What is SEO? A simple guide for small businesses

SEO stands for search engine optimisation. It's everything that helps Google find your website, understand what you do and show it to the right people. It isn't magic or a trick: it's mostly doing the basics well, with patience.

How does Google choose its results?

Google wants to show the best answer to every search. Put simply, it looks at four things:

• Relevance: does your website clearly talk about what the person is looking for?
• Quality and trust: is the information useful, correct and from a real business?
• Proximity: for local searches, where is the business compared to the person searching?
• Experience: does the site load quickly, work well on phones and feel secure?

What you can do

• Say clearly what you do and where: “Boutique hotel in Charleston” tells Google more than “Welcome”.
• Have a page for each important service, using the words clients search with.
• Make sure your site is fast and works well on phones, where most searches happen.
• Create and look after your Google Business Profile, and ask clients for reviews.
• Keep your name, address and phone number the same everywhere.
• Update your site when things change: prices, opening hours, services.

How long does it take?

SEO isn't instant. A new website can take weeks to appear and a few months to climb, especially for competitive searches. Be wary of anyone promising first place on Google within days: nobody can honestly guarantee it.

What mySaboia does for you

Every website we create includes the technical foundations of SEO: a title and description for every page, fast loading, a design made for phones, structured data about your business, every language linked together and a sitemap for Google. Your website starts with everything it needs to climb.