SEO for local small businesses remains an important part of any online business strategy. While some love to claim that SEO is dead (especially with the rise of artificial intelligence), we are here to tell you that SEO for local small businesses still represents a legitimate set of practices for any small online business to rank higher in Google searches and more.
In today’s digitized world, every small online business needs the best strategies for thriving. That’s why your website needs to be optimized for Google, Bing, social media platforms, artificial intelligence apps, and so on. It is more important than ever before.
There are over 33 million small businesses in the USA alone, with 73% of them having an online presence in 2025. With so many businesses online, it is difficult to argue that search engine optimization doesn’t matter.
Apply best practices regarding SEO for small businesses, along with a great content marketing strategy, and your business can rank first in searches. Are you still not convinced?
A Simple Example of How SEO for Small Businesses Can Make a Difference
Let’s take an average American town as a playground for two similar businesses: two pizza parlors. They both open up for the general public at the same time—let’s say January 2023—and none of them, we can say, offers anything special. Both pizza parlors have a menu with the same ten types of pizza that you can find anywhere in the country. Besides pizza, they offer soda and coffee, as well as fries and ice cream.
After two years of operating in the same small town of 12,000 people, one parlor is thriving, while the other will soon go out of business. Why did this happen?
Of course, both businesses target the same audience. They were both in the same city. As we mentioned, neither of the two parlors offered anything special. The difference lies in their online presence and the impact SEO for small businesses has on such pizza parlors.
While one pizza parlor didn’t put much effort into its online presence, the successful parlor had an SEO strategy for small businesses starting on day one. The successful pizza parlor knew that most people today are on their phones. They also knew that consumer behavior is tied to online presence.
Today, your average American spends too many hours on his or her smartphone. If the average American starts craving pizza, the smartphone will be the means to satisfy his or her needs. The American will search on Google “best pizza in town,” and the smartphone will deliver the best results possible.
If the successful pizza parlor has invested time, money, and energy in ranking high in Google searches, i.e., had an SEO strategy for small businesses, it will get up to 500% more clients than its losing competition.
This is the reality of doing business in the digital age and the reason why SEO for small businesses. As a small business owner, you need to consider SEO best practices for small businesses from the very beginning. It doesn’t matter the nature of your business or where it operates from. If you want to become successful, you need a good SEO strategy.
Some small business owners consider that paid Google searches are a better strategy than investing in SEO for small businesses. While PPC campaigns have their advantages in the business world, studies show that organic links, i.e., non-paid links, receive more clicks.
If you want to pay Google to rank you high in search results for certain keywords, by all means do that. However, that isn’t a reason to abandon SEO for small businesses. In itself, it will help your business skyrocket long-term.
The Era of AI & SEO for Small Businesses
While some love to claim that SEO is dead because of the PPC campaigns, others point to the rise of artificial intelligence. With the launch of ChatGPT in 2023, more people have changed the traditional way of searching online.
Until 2023, your standard search meant accessing Google.com—and this was the main reason why SEO efforts targeted the giant search engine—now, more people are using tools like ChatGPT or Perplexity. Many have called it GEO, which stands for Generative Engine Optimization, and many have argued that it will take the place of SEO.
What we want to point out is that the people who make such a claim are raising a false issue. If GEO is anything, it is a form of SEO. ChatGPT still uses search engines to update its information. The way that ChatGPT or Perplexity finds your website requires keyword research and a couple of search engine optimization procedures for artificial intelligence.
In other words, AI hasn’t killed SEO, but it has changed it in some unexpected ways.
For starters, people search differently online now. They no longer use search queries as much as they used to. Now, they type prompts to generate answers. This may impact how you craft content, but the keyword remains central.
Let’s not forget one relevant piece of information for our discussions: apps like ChatGPT or Perplexity don’t rely on Google to search the internet. Instead, they rely on Bing. In this way, artificial intelligence has broken Google’s de facto monopoly on online searches. The more competition, the better for the future of SEO for small businesses.
Last but not least, let’s not ignore that Google searches still dominate the scene, with more searches done on Google than prompts generated by ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, or any other AI tool. Each hour, millions of Google searches are done. This means one thing: SEO for small businesses remains relevant even in 2025.
Some SEO Tips for Small Businesses
Now that you understand why SEO for small businesses is still relevant, it is important to follow the best pieces of advice for local SEO. We don’t claim that we have discovered them, but you must follow them if you want your small business to thrive.
What we are about to present should work for any small local business regardless of its niche. This means that these principles should work if you run a Chinese, Japanese, or Mexican restaurant. They should also work if you run a pizza parlor, as we discussed in our example, but also for dry cleaners or car washing facilities.
We recommend not applying these to large, global businesses. The practices are only for local SEO for small businesses. They don’t work for global businesses, but for local ones. Also, if you operate a larger business with different headquarters around an area, then these principles may or may not work, depending on how large the business is.
The SEO tips for small businesses
1. Claim and Optimize Your Google Business Profile (GBP)
Your Google Business profile is the foundation of your local SEO for small businesses efforts. Without it, you cannot claim to have made the effort to make your business known on the world-wide web.
When a local is searching for a service, Google recommends businesses based on proximity. You having a Google Business profile ensures that these potential clients will find you. If you have a car wash, or maybe you own the only car wash in town, then people who search for such services will find your business first—if you have a GBP.
