Learn about what an Small and Medium Size business is, what they always want from an SEO perspective, what may be stopping them from achieving their SEO goals, what on-page SEO strategies can be done to improve them and how to future proof to ensure those tasks get done.

1. How to future-proof your
SEO Strategy for SMEs
Slideshare.Net/AnthonyBarone4
@StudioHawk
Anthony Barone
StudioHawk

2. Co-Founder & MD of
StudioHawk UK, an SEO only
agency

3. What is an SME
business?
@studiohawk #BrightonSEO How to future-proof your SEO Strategy for SMEs

4. An SME is any organisation that
has fewer than 250 employees
and a turnover of less than £50
million.

5. Micro Business
less than or equal to £2m
less than 10 people

6. Small Business
less than or equal to £10m
less than 50 people

7. Medium Sized Business
less than or equal to £50m
less than 250 people

10. According to Rob
Boyle’s 2021 study
for Jigsaw Metric

11. Companies with
1-10 people have an range of 2-3
people in their marketing
department

12. Companies with
11-100 people have an range of
3-9 people in their marketing
department.

13. What do SMEs
always want?
@studiohawk #BrightonSEO How to future-proof your SEO Strategy for SMEs

14. Traffic, and lots of it

16. 󰤅 Just want organic traffic
💡 Know it has to be relevant traffic that
converts
❤ Know the exact customer they want
to target

17. Rankings, Rankings

18. lol

19. yay

20. 󰤅 They want to rank QUICK
󰤅 Rank for ‘flash’ & only high volume
keywords
❤ Some know the quality & intent of
the keyword they want to rank

21. Money, Money, Money

22. 💵 Some just want pure cash
📈 They want the ROI
💡 Some want improved conversion
rates & a better customer journey

23. 💡 Line up business goals with SEO
goals
󰤅 Some want guarantees with SEO
💡 Others only want a reference point

24. Why can’t they
achieve this?
@studiohawk #BrightonSEO How to future-proof your SEO Strategy for SMEs

25. People can be a problem

26. 😓 Leadership Issues
❌ Too many bottlenecks & multiple
departments
🤐 Micro management & trust issues
@studiohawk #BrightonSEO How to future-proof your SEO Strategy for SMEs

27. @studiohawk #BrightonSEO How to future-proof your SEO Strategy for SMEs

28. SEO is like PPC yeah?

29. 🫠 Leaders are uneducated about SEO
❌ No reference point as to what SEO
is or the potential of SEO
💾 Those who aren’t ‘digital’ now need
to ‘learn digital’
@studiohawk #BrightonSEO How to future-proof your SEO Strategy for SMEs

31. Lack of Clear Goals & KPIS

32. 󰤅 No idea what they should be tracking
❌ Poor data fails to establish
relevant goals & KPIs
󰤅 No idea how SEO strategy aligns
business goals

34. Lack of Prioritisation &
Direction

35. ❌ Not knowing what will move the
needle for the business
󰤅 No idea what to ask of the SEO’s &
how SEO should work for the business
❌ Recency Bias

37. Limited Resources

38. 😟 Overwhelmed or under resourced
marketing department
😭 Lacking internal support like
developers, designers, content
creators, or an agency

40. Technical SEO Issues

41. 󰤅 If Google can’t crawl or index the
site, then what’s the point?
󰱢 Lacking technical resources
🫠 Historic technical issues & poor
foundations that just can’t be fixed

43. Actionable On
Page Strategies
@studiohawk #BrightonSEO How to future-proof your SEO Strategy for SMEs

44. Show your authority with
E-E-A-T

45. Google Blog March 2023 -
https://blog.google/products/search/google-search-new-fact-checking-misinformation/

46. Heathline

47. Here are some other ways to improve
E-E-A-T
📚 Expertise Pages
❓ About Us page

48. Be a topical authority

49. @studiohawk #BrightonSEO How to future-proof your SEO Strategy for SMEs
Holland &
Barrett

50. Metadata is underrated

51. ASOS

52. Open doors with internal
linking

53. Moz
Holland &
Barrett

54. What can B2B’s focus on?

55. Quality Services Pages

56. Kingsley
Napley

57. Expertise Pages

58. Oliver
Wyman
Worley

59. Clear call to action buttons

60. Slack Hubspot
Evernote

61. Here are some other focuses for B2B
businesses:
💻 Case studies
💻 Location pages

62. What can B2C’s focus on?

63. Key category pages

64. IKEA

65. Above the fold content

66. ASOS

67. Frequently Asked
Questions

68. Holland & Barrett

69. Reviews

70. Avene
Skincare

71. Here are some other focuses for B2C
businesses:
💻 Optimised product pages
💻 UX and CRO

72. How do you
futureproof?
@studiohawk #BrightonSEO How to future-proof your SEO Strategy for SMEs

73. Be in the loop
‘Don’t get blindsided’

74. 🤔 Do your best to have open
communication to know what going on
with:
- Developers
- Content Team
- Product Teams

75. Proactivity
‘Getting sh*t done’

76. 󰚦 If the business isn’t implementing
changes that you need, sometimes, it’s
better to ask for forgiveness

77. Reporting
‘A tangible thing in an intangible
industry’

78. 📊 Show value so the business, client
or management, understand what’s
going on & show wins to get more buy
in

80. Keyword Pioneering
‘Lead the pack’

81. 📈 The act of predicting & optimising
for keywords that have no data within
SEO tools, but start to become widely
used within an industry.
Itamar Blauer

82. Takeaways
@studiohawk #BrightonSEO How to future-proof your SEO Strategy for SMEs

83. →
→
→
SME businesses are everywhere
The key desires are Organic Traffic,
Rankings, Revenue & ROI
Lack of Education, Direction,
Resources holding them back

84. E-E-A-T, Metadata, Internal Linking
Communication, Proactivity &
Reporting, Keyword Pioneering
→
→

85. Thanks!
Anthony Barone
StudioHawk
anthony@studiohawk.co.uk
LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/anthony-barone-seo
Instagram
@tonybaroney