Keep it simple, silly! Low-Hanging-Fruit SEO Opportunities For Business Owners

By Brandon Kosters

Ever heard of “rubber ducking”? It’s a concept I learned while studying coding. The idea is that you keep a rubber duck near your desk. If you get stuck, you just talk through your process with the duck. The hope is that somewhere along the line, you have your “Eureka!” moment. Sometimes, the solution is there in plain sight, but I don’t recognize it immediately because I’m fixated on the wrong thing. Do you ever find yourself in that situation?

I’m not necessarily recommending that you go and buy a rubber duck. My point is that you should take inventory. Something small but significant could be in your blindspot. Now that summer’s winding down and you’re likely shifting focus, this is an ideal time to check these boxes off your “to-do” list. 

Here are some basic tips for improving your online visibility. 

1.) You need a Google Business Profile, and a Bing Places listing — both optimized! List your contact details, services, and hours. See for yourself how both pages boost local SEO and enhance credibility.

Remember — search engines will vet your info. Stay compliant with both Bing’s best-practices (as outlined here by Whitespark) and Google's guidelines. 

2.) SEO is transforming now with the integration of AI. We’ve entered the era of generative engine optimization (GEO), or AI SEO. Even though backlinks are still integral to search algorithms, the majority of queries are now satisfied with an AI response, and there is no “click” at the end of that user journey. 

In some ways, you can think of AI SEO as an augmentation of both traditional SEO and basic PR principles. You should still write content that’s rich with strategically selected keywords, and you need to sustain credibility across reputable channels.

Robots like to reference well-written content, attributable to trustworthy (human) sources. Maintain a blog with intentionally curated subjects, and author bios that emphasize expertise. Check out our AI SEO instructional guide for more tips.

3.) Double-check your social media channels. Find any basic errors that have gone unnoticed? Here’s a quick list of questions to ask yourself:

• Do you have appropriately-sized banner images, or do things look pixelated? Are you perhaps missing those images altogether? 

• When was the last time you updated your header images and profile pictures? 

• Is your LinkedIn profile current? 

• Have you posted any graphics or videos lately? Don’t skimp on those! 

• Look at your business information — is everything listed correctly and consistently across platforms?

4.) Lean into LinkedIn. More than ever before, it’s a strong channel for disseminating information about your brand.  Not only is LinkedIn a “go-to” platform for professional networking, but the posts you make and the profile you maintain are proven to help boost your visibility in search engines. You’ll find that posts get indexed frequently and feed generative responses. And guess what? We have a guide for that!

These rudimentary suggestions will propel you in the right direction. Check out our resources page for a ton of useful downloadables. And if you need assistance in building a comprehensive social media marketing strategy that drives reach and revenue, we are happy to chat!

WideFoc.us Copy Editor Brandon Kosters is a multidisciplinary creative and marketing expert with 20+ years in publishing and editing. He is an alum of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Georgetown University. Brandon is based in Chicago, IL.