It is important to fill in every required detail for your business—name, address, phone, website, hours, and service areas. Upload high-quality photos and add a short, keyword-rich description of what you offer. Make sure your information matches exactly what’s on your website and social media profiles. (Yes, you will need social media profiles even for a small local business.)
The more complete and consistent your profile is, the higher your business will rank in local results. Think of your GBP as your digital storefront—if it looks empty or outdated, customers will scroll past. If it’s vibrant, accurate, and engaging, Google rewards you with better visibility, and local customers are more likely to choose you.
If your small business doesn’t have a Google Business profile, create one right now.
2. Encourage and Respond to Reviews
Reviews are a sign that what your local business offers is worth the try. It is a sign for both Google and potential customers that you have something valuable to offer. You shouldn’t reduce the idea of review to your Google Business profile, though it should be your priority. Reviews all over the internet matter for your local SEO efforts for small businesses. Now, let’s discuss how reviews impact your Google rankings.
A small business that gets five hundred positive reviews will be more likely to be recommended by Google than a business that has barely received ten reviews. That’s why it is important to convince your customers to leave reviews after making a purchase.
Google also rewards businesses that reply to reviews. By doing that, you show that you love interactions, and Google will reward your business for that. Ask any SEO specialist about that, and you will see that they will agree with us. We trust the team from Exposure Ninja when it comes to SEO best practices, and they, too, recommend replying to reviews.
Attention! Avoid fake or incentivized reviews, as Google can detect and penalize these. Instead, aim for a steady flow of genuine testimonials over time. When prospects see real people praising your business, they’ll trust you faster, and Google will too.
3. Use Consistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone) Across the Web
Consistency is one of the simplest yet most overlooked factors in local SEO for small businesses. Your business’s name, address, and phone number (NAP) should appear exactly the same across all platforms. Your website, Google profile, social media, and online directories all must show consistency for the best SEO for small businesses practices.
Even small inconsistencies, like “Street” versus “St.” or a missing suite number, can weaken your credibility in search engines. Think of consistency as creating a clear digital trail that confirms your legitimacy. Google cross-checks this data across multiple sources, and discrepancies may make it uncertain about your business location or authenticity.
Maintaining consistent data helps customers find you easily and boosts your chances of appearing in local search results. That’s why you should always use the same address and the same writing system when posting your local business anywhere online.
4. Add Local Keywords Naturally to Your Website Content
Local keywords are essential for your local SEO efforts for small businesses. When you target keywords for your business, be as specific as you can. For example, if you operate a car wash in downtown Dallas, your SEO efforts should require following keywords such as “the best car wash in downtown Dallas” or “car wash in Dallas, Texas.” In this way, you can connect your website with local intent.
However, be aware of black hat SEO. Just because you must give search engines clear indications about your business’s location, this doesn’t mean that search engines won’t penalize you for keyword stuffing.
Weave local terms naturally into titles, meta descriptions, headers, and your main copy. You can also include location-based FAQs or customer stories tied to your area.
Remember: Google wants content that feels authentic and valuable, not robotic. Focus on writing for people first, search engines second.
5. Create Locally Relevant Blog Posts or Landing Pages
Local content is a powerful way to establish your authority and ensure your business appears in area-specific search results. To engage more easily with potential customers, publish blog posts on subjects like community events, local partnerships, or location-based services.
For example, a coffee shop could write about the “Best Coffee Spots in Downtown Seattle,” or a home repair service might cover “Preparing Your Home for Winter in Denver.” Every piece of this localized content significantly boosts your relevance in the eyes of search engines like Google.
These posts do more than just improve your search ranking; they humanize your brand and show that you’re an active part of the local community, rather than just an impersonal online seller.
To further strengthen your digital footprint, consider creating unique landing pages for each service area or city you operate in. Optimizing these pages with specific local keywords and detailed, non-duplicated information allows you to successfully rank for multiple neighborhoods or regions simultaneously. Ultimately, a consistent strategy of creating high-quality, location-focused content will not only drive valuable organic traffic but will also cultivate enduring trust within your local market.
6. Get Backlinks from Local Directories or Organizations
Backlinks remain one of Google’s strongest signals that a website has authority, and it should rank higher. In this regard, local SEO is no different. If your small business can receive links from other relevant local businesses or websites, your website will rank higher.
You can start constructing a strong web of backlinks by listing your website on online directories. While local directories are better for your SEO efforts for small businesses, putting your website on well-known, international ones won’t ruin your SEO efforts.
Also, consider partnerships. Sponsor a local charity event, collaborate with a nearby business, or join your local Chamber of Commerce. These connections often result in high-quality backlinks and mentions that boost your authority.
But be selective in the process! Focus on genuine, community-based sites rather than link farms or spammy directories. Again, Google can detect when a link is natural, authentic, and organic, and when it is forced for SEO reasons.
Creating a local SEO strategy for small businesses can be a fun, engaging, and rewarding effort. We know that you want your business to thrive, so that’s why we want you to be equipped with the right tools.
If you want to learn more about search engine optimization (SEO), we at Thumos Writing have a collection of articles that you may find useful. Read more about the link between content marketing & SEO if you want to understand why a content strategy is important or what SEO tools you should use for your small online business. Of course, one learns best from mistakes; that’s why we recommend our articles on the main SEO mistakes that you need to avoid.
