Beginner SEO Guide for Small Businesses – Part 1 of 3

For service providers who want to show up on Google and attract dream clients but hate tech-y stuff.

So what exactly is SEO?!

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is how your website gets found online, specifically how (and if) it shows up when someone types something into Google like "small business accountant near me" or "Success coach for entrepreneurs."

SEO can be super complicated and annoyingly technical. But this post is about breaking it down and making it digestible for coaches who don't have a computer science degree, but need their website to actually bring in clients. Because you've got bills to pay, and a website sitting on page 15 of Google isn't going to get you clients anytime soon. Or probably ever.

I’m not a certified SEO pro or anything, but I’ve been getting real results for my own websites since 2010—and I’ve learned what works (and what doesn’t) all the hard ways. I do like to humbly brag about that time about 8 years ago when I got a new website from the bottom of page 7 to the top of page 1 on Google in just 3 months for multiple keywords, and I didn't really know anything about SEO at that time.

I've also learned how to rank on page 1 for brand new blog posts (as in showing up within 24 hours in positions 1 or 2). And it's not as hard as you think.

I'm here to tell you that if I can do it, you can absolutely do it too. Even if you're in a super saturated niche, and even if you only use the suggestions in this blog series. Seeing results won't happen overnight. But with the right foundation, you can start seeing movement in as little as a few weeks.

What will be covered in this post, and what's coming up next?

I'm starting with the most important foundations. This post will help you get clear on the SEO basics that actually move the needle for coaches:

• Keywords (What your ideal clients are actually searching for)

• On-page SEO (Making your pages make sense to Google)

• Content (Writing stuff that actually helps people find you)

Follow-up posts will include:

• Backlinks

• Mobile Design

• Site Speed

• Technical SEO

• Local SEO (Google Business Profile)

• Google Search Console

Maybe you're wondering who I am and why you should listen to me.

Hello! I'm Hailey, a Wix Web Designer (who has also used Squarespace and Shopify), and I've been running small businesses since 2010 (which is also when I started building websites, because at that time I wasn't able to hire someone). I've learned a thing or two about a thing or two over the last 16 years and I know this stuff works because I've done it all and I've personally seen the results.

Now, let's get to it so you can start SEO-ing your small business and get on with your day.

1. Keyword Research: Step one to getting found

Know what your dream clients are actually Googling

Before you can show up in search results (SERP: search engine results page), you need to know what words and phrases your ideal clients are actually searching for when they need your services.

These words and phrases are keywords. Keyword research just means figuring out what those words are (what people are typing into Google when they’re looking for the exact thing you offer).

Here are some examples:

• "life coach for working moms"

• "brand designer for new small businesses"

• "career coach in Denver"

• "marriage therapy for professional couples"

  
  

There are short keywords and long-tail keywords. You should try to use long ones. Why? They’re more specific, less competitive, and match real search intent.

Imagine trying to find a Chinese restaurant and you search for "restaurants". You'll likely find some Chinese websites in the SERP, but they'll be hiding in there with every other type of food too! You're more likely to starve to death than finding a Chinese restaurant in time for dinner. Searching "Chinese delivery in Burnaby" though, is very specific. Those are the kind of keywords you want to rank for.

For your entire website: Focus on 5-10 primary keywords that represent your core services

• Example: "Calgary meal planning," "wedding planning Calgary," "life coaching for entrepreneurs"

  
  

For each page: Target 1 primary keyword + 2-3 secondary keywords

• Example for a services page: Primary - "Calgary life coach" | Secondary - "personal development coaching Calgary," "life coach for middle-aged professionals"

Location matters

If you want to work with local clients, or clients in-person, adding your city or region to your keywords (like "business coach in Austin") helps you show up in local search results, including that map box you see when people Google things like "business coach near me." That's prime real estate. You want to be there.

Even if you work online with clients everywhere, consider targeting your home city. It's often easier to rank locally first, then expand. But if your home city is highly saturated with businesses similar to yours, it might be easier to rank for another city that's close, that may not have as many competitors.

Where to find ideas

Try Ubersuggest, Answer the Public, Moz, Semrush or just Google "keyword research tool" and a million results will pop up.

Sometimes the best ideas come from:

• Questions your current clients ask you

• Problems you solve repeatedly

• Facebook groups where your ideal clients hang out

• The language your clients use (not industry jargon!)

How to know which keywords are worth targeting

Not all keywords are created equal. Some will bring you traffic that converts, while others might be too competitive or irrelevant to your audience, or bring tire-kickers. Here’s how to figure out which ones are worth your time:

1. Search Volume

Start by checking how many people are searching for a term each month. Tools like Ubersuggest, Semrush, or Google Keyword Planner can show you these numbers.

