challenging for many small businesses to face fierce competition that comes from brands which have large sources and huge market experience. However, relying on SEO techniques allows small businesses to establish their niche and get the target crowd instead of the big names more often than not.
According to reports, approximately 93% of web experiences start with a search engine. It means that SEO has to be effective to attract this traffic in competitive niches. That makes SEO appealing for small-sized companies and can become the primary choice for customers. With SEO, a corporation can become popular and credible. In this article, we will explore effective ways small businesses can compete with big market players.
Multiple Ways Small Businesses Can Compete With Big Players
1. Focus on Local SEO to Capture Nearby Customers
Big grands are easy to overtake once one understands that small businesses can compete favorably with these brands by targeting a local market. Local SEO is used to extend a business’s web presence to capture consumers from the nearby neighborhood, which is crucial for store businesses, services organizations, and even those that offer goods online but have a local consumer base.
For instance, a small café that has established its business locally can consider targeting the keywords such as ‘nearest café,’ or ‘Café in [Name of the city]. Local SEO companies works to get businesses ranked in place-based searches which have the likelihood of featuring in the local pack or the map quadrant that appears in Google’s competitive search positions.
2. Leverage Long-Tail Keywords to Outrank Larger Competitors
Since big brands set their sights on extensive and popular keywords, small businesses can still gain a competitive edge by going for long tail keywords. Long-tail keywords are keyword phrases, which contain 3 or more words and these keywords have very low search volumes, but high commercial queries.
For example, rather than going for the broad idea of ‘home decor’, a small business can look at the more specific niche such as ‘cheap chic home decor for apartments’. Such niche searches tend to show the customer is closer to making a purchasing decision to the benefit of small businesses.
3. Create High-Quality, Niche Content That Adds Value
Content is a valuable asset for a small business to convey knowledge and get the attention of the potential customer. Thus, small businesses can create necessary content of high value and information relevance to the certain topics of interest for their target audience, which will likely attract more organic traffic and bring trust to the brand with the corresponding expertise in the niche.
For instance, a firm dealing in environmentally-friendly products could design blogs, videos or articles on sustainable living, green products comparisons and environmentally-friendly lifestyle. Not only does this show the expertise of the business but it also enables the business to target and rank for specific long-tail keywords.
4. Optimize User Experience (UX) on the Website
A good UX is important when it comes to ranking on search engines as well as being crucial in ensuring people do not move away too quickly. There are more specifically known criteria like in terms of the speed of the page, the mobile-friendliness of the site and the navigation.
The most crucial aspects that small businesses should be concerned with are the speed of page load, improved mobile responsiveness, and better navigation. This reduces bounce rates and ensures people spend more time there – a sign to search engines the website is useful to visitors.
5. Utilize Social Proof and Customer Reviews
When customers leave a positive review of a particular product, they create social proof, and this will play an important role in establishing credibility of the small business and affecting the SEO position of the business. Most search engines, specifically Google, consider customer feedback as major hints about the quality of a business.
Social proof increases credibility and helps to gain new clients’ confidence when they are thinking of competing with their competitive big brand. The reviews and ratings given can boost click through rates and engagement, although it has a positive effect on SEO in the long run.
To summarize, SEO gives small businesses the chance to compete with large brands in the market currently. Using local SEO, emphasizing long-tail keywords, creating content for a specific niche, using UX, and utilizing social proof, small companies can create strong online presence and attract clients that can be uninteresting for large brands.
For such businesses that are interested in scaling these efforts without overworking internal resources, joining forces with an SEO provider such as EZ Rankings can be life changing. The SEO services by EZ Rankings help businesses provide excellent SEO solutions, acquire and maintain customers, and scale their company. Get in touch with EZ Rankings to know more about how we can help your business grow with SEO.
