March 25, 2025 • 12 mins
Do you find yourself wondering if SEO is worth it for your small business? Are you curious if it will work for you? If you're focusing on online marketing and you aren't doing SEO, it's time to get started. Listen in today and find out how to get started.
Register now for the free live SEO class and find out the 3 secrets to being found on Google and in AI Search like ChatGPT.
https://www.etchedmarketing.com/registration-live-seo-class
My free resources, including the Beginner's step-by-step SEO Guide and my free class, are available here.
https://www.etchedmarketing.com/freebies
Join me in Simple SEO Content, my complete SEO and Content Marketing course that teaches you what to do step-by-step. It walks you through the entire process. (complete course)
https://www.etchedmarketing.com/yes
Do you have a question you'd like me to answer on the podcast? Ask it here -
https://forms.gle/Fbrqpmss6gxUnaMj7
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Shure MV7 (00:00):
Today we're going to jump right in and address, is
SEO worth it for smallbusinesses?
So you've heard me talk manytimes about SEO and search
engine optimization and how itcan help your business grow.
But maybe you find yourselfwondering if it is even a good
option for you as a smallbusiness owner or a solopreneur.
(00:23):
I want to let you know it is afantastic option for you and it
presents.
It's the greatest opportunityfrom a marketing standpoint.
And I want to make sure that youunderstand that from today's
podcast episode.
This is Rachel Lindhuygen, thehost of the Simple SEO podcast.
I'm so glad that you are backhere with me today.
(00:44):
So let's talk about searchengine optimization and whether
or not it's worth it for a smallbusiness.
As you know, I believe verystrongly it is.
What I want you to understand.
Is it SEO or search engineoptimization is more than just
something you do on yourwebsite.
It is a strategy.
It is a marketing channel.
(01:04):
It is something that you do thatcan impact your business
overall.
It can drive people to yourwebsite, which will help you
Build your email list andgenerate leads and sell more
products and services.
And because it's organic, it'sfree, you're not paying for ads
(01:26):
to bring those people to you.
So the money that you earn,you're then able to hold on and
save more of that money asprofit rather than having to pay
for ads to get that traffic.
So as a small business owner,You may wonder whether it's
worth it.
Will it even work?
I often have people ask me, willit work for my niche?
(01:48):
It will work for your niche.
It doesn't really matter whatniche you're in.
Search engine optimization willwork for you as long as there
are customers in your niche.
There are people who aresearching for information
related to your niche.
SEO will work for you.
If there are no customers inyour niche or there's nobody
searching for informationrelated to your niche, your
(02:10):
business isn't going to thrivebecause there's nobody who wants
what you have.
So we really do want to makesure as long as there are
customers, SEO is going to workfor you.
It is an option.
So as a small business owner,What exactly do you do?
So you know you've got awebsite, right?
Or if you don't have one,hopefully you're building one.
(02:32):
You're going to have content onthat website, meaning you're
going to have pages.
You'll probably have a homepage,an about page, products or
services, and maybe location orcontact information.
If you want that information toshow up in Google or other
search engines, then you need tooptimize it.
(02:52):
Because if you don't do SEO onthose pages that you create,
Google doesn't really understandwhat they're about.
And so they're less likely toshow your website to new people
who are searching.
Especially because you are asmall business, your website is
probably not superauthoritative.
Your website is probablyrelatively new, not well known,
(03:16):
it probably doesn't have a lotof links to it, and it probably
does not have a high domainauthority.
Domain authority is a score 1 to100.
Most of our small businessWebsites are going to be like
one through 20.
It's seldom that you're going tofind a very small business with
a domain authority score over20.
Your domain authority is not ascore given to us by Google, but
(03:40):
it is a score that we can seefrom some of the SEO tools.
And it's an indication of howlikely your website is to rank
for a given keyword.
So as a small business owner,you're probably going to have a
low domain authority.
There's nothing wrong with that.
It just means that in Google'seyes, your website is not super
authoritative.
So if you pair a low domainauthority with a website with no
(04:03):
SEO on it, you're really goingto have zero visibility.
But if you pair that lowvisibility with SEO that's done
properly and good keywordtargeting and the right content
that helps your customer, youactually have a chance for more
visibility.
So, as a small business owner,it's really important to
understand all of this and toreally understand what keywords
(04:26):
your website has a good chanceof ranking for.
And I hear people say, rankingfor, I've also heard people say,
website deserves to rank for.
