Running a small business in 2026 is difficult. Not only are the costs of stock, importing, and energy rising every year, forcing businesses to make the difficult choice of passing the costs on to the consumer or fronting them themselves, but the market is more sensitive. No longer do consumers have the disposable income to spend as they once did; the consumer is now more cautious and frugal than ever due to the rising cost of living. This has shifted the market completely, with huge businesses struggling to stay afloat.
However, this is where businesses, and especially smaller businesses, need to work smarter to stay current in the market. One way that you can do this is through marketing. Whilst social media marketing is the most obvious way to promote your small business, as it is accessible, most of the time this results in ineffective and amateur attempts at marketing which does not benefit the business. This is where SEO comes in as a great strategy for smaller businesses looking to boost their marketing portfolio.
SEO stands for search engine optimisation and is the process of optimising websites to push you and your service higher up the search results page. This is great for all businesses and can help even the smallest businesses compete with much larger businesses. Many small businesses already use SEO whether they know it or not; however, many make mistakes which affect their marketing effectiveness and lead to an overall less effective marketing campaign.
So, if you have a small business and you want to learn how your business can improve its SEO through avoiding these 3 mistakes, read and watch your small business grow and flourish.
SEO Mistakes to Avoid
Neglecting Local SEO
Many small businesses operate out of specific areas where they provide a service for a particular town or sell products within a specific city. This means that small businesses should focus their SEO locally. Many small businesses make the mistake of targeting national and local search terms, which not only have high competition but can be irrelevant for the product or service you offer. This can lead to low rankings which stay unmoved and a poor return on investment.
Instead, ensure that your website is optimised for your local area using keywords, as well as ensuring that your Google My Business profile is filled out correctly. As this is the first impression of you and your company. This profile should be detailed and professional, ensuring it has all of your locations and any relevant contact information. This increased the chance of appearing on Google Maps, which is great for physical businesses such as car parks and book shops.
Forgetting Mobile Users
In 2026, a mobile-first approach should be undertaken by most businesses. As many local searches end with the near me search term, it is important to target this audience, especially for smaller businesses that are looking to gain local traffic. This can be done in several ways, such as ensuring that your site is legible on phones. This means ensuring that writing is large enough to see and that any clickable buttons are large enough not to lead to accidental clicking. This also means load time, which seems small but has a huge effect on SEO. Not only does slow site loading lead to users getting bored and frustrated and leaving the site, but it can also affect where you rank on the search results page.
Slow sites are seen by Google as useless to users; therefore, Google will punish your site by ranking it lower. This overall highlights the importance of a quick website. Solicitors firms suffer most from this, as they need to make sure that clients can browse through the website without issues. Thai is why companies like bond turner prioritise website speed, giving users a better experience and encouraging them to reach out for a consultation.
Targeting the Wrong Keywords
Many small businesses either try to cram keywords into their website and descriptions, or do not even conduct any keyword search. Where keyword stuffing may have decent results at first, over time, Google can punish these key terms for spamming, leading to lower results on the search results page. Instead, make sure that key terms sound human and natural, fit into any content on your website easily and make sure that phrases match customer intent, such as a hairdresser in Soho, which is something a real person would search for.
You can use Google programs such as Keyword Planner to find popular search terms and how many searches they get a month to decide on what keyword you would like to target on your website. It’s best to target keywords that have a reasonable amount of searches, such as in the hundreds, as these are possible to rank first for. Overall, keywords are a dominant part of SEO and page optimisations and making sure that you get the right ones can support this.
Also read: Future of AI in Business: What to Expect in Next 5 Years