Helpful summary
Overview: We discuss the top 10 SEO agencies for small businesses, focusing on how these agencies can enhance online visibility, drive traffic, and increase revenue.
Why you can trust us: As an SEO agency with a proven track record of assisting small businesses, our case study with Upscribe, a Shopify app, highlights a 4x increase in organic traffic within 5 months. This showcases our ability to deliver significant SEO results for small businesses.
Why this is important: Hiring an SEO agency is crucial for small businesses to enhance their search engine rankings, attract more traffic, and increase revenue. At Embarque, our expertise in local and niche markets enables us to offer tailored strategies for substantial growth.
Action points: We recommend small businesses engage with an experienced SEO agency, like Embarque, to develop and implement a tailored SEO strategy that addresses your unique needs and goals.
Further research: For more insights, small businesses should explore different SEO agencies and their specific offerings to find the best fit for your digital marketing needs.
Want to find the perfect SEO agency for your small business?
For many small business owners, the challenge of improving online visibility is all too familiar. You've likely spent hours researching how to rank higher in search engine results, only to realize that SEO is a complex field that's constantly evolving. It's a common predicament: you know SEO is essential, but how do you implement it effectively with limited time and resources?
As an SEO agency with a proven track record of helping small businesses and startups improve their search engine rankings, Embarque brings clarity to the confusion of SEO. With a team of experts who stay on top of the latest trends and algorithm changes, we are equipped to deliver strategies that are both effective and tailored to the unique needs of smaller enterprises.
So, in this article, we’ll help you tackle the mystery of SEO for small businesses and guide you toward making an informed decision for your company's digital future.
Why listen to us?
We're an SEO agency that has a proven track record of helping small businesses skyrocket in traffic and revenue growth through SEO. For instance, we transformed Valheim Server Hosting from zero web presence to 60,000 organic visits and over $35,000 in revenue in under five months. Similarly, SignHouse, a SaaS eSignature service, experienced a 60-fold increase in organic traffic in just six months, establishing a strong online presence from scratch.
These SEO wins demonstrate our ability to deliver substantial growth in traffic and revenue for small businesses, leveraging tailored SEO strategies.
What is an SEO agency for small businesses?
An SEO agency for small businesses focuses on helping them get noticed more online. These agencies understand the nuances of local and niche markets, leveraging strategies that help small businesses improve their online visibility, attract more traffic, and ultimately, increase sales.
Take, for instance, our collaboration with Signhouse, a startup navigating the challenge of establishing an online presence from the ground up. With no existing content base or SEO strategy, we had to start from scratch.
However, this presented an opportunity to showcase our proficiency in assisting startups like Signhouse in driving organic traffic. Our tailored strategy involved crafting a customized content plan, emphasizing quality SEO content, strategic keywords, and a robust backlink profile. The result? Nothing short of amazing!
In late 2022, SignHouse's organic traffic fluctuated between 0 and 100 per month. After putting our plan into action and rolling out content almost daily on their brand-new blog section, we began to see significant growth within just 2-3 months. And by July 2023, they exceeded 60,000 organic visitors monthly—an outstanding x60 organic traffic growth in a mere 6 months.
Why are SEO agencies for small businesses important?
Leveling the playing field
SEO empowers small businesses to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with industry giants in search engine results. Even with limited budgets, a well-crafted SEO strategy can elevate the online visibility of small businesses, ensuring they are as discoverable as large corporations.
This levels the playing field, providing small businesses with a fair opportunity to capture the attention of potential customers searching for products or services, especially in a competitive niche.
Local optimization
Many small businesses focus on serving their local area. SEO agencies can help them by making sure their online information is set up in a way that makes it easy for people nearby to find them. This includes optimizing the business’s website and online profiles to show up in local searches, like when someone looks for a "bakery near me" or "car repair in [city name].”
Cost-effective marketing
Compared to other types of advertising, SEO is more affordable and effective. It focuses on reaching people who are already interested in what you have to offer. Instead of paying a lot of money for ads that might not even be seen by the right people, SEO targets those who are already looking for the goods or services you provide, which can lead to better sales without a huge investment.