And I don't like using the termdeserves, deserves or deserves
to rank for, but I also think itmakes sense in this particular
instance.
If we talk about.
A keyword.
(04:47):
Let's say we're talking abouttennis shoes.
As a small business, does mywebsite deserve to rank for the
word tennis shoes over someonelike Foot Locker or Nordstrom?
I don't.
Because in almost every case,Nordstrom or Foot Locker or a
big site like that are going tohave more authority.
They're going to maybe have moreoptions, more background, more
(05:08):
information, more inventory,etc.
than like Rachel's Shoe Storewith one location.
Um, so that's part of what youneed to understand is Google is
going to really favor the sitesthat are more authoritative.
Now if you are a small site, butyou've done great keyword
(05:28):
research and you have donecorrect optimization and you
have a good strong SEO contentfoundation and you have a good
SEO content strategy in place.
Then you're able to potentiallyrank for more keywords, which
will give you more visibility inthe search results.
So even if your site is notsuper authoritative, if it is
(05:50):
authoritative in your niche andyour SEO is done better than
your competitors, then you havea really good chance of
outranking your competitors andshowing up more often and having
your website be the one thatpeople find.
The other thing I want you tothink about, especially as a
(06:10):
small business owner, If you area local business, meaning you
service a local area or you havepeople come to your location,
you have a brick and mortarbusiness, then you should also
be doing SEO on your GoogleBusiness Profile listing because
hey, There are times that thosemap listings will show in the
(06:33):
search results before yourwebsite will show in the search
results.
They show up high on the page.
We don't really care.
I mean, realistically, do wecare if a potential customer
clicks on the map listing andfinds us versus they click on
our website and find us?
Either way, they found you.
Either way, they've gotten toyour business.
(06:55):
So I want you to reallyunderstand as a small business,
SEO is very important to you.
It can be a huge advantage froma competitive standpoint because
if you do start doing SEO, youcome, you join me in simple SEO
content, you learn how to dothis and you create that content
foundation for your business.
(07:16):
Meaning you're podcast episodeor podcast show notes page each
week.
You're targeting keywords thatyour website has a good chance
of ranking for, you are thenbringing people into your world.
They're finding you.
But more than that, you havemore opportunities to rank and
(07:38):
to show up in the searchresults.
And that gives you a competitiveadvantage within your niche.
You really don't want to justdepend upon everyone else to not
do it right for you to be ableto show up.
You really want to be the onewho sets the precedent and shows
them, yes, I can do this.
I have a client I've worked withfor seven or eight years now.
(08:01):
Fantastic client.
They are a small business.
They have one location.
They're in a suburb.
They're a preschool.
They have done amazing with SEO.
We have their Google businessprofile, uh, optimized, so it
does show up, it does rank, butmore than that, we have created
content that supports theirbusiness.
(08:23):
It helps their ideal customer,which is the parent of a child
between about 18 months and fiveyears old, because those are the
people who are going to belooking for a preschool.
We have all sorts of contentthat answers All sorts of
questions for those parents.
And it's all optimized.
It's all targeting keywords thatthey can rank for.
(08:45):
And they rank.
They rank and rank and rank.
They have so many keywordsranking on page one that it
drives a ton of traffic forthem.
Last year, about 60 percent oftheir leads came from what we
were doing from an SEOstandpoint.
They came from our rankings onGoogle.
I want this for you.
I want you to be the one thatyour competitors are trying to
(09:08):
catch up with, rather than beingthe one playing catch up because
someone else in your marketstarted doing SEO.
When we started doing SEO ontheir website, They were the
only ones doing it.
So they had this hugecompetitive advantage, which
made it much easier for them torank and they're not a super
authoritative site.
They don't get thousands andthousands and thousands of
(09:29):
visits every month.
They get a really good number ofvisits that are highly specific
that are their targetedcustomer.
Their domain authority Onlysomewhere between like 10 and
15.
So they're a small businesswebsite, but it works.
They have competitors now whohave started doing SEO and you
(09:50):
can tell they're trying to catchup, but that client who's been
doing it for years.
They still own the resultsbecause they've been doing it
for years and Google continuesto reward them because they've
spent the last seven or eightyears really building that
connection with Google andbuilding that trust and creating
that great content and beingthat great resource for their
(10:10):
community.
So yes, SEO is worth it for asmall business.
If you are a small businessowner and you are ready to learn
how to do this, I want you tojoin me in simple SEO content.
You can take the free class.
It's on the website,edgetargeting.
com.
Take the SEO 101 class.
