SEO for small businesses: how to get found on Google

For most small businesses, visibility is not about thousands of visitors but about the right ones: someone looking for an engineer to replace a boiler, a hair salon nearby or a hotel for one night. SEO is the work of being visible at that moment. Much of it is not marketing but build quality. A site that is technically sound makes Google’s job easy. A site that is not cannot be rescued with more copy.

In this article you will read what every website should have as standard, how to organise your pages and where to start tomorrow. Local visibility and speed each have their own article, which we link to.

The technical foundation every site should have

This belongs in the build of a website, not in a separate SEO project. If you are having a site made, ask whether this is included.

Structure and addresses

• Logical URLs: short, readable addresses such as /boiler-replacement/ rather than /page?id=73.
• One H1 per page: with H2s and H3s beneath it in a fixed order, so both visitors and search engines can see the subject.
• Internal links: pages that refer to each other with descriptive link text, so no important page is left stranded.

Metadata per page

• Title: unique per page, with the service and, where relevant, the town at the front. Keep it to around 60 characters or Google will cut it off.
• Description: a couple of sentences saying what someone will find on the page. Google does not always use it, but often does.
• No duplicate titles: two pages with the same title compete with each other.

Under the bonnet

• HTTPS everywhere: with no mixed content loaded over http.
• Mobile first: Google mainly assesses the mobile version of your site. What is missing on a phone counts for less.
• Sitemap and robots.txt: a sitemap listing every page you want found, and a robots.txt that blocks nothing important.
• Structured data: Schema.org markup that says you are a business, which services you offer and where you are based.
• Speed: loading and responding within the limits of Core Web Vitals, including on an ordinary phone on mobile data.
• No broken links: internal links to pages that no longer exist leave visitors and search engines at a dead end.

Not sure whether your current site has this in order? The free website check shows point by point what is right and what is not.

One page per service and per search

The most common mistake on small business sites is a single “Services” page with ten bullet points. Google struggles to match such a page to a specific search. A heating engineer who replaces boilers, installs heat pumps and fixes breakdowns is better off with three separate pages, each with its own title, explanation, way of working and frequently asked questions.

1. List your services: the way customers describe them, not the way you name them internally. “Cut and colour” rather than “hair treatments”.
2. Choose one main search term per service: the words someone uses when they are ready to buy or book.
3. Give each search term one page: with the term in the title, the H1 and the first paragraph, without repeating it ten times.
4. Connect the pages: from the homepage, the menu and related pages.

If you work in a fixed area, a local layer goes on top. How that works with a business profile, reviews and neighbourhood pages is covered in local SEO for businesses in Amsterdam.

Content that answers questions

Google tries to show the page that best answers the question. Specific content does that better than general sales copy.

• Start with the answer: someone searching “how long does an MOT take” wants to read it in the first sentences, not after three paragraphs about your company.
• Be specific: “we schedule within two working days” says more than “sorted quickly”, provided it is true.
• Show that you know your trade: photos of your own work, an explanation of how you work and who is behind the business. Google calls this experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness.
• Answer frequently asked questions: the questions you keep getting on the phone are the questions people type in.

Length is not a goal in itself. A short page that answers precisely does better than a long text full of repetition.

Mentions and links from elsewhere

Links from other sites still count, but a few relevant mentions are worth more than many random ones. Realistic sources for small businesses:

• Trade associations: a listing in a members’ directory or accreditation register.
• Suppliers and partners: many manufacturers have a dealer or installer finder.
• Local media and clubs: a sponsorship, event or news item.
• Reviews: not links, but a strong signal for visitors and for local results.

What to avoid

• Repeating search terms until the text is unreadable: Google recognises it and it drives visitors away.
• Hidden text: text in the background colour counts as spam under Google’s guidelines.
• Bought links: packages of hundreds of links from unknown sites are more likely to do harm than good.
• Copy pages: the same text with only a different town name swapped in.
• Unchecked AI copy: generic text without your own knowledge adds nothing to what is already out there.

Where do you start tomorrow?

1. Measure where you stand: connect Google Search Console to your site and see which search terms you already appear for.
2. Check the foundation: titles, one H1 per page, mobile display and speed.
3. Split up your services page: starting with the service that earns the most.
4. Ask for reviews: after every finished job or appointment.