• Higher volume = more traffic potential

• But don’t chase huge numbers just because they're huge. Those are the words everyone will be trying to rank for. A keyword with a few hundred monthly searches can sometimes work better than one with thousands if it's super relevant to you

  
  

2. Keyword Difficulty / Competition

Most tools also show how hard it will be to rank for a keyword based on existing competition.

• If you're a beginner, look for low to medium difficulty keywords

• These might be longer phrases (long-tail keywords) like "mindset coach for female entrepreneurs" instead of just "mindset coach"

  
  

3. Search Intent

Google is smart. It ranks pages that match what users are actually looking for. Ask yourself:

• Is the person searching this trying to hire a service provider?

• Learn about the service?

• Compare different service providers or options?

  
  

You want to align your content with the intent behind the keyword. For example:

• "best life coaches" = someone doing research

• "hire life coach" = someone ready to invest

• "life coach near me" = someone ready to connect

  
  

4. Relevance to Your Offerings

Just because a keyword gets traffic doesn’t mean it’s right for you. Make sure it fits:

• What type of service(s) you offer

• What your ideal clients want and need

• What you're actually an expert in, and can deliver consistently

What to do with your keywords

Okay, so you’ve got your shiny new list of keywords. Now what?? You want to naturally work them into the places Google pays attention to:

• Page titles

• Meta descriptions

• Headers (like H1s and H2s)

• Your actual written content (Home page, blogs, service pages, about, etc)

• Image alt text

• URLs (like yourwebsite.com/wedding-photography-packages )

Yep, your page URLs matter too. But don't stress too much about this one. If your site is already live and pages are ranking, it's fine to leave them alone for now. Focus on the other things above first.

If you're building a brand new website, though, it's worth creating simple, keyword-friendly URLs from the start (think: /family-photography-packages instead of just /packages).

If you do decide to change your URLs, you’ll want to set up a 301 redirect. This just tells Google (and people) that your old link now points to a new page, so you don’t lose any SEO value or traffic. Most website builders these days (like Wix) make it easy to add redirects without touching any code.

Just make sure you use the keywords in a way that sounds natural to read and include them where it actually makes sense. Avoid trying to force them into every sentence! Remember that you’re writing for potential clients first, Google second. In fact, it can hurt your rankings if Google thinks you're being spammy.

Example of good keyword use: "I'm a certified life coach helping working moms create better work-life balance in the Seattle area."

Example of bad keyword use: "Seattle life coach life coaching Seattle working moms coach Seattle work-life balance life coach Seattle."

Do variations to word order matter?

Google understands different variations of a keyword phrase, so you don't need to repeat every version. For example, "Calgary commercial cleaning" and "commercial cleaning Calgary" are treated nearly the same. It's more important to use keywords naturally than to try to include every possible combination. Stick with what flows well, and Google will still get the message.

2. On-Page SEO: Make your pages make sense to Google

These are the behind-the-scenes tweaks that help Google (and real people) understand what your page is about and why it should rank.

Title Tags

This is the clickable title in search results. Make it clear, unique, and put your main keywords near the front. Try to keep it at 60 characters or less.

Bad: Home | Sarah's Site

Good: Mindset Coach for Business Growth – Sarah Johnson Coaching

Meta Descriptions

Your meta description is the short snippet that appears under your page title in Google search results. It's not really a ranking factor but it does make people more likely to click when it says the right things. It should be 155–165 characters long, include your main keyword naturally, and clearly explain what the page is about. Think of it as a mini ad for your services. Write it in a way that makes someone want to click through and learn more.

Page Headings

Headings help organize your content and give Google a clear idea of your page structure and what each section is about.

• H1 = Your main page title - This is the big headline at the top of the page. It's a good idea include your main keywords for each specific page. You should only have one H1 per page.

• H2 = Section headings - Use H2s to break your page into sections. These can also include keywords or related phrases.

• H3 = Sub-points under H2s - Use these to organize content within a section, kind of like bullet points but fancier.

  
  

Think of it like an outline: H1 is the title of a course or program, H2s are the main modules, and H3s are the lessons within each module.

Internal Links

Link your pages together! It helps Google understand your site and keeps people exploring. You can add links to text or use buttons.

Examples:

• A blog post about mindset work → Your coaching services page

• About page → Contact page

• Free resources → Your paid programs

Image Optimization

Large, uncompressed image files can seriously slow down your site which hurts both the user experience and your SEO. Nobody wants to wait 20 seconds for your headshot to load!