That's going to give you someinformation about the course.
(10:32):
It's going to talk to you aboutthe bonuses.
It's going to give you thediscount for the enrollment.
I want you to go ahead and takethat today so that you can get
that discount.
Get the chat GPT bonus, get theGoogle business profile bonus,
and then join me in Simple SEOcontent so we can start doing
(10:53):
this for your business becauseSEO will change things for your
business.
Let me show you how.
Today we're going to jump right in and address, is
SEO worth it for smallbusinesses?
So you've heard me talk manytimes about SEO and search
engine optimization and how itcan help your business grow.
But maybe you find yourselfwondering if it is even a good
option for you as a smallbusiness owner or a solopreneur.
(00:23):
I want to let you know it is afantastic option for you and it
presents.
It's the greatest opportunityfrom a marketing standpoint.
And I want to make sure that youunderstand that from today's
podcast episode.
This is Rachel Lindhuygen, thehost of the Simple SEO podcast.
I'm so glad that you are backhere with me today.
(00:44):
So let's talk about searchengine optimization and whether
or not it's worth it for a smallbusiness.
As you know, I believe verystrongly it is.
What I want you to understand.
Is it SEO or search engineoptimization is more than just
something you do on yourwebsite.
It is a strategy.
It is a marketing channel.
(01:04):
It is something that you do thatcan impact your business
overall.
It can drive people to yourwebsite, which will help you
Build your email list andgenerate leads and sell more
products and services.
And because it's organic, it'sfree, you're not paying for ads
(01:26):
to bring those people to you.
So the money that you earn,you're then able to hold on and
save more of that money asprofit rather than having to pay
for ads to get that traffic.
So as a small business owner,You may wonder whether it's
worth it.
Will it even work?
I often have people ask me, willit work for my niche?
(01:48):
It will work for your niche.
It doesn't really matter whatniche you're in.
Search engine optimization willwork for you as long as there
are customers in your niche.
There are people who aresearching for information
related to your niche.
SEO will work for you.
If there are no customers inyour niche or there's nobody
searching for informationrelated to your niche, your
(02:10):
business isn't going to thrivebecause there's nobody who wants
what you have.
So we really do want to makesure as long as there are
customers, SEO is going to workfor you.
It is an option.
So as a small business owner,What exactly do you do?
So you know you've got awebsite, right?
Or if you don't have one,hopefully you're building one.
(02:32):
You're going to have content onthat website, meaning you're
going to have pages.
You'll probably have a homepage,an about page, products or
services, and maybe location orcontact information.
If you want that information toshow up in Google or other
search engines, then you need tooptimize it.
(02:52):
Because if you don't do SEO onthose pages that you create,
Google doesn't really understandwhat they're about.
And so they're less likely toshow your website to new people
who are searching.
Especially because you are asmall business, your website is
probably not superauthoritative.
Your website is probablyrelatively new, not well known,
(03:16):
it probably doesn't have a lotof links to it, and it probably
does not have a high domainauthority.
Domain authority is a score 1 to100.
Most of our small businessWebsites are going to be like
one through 20.
It's seldom that you're going tofind a very small business with
a domain authority score over20.
Your domain authority is not ascore given to us by Google, but
(03:40):
it is a score that we can seefrom some of the SEO tools.
And it's an indication of howlikely your website is to rank
for a given keyword.
So as a small business owner,you're probably going to have a
low domain authority.
There's nothing wrong with that.
It just means that in Google'seyes, your website is not super
authoritative.
So if you pair a low domainauthority with a website with no
(04:03):
SEO on it, you're really goingto have zero visibility.
But if you pair that lowvisibility with SEO that's done
properly and good keywordtargeting and the right content
that helps your customer, youactually have a chance for more
visibility.
So, as a small business owner,it's really important to
understand all of this and toreally understand what keywords
(04:26):
your website has a good chanceof ranking for.
And I hear people say, rankingfor, I've also heard people say,
website deserves to rank for.
And I don't like using the termdeserves, deserves or deserves
to rank for, but I also think itmakes sense in this particular
instance.
If we talk about.
A keyword.
(04:47):
Let's say we're talking abouttennis shoes.
As a small business, does mywebsite deserve to rank for the
word tennis shoes over someonelike Foot Locker or Nordstrom?
I don't.
Because in almost every case,Nordstrom or Foot Locker or a
big site like that are going tohave more authority.
They're going to maybe have moreoptions, more background, more
(05:08):
information, more inventory,etc.
than like Rachel's Shoe Storewith one location.