Building trust and credibility
When a small business appears higher in search results, it can make the website appear more trustworthy to potential customers. SEO agencies help small businesses create a professional and user-friendly website that ranks well, which can make customers more confident in choosing their services over others.
Long-term results
Unlike paid ads that stop bringing in traffic once you stop paying, SEO provides benefits that last. An SEO agency can help a small business build a strong online foundation that continues to attract new customers over time, without needing constant investment.
Our work with MentorCruise, an online platform offering mentorships from people working at top technology companies worldwide, is a perfect example of this. They have been our client for more than three years.
And throughout our partnership with them, we have achieved incredible results, such as improving their search to more than 2 million visits per year, having a year-on-year growth of 1,600% traffic, and increasing their monthly trials by 1,000% in the past 18 months. Our long-term partnership with MentorCruise is a testament to the success and longevity of our strategies as an SEO agency that caters to small businesses like SaaS, marketplaces, job boards, and more.
Better user experience
SEO isn't just about keywords and links, it's also about providing a better experience for people who visit your website. SEO agencies can help small businesses make their websites faster, easier to use, and helpful to visitors. This can lead to more people staying on the website, exploring it, and eventually becoming customers.
Criteria to consider when choosing an SEO agency for your small business
Experience with small businesses
It's important to choose an SEO agency that has worked with other small businesses like yours. They should understand your market and have a history of helping businesses in your industry succeed. This means they'll be more likely to know what will work for you.
Consider our work with Hostari, a small business in the gaming industry hosting Valheim servers. Initially relying on paid search for client acquisition, they faced rising costs. To address this, we implemented a cost-effective SEO content strategy, focusing on creating quality content around Valheim servers to boost topical authority.
Despite a tight budget, we prioritized low-competition, high-volume queries, developed a monthly content calendar, established an internal linking structure, and ensured top-notch content. The outcome? In under five months, Valheim Server Hosting achieved first-page visibility on Google, resulting in over $35,000 in revenue.
Transparency and reporting
A good SEO agency will be open with you about what they're doing and how well it's working. They should provide you with regular updates and reports that show you the results of their efforts. This helps you see where your money is going and whether the agency is really helping your business grow.
Customized strategies
Your business is unique, and your SEO strategy should be too. The right agency takes the time to understand your specific business goals and tailors a plan to meet your individual needs. This personalized approach ensures a higher likelihood of success by addressing the specific challenges and requirements of your business.
And this is exactly what happened with one of our clients, Upscribe—a subscription management app that offers a quick, painless way for Shopify business owners to set up a subscription service in their name.
Before we stepped in, they faced challenges with slow traffic growth for their subscription management app on Shopify. Despite positive reviews from existing subscribers, attracting new users proved challenging, and organic traffic stagnated around 400-500 monthly searches from 2021 to 2022.
Choosing Embarque from the multitude of SEO agencies was a wise decision for Upscribe. Our team crafted a comprehensive SEO strategy that involved identifying suitable topics, discovering relevant high-performing keywords, and creating quality SEO content tailored to resonate with their target audience.
The results were remarkable. From the initial 400-500 monthly organic searches, Upscribe achieved a milestone of 700 organic searches in October 2022. Today, their organic traffic has soared to 1,779 searches per month in just 5 months, showcasing the impact of a personalized and effective SEO strategy.
Communication skills
The agency you choose should be easy to talk to and understand. They should explain SEO in a way that makes sense to you, without a lot of jargon, and be responsive to your questions and concerns. Good communication is key to a strong partnership.
Up-to-date and ethical practices
SEO changes all the time. The agency should use the latest methods and be aware of the newest trends in SEO to help your website rank well.
It's also important that the agency uses ethical, or white hat SEO practices. This means they follow search engine guidelines and don't try to cheat the system, which can get your site penalized or even banned from search results.
Reputation and reviews
Look at what other people are saying about the agency. Positive reviews and testimonials from past clients can give you confidence that the agency is respected and has delivered good results. Don't be afraid to ask for references or case studies.
