Running a business can be an extra challenge when you’re the one who has to wear all of the hats. From marketing to web development and social media management. It can be A LOT. Add trying to improve your organic visibility into the mix and it can seem like a never-ending list of to do’s. But I am here to make it easier for you!
If you’re a one-woman show, trying to do and be all of the things for your business and not even sure where the heck to begin when it comes to SEO? Then this post all about SEO tips for female solopreneurs is for you!
SEO Isn’t a Dirty Word
SEO is uncharted territory for so many entrepreneurs. And while there’s no magic wand you can wave that will make Google rank your content better, there are some really great SEO tips for female solopreneurs that a lot of business owners simply don’t know about. And when these things are implemented correctly, they CAN get your content in front of more of the right people over time.
In almost 15 years of digital marketing, working with major retail brands and organizations, I’ve learned a thing or two about what you should be doing for SEO and a lot of things that you definitely shouldn’t. And if you’re tired of spending ALL of your time on social media, falling into the comparison trap and spending more time watching reels about dogs sleeping, then actually moving the needle forward in your business, I’ve got you.
We are going to get down and dirty with three of my favorite tips for helping you get a jump start on your SEO today!
Mistake #1 – Not Mapping Keywords to URLs
One of the biggest mistakes I see over and over again is business owners targeting the same keyword on every single page of their website because they think that will help them rank better. News flash, it won’t.
It’s a BIG MISTAKE. Like those snarky sales women in Pretty Woman big mistake. And it will only confuse search engines and hurt your SEO opportunities.
Sometimes this happens by accident because many business owners have a specific area of expertise and a primary content pillar that they want to write about over and over. I get it. But the key to creating sticky and well-optimized SEO content is to write blog posts or articles about similar, but not the same content. You do this by focusing on one to three core content pillars, making sure to map each one to it’s own unique keyword.
Not only does this help showcase your expertise and authority on a specific topic (which Google loves), it also makes content ideation a whole lot simpler. If you need some tips on how to create a content pillar strategy for SEO, check out this blog post on creating SEO topic clusters.
How to Find Unique Keywords
So how exactly do you go about finding unique keywords to target? Below are some tips to help you get started, but if you’re looking for something more in-depth, my blog post on keyword research for SEO has some great tips to help you get started.
Keyword Research Tips
- Look for keywords that have low-search volume and are low-competition. These are called long-tail keywords. They tend to be niched down and specific, but that’s what you want. As you build authority on these longer-tail keywords you will eventually build up enough trust and authority in the eyes of Google to potentially rank on broader, more competitive terms known as “short-tail” keywords.
- Utilize a keyword research tool like Ubersuggest, Keywords Everywhere, Keysearch or SEMRush.
- Understand the keyword’s search intent. There are four types of user intent when it comes to keywords. Informational (user wants information), commercial (user is comparing products/brands), navigational (user wants to get to a specific website) and transactional (user is ready to buy). You wouldn’t try to write a long-form blog post for someone who is ready to buy a new pair of running shoes, but you would for someone looking for marathon training tips. Understanding the user intent can help you create the best type of content to meet the user need.
Ok, that’s a lot of info. Bottom line, every URL on your website needs to be targeting a unique search term. One URL=One keyword.
Mistake # 2 – Not Thinking About Mobile
Now I know what you’re thinking! But Nina, my website is responsive, of course I care about mobile! But did you know that Google is ranking your desktop site based on your mobile search performance? Yes!
Mobile First Indexing means Google uses the mobile version of you website’s content for indexing and ranking. That means that just having a responsive design and calling it a day isn’t enough. You need to really think about how the content you’re creating looks and is interacted with on a mobile device.Â
Not sure how to do that? Try these three things:
- Review your content on a mobile device before you even hit publish. Make sure everything looks and flows like it’s supposed to (yes, even if your website is responsive).
- If the majority of your users are coming from a mobile phone, shorten your titles and descriptions to accommodate a mobile search results (while still focusing on your target keyword)!
- Put your call-to-actions above the mobile fold!
Mistake #3 – Focusing Only On Content
Content might be king, but it’s not everything! Amazing and unique content that meets the user need IS a huge piece of the SEO puzzle, but just cranking out amazing, targeted content will only get you so far. There are 200+ components of Google’s algorithm, and while that might seem like a lot (because it is), focusing on things like user-experience, page speed, back-links and showcasing your expertise will get you a long way.
What to Focus On in Addition to Content
- Core Web Vitals matter. You can check these out in your Google Search Console account, which if you haven’t set-up yet you need to do ASAP because it’s free and gives you a ton of information and data about your organic traffic. If your home page is taking 10 seconds to load, maybe it’s time to ditch that welcome video or compress images. Don’t get so hyper-focused on content or what your website LOOKS like and forget about how well it works. The basics like page speed and load time matter a lot to users and Google.
- Don’t just throw up 3,000 words of content and call it a day. Make sure you’re using heading tags like h2s, h3s, etc., to help break up your content. This is less about SEO and more about users but if you’re paying attention, you see that these two things go hand-in-hand. Don’t be afraid to break up blocks of text with images, lists or bullet points either!
- Make things easy to find and navigate to. Are you creating amazing content but your blog is hidden 10 clicks deep on some random page of your website? Don’t do that! Make your most important pages front and center and easy to find in your global navigation. From there, everything else on your website should be 3-4 clicks deep max. If users have to dig deeper to find content, you have a problem.
That’s a Wrap!
SEO can seem really daunting at first, but when you break it down into bite sized chunks, like these three SEO tips for solopreneurs, it can start to become a whole lot easier to manage. Remember, SEO is a holistic representation of so many different factors that work together to help your website rank and perform better! There isn’t just ONE thing that will make or break your SEO. But if you’re stuck on where to start, think about the user first and foremost. What do they need? What are they looking for? And work to create an experience and content that meets that user need as best as possible.
and if you’re thinking this is great and all but you would love some more support and maybe even an awesome community to learn all things SEO and digital marketing, I have a club for female entrepreneurs where we focus on all things visibility. Not just SEO, but YouTube, Google Ads and more. Learn more about the Visibility Co. Club or get your butt on my email list for more tips, tricks and resources!