Um, so that's part of what youneed to understand is Google is
going to really favor the sitesthat are more authoritative.
Now if you are a small site, butyou've done great keyword
(05:28):
research and you have donecorrect optimization and you
have a good strong SEO contentfoundation and you have a good
SEO content strategy in place.
Then you're able to potentiallyrank for more keywords, which
will give you more visibility inthe search results.
So even if your site is notsuper authoritative, if it is
(05:50):
authoritative in your niche andyour SEO is done better than
your competitors, then you havea really good chance of
outranking your competitors andshowing up more often and having
your website be the one thatpeople find.
The other thing I want you tothink about, especially as a
(06:10):
small business owner, If you area local business, meaning you
service a local area or you havepeople come to your location,
you have a brick and mortarbusiness, then you should also
be doing SEO on your GoogleBusiness Profile listing because
hey, There are times that thosemap listings will show in the
(06:33):
search results before yourwebsite will show in the search
results.
They show up high on the page.
We don't really care.
I mean, realistically, do wecare if a potential customer
clicks on the map listing andfinds us versus they click on
our website and find us?
Either way, they found you.
Either way, they've gotten toyour business.
(06:55):
So I want you to reallyunderstand as a small business,
SEO is very important to you.
It can be a huge advantage froma competitive standpoint because
if you do start doing SEO, youcome, you join me in simple SEO
content, you learn how to dothis and you create that content
foundation for your business.
(07:16):
Meaning you're podcast episodeor podcast show notes page each
week.
You're targeting keywords thatyour website has a good chance
of ranking for, you are thenbringing people into your world.
They're finding you.
But more than that, you havemore opportunities to rank and
(07:38):
to show up in the searchresults.
And that gives you a competitiveadvantage within your niche.
You really don't want to justdepend upon everyone else to not
do it right for you to be ableto show up.
You really want to be the onewho sets the precedent and shows
them, yes, I can do this.
I have a client I've worked withfor seven or eight years now.
(08:01):
Fantastic client.
They are a small business.
They have one location.
They're in a suburb.
They're a preschool.
They have done amazing with SEO.
We have their Google businessprofile, uh, optimized, so it
does show up, it does rank, butmore than that, we have created
content that supports theirbusiness.
(08:23):
It helps their ideal customer,which is the parent of a child
between about 18 months and fiveyears old, because those are the
people who are going to belooking for a preschool.
We have all sorts of contentthat answers All sorts of
questions for those parents.
And it's all optimized.
It's all targeting keywords thatthey can rank for.
(08:45):
And they rank.
They rank and rank and rank.
They have so many keywordsranking on page one that it
drives a ton of traffic forthem.
Last year, about 60 percent oftheir leads came from what we
were doing from an SEOstandpoint.
They came from our rankings onGoogle.
I want this for you.
I want you to be the one thatyour competitors are trying to
(09:08):
catch up with, rather than beingthe one playing catch up because
someone else in your marketstarted doing SEO.
When we started doing SEO ontheir website, They were the
only ones doing it.
So they had this hugecompetitive advantage, which
made it much easier for them torank and they're not a super
authoritative site.
They don't get thousands andthousands and thousands of
(09:29):
visits every month.
They get a really good number ofvisits that are highly specific
that are their targetedcustomer.
Their domain authority Onlysomewhere between like 10 and
15.
So they're a small businesswebsite, but it works.
They have competitors now whohave started doing SEO and you
(09:50):
can tell they're trying to catchup, but that client who's been
doing it for years.
They still own the resultsbecause they've been doing it
for years and Google continuesto reward them because they've
spent the last seven or eightyears really building that
connection with Google andbuilding that trust and creating
that great content and beingthat great resource for their
(10:10):
community.
So yes, SEO is worth it for asmall business.
If you are a small businessowner and you are ready to learn
how to do this, I want you tojoin me in simple SEO content.
You can take the free class.
It's on the website,edgetargeting.
com.
Take the SEO 101 class.
That's going to give you someinformation about the course.
(10:32):
It's going to talk to you aboutthe bonuses.
It's going to give you thediscount for the enrollment.
I want you to go ahead and takethat today so that you can get
that discount.
Get the chat GPT bonus, get theGoogle business profile bonus,
and then join me in Simple SEOcontent so we can start doing
(10:53):
this for your business becauseSEO will change things for your
business.
Let me show you how.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy And Charlamagne Tha God!
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.