Here’s how to fix it:

• Compress your files: Use TinyPNG or Squoosh (they're free) to shrink file sizes without losing quality

  
  

• Rename files before uploading: Use descriptive names like floral-wedding-invite.jpg (not IMG_3842.jpg). Use dashes between words (like this-file-name.jpg) instead of spaces or underscores. Google reads them better.

  
  

• Add alt text: These are short image descriptions that help with accessibility and give Google more context.

  Example: "Professional headshot of Sarah Johnson, certified life coach for working moms"

  
  

• Use the right file formats:

  • JPG = best for photos

  • PNG = best for graphics with transparency (like a logo with transparent background)

  • MozJPEG = compressed format that works well on platforms

  • WebP = smaller and faster than MozJPEG but not supported by all site builders

    
    

How to name your website images

Before uploading images to your site, rename them using clear, descriptive words separated by hyphens, not underscores or spaces. For example, use monthly-coaching-program-sarah-johnson-life-coach.jpg instead of IMG_1234.jpg or mini_coaching_program.jpg. This helps search engines understand what the image is and improves your SEO. Keep it simple, relevant, and keyword-friendly when possible.

Optimizing your images doesn’t take long, but it can make a huge difference in your site speed and SEO. This one thing was HUGE for ranking my old photography website.

3. Content: Say Something Actually Helpful to Your Ideal Clients

If your website has three vague pages and hasn't been updated since you got certified, Google's gonna assume you've left the building. And if Google thinks your site is dead, it's definitely not going to send potential clients your way.

Creating fresh, helpful content is one of the best ways to show both search engines and potential clients that you're active, legit, and worth working with. The easiest (and most SEO-friendly) way to do that? Blogging.

Blogging gives you consistent opportunities to:

• Answer your ideal clients' questions

• Establish your expertise 

• Use your keywords naturally

• Build internal links between pages

• Explain your offerings

• Keep people on your site longer (which signals to Google that your content is valuable)

• Show your personality (people hire people they like and connect with!)

  
  

It also gives you more pages for Google to index, and the opportunity to be recommended by LLMs like ChatGPT and Claude, which equals more chances to show up in search results and get noticed by potential clients. A potential client might not find you through your homepage, but they might land on that blog post you wrote about "How to Overcome Imposter Syndrome as a New Entrepreneur" or "5 Signs You Need a Life Coach."

Not sure what to write about? Keep it simple and focus on what your ideal clients are already asking or struggling with:

• Explain your process (demystify what working with you looks like)

• Break down your approach (your unique methodology)

• Answer FAQs (What's the difference between coaching and therapy? How long does weekly house cleaning take?)

• Share client success stories (with permission, of course)

• Address common mindset blocks in your niche

• Give actionable tips people can use right away

• Share your own journey (why you started your business, what you've learned, how you've grown or evolved...)

Just make sure it's useful, and talk like a human. No industry jargon or buzzwords. No keyword stuffing. Write the way you'd explain something to a real person sitting across from you in a coffee shop.

Bonus tip: Refresh old content, too. You don’t have to constantly reinvent the wheel. Updating older blog posts with fresh info, better images, new experiences or clearer formatting can help them rank better. And shows Google that your site’s still active. Sometimes even small edits can give a piece of content a massive boost.

Content Ideas

Business Coaches:

• "5 Mindset Shifts Every New Entrepreneur Needs to Make"

• "How to Price Your Services Without Undervaluing Yourself"

• "The Difference Between a Business Coach and a Consultant"

Wedding Planners:

• "10 Signs You Need A Wedding Planner"

• "Planning A Destination Wedding For Under $5K"

• "How To Plan A Wedding When Your Families Hate Each Other"

Wrapping up

Getting your site ready for Google doesn’t have to be scary or complicated. Starting with the basics, like smart keyword use, clear page structure, helpful content, and simple behind-the-scenes tweaks can go a long way toward getting you found online.

If you’re working with me for a new website or a redesign, I can help make sure your site is SEO-ready from the start, with on-page optimization.

My clients will also receive my comprehensive Notion Content System (CopyCraft Studio), to guide you through planning, organizing, and writing all your content.

But if you need help with any of it, I offer copywriting services too.

Up next: Part 2 – The Overlooked SEO Essentials

Once you’ve nailed the basics like keywords and content, it’s time to look at the things most people forget, like mobile design, page speed, and backlinks. These behind-the-scenes factors can make a big difference in how well your site performs.

Read Part 2: The Overlooked Essentials – Mobile Design, Page Speed & Backlinks →

Visit my services page for more information on my packages and pricing.