Value for money
While you don't want to choose an agency based solely on price, you should feel confident that you're getting good value for what you're paying. The agency should be able to explain what you're paying for and why their services are worth the investment.
Top 10 SEO agencies for small businesses
- Embarque
- Focus Digital
- Delante
- SmartSites
- First Page Sage
- Titan Growth
- Ignite Visibility
- 1SEO
- Vital Growth Digital Marketing
- Disruptive Advertising
1. Embarque
Embarque is a premium content marketing agency that focuses on enhancing the unique traits of small businesses through quality SEO content and precise keyword targeting. Our specialists are adept at converting visitors into buyers by leveraging their extensive experience in providing value to small online businesses globally.
Our services are ideal for small businesses seeking to amplify their unique selling propositions and rapidly scale their online presence.
Services Offered
- Strategic Keyword Research: Focuses on identifying keywords that have low competition but high potential for driving traffic, which is particularly useful for small businesses with budget constraints.
- Product-led SEO Content Creation: Creates SEO-optimized content that resonates with the business's audience and improves search rankings.
- Premium, White-Hat Backlinking: Uses ethical backlinking strategies to improve your website's authority and rankings in search engine esults.
- Local SEO: Boosts visibility on Google Maps and the initial search page for local queries to attract more customers and enhance sales.
- SEO Content Republishing: Optimizes old content to achieve a first-page ranking on Google within just 24 hours of republication.
2. Focus Digital
Focus Digital offers agency-level SEO services at pricing suitable for small and growing businesses. Their approach is centered around delivering qualified leads through a realistic and ROI-focused SEO methodology.
Services Offered
- Keyword Targeting and Content Creation: Targets relevant keywords and creates content that induces action from prospects.
- Optimized Web Funnel: Fine-tunes website funnels for maximum conversion of visitors into leads.
- Targeted SEO Content: Focuses on converting visitors to customers and engaging them through targeted content.
3. Delante
Delante is an SEO and SEM-specialized company that brings over 100 years of combined SEO expertise to its clients. They provide a hands-on approach to SEO, suitable for small businesses looking to offload the complexity of SEO while seeing positive outcomes.
Services Offered
- Local SEO: Helps small businesses become more visible to local customers searching for their products or services.
- Technical SEO: Optimizes the technical aspects of your website to improve visibility, including metadata, heading structure, robos.txt files., and sitemap implementation.
- Link Building and Content Planning: Manually creates links from quality domains and prepares a content plan tailored to industry and location.
4. SmartSites
SmartSites is a comprehensive digital marketing agency that provides a wide range of services to help small businesses succeed online. They specialize in SEO marketing to ensure long-term success, including listing businesses on hundreds of directories and consistent blogging for continuous organic growth.
Services Offered
- SEO Analysis: They conduct thorough SEO analysis to understand the current performance and identify areas for improvement.
- SEO Consulting: Provides expert advice and guidance on how to enhance SEO strategies.
- SEO Blogging Services: Regular content creation through blogging, essential for driving organic traffic.
5. First Page Sage
First Page Sage is known as a popular SEO agency in the U.S., offering a comprehensive SEO system that focuses on generating qualified leads and ROI over the long term. They utilize a specialized team of writers, UX designers, conversion optimizers, and data analysts to bring an entire organic marketing system to life.
Services Offered
- SEO Content Creation: Produces original content linked to calls-to-action and conversion pages, turning rankings into qualified leads.
- Strategy-Driven SEO: Crafts a long-term strategy based on the company’s goals, involving a specialized team of writers, UX designers, and data analysts.
- Technical SEO Audit: Examines and addresses foundational website issues that affect search rankings and conversion rates.
6. Titan Growth
Titan Growth is a growth-focused digital marketing agency combining extensive experience with patented technology to help clients grow their brand, revenue, and profit.
Services Offered
- Geospatial Site Analysis (TitanBOT® Nucleus): Offers insights into site architecture, internal links, and nodes for SEO performance improvement.
- Data-Driven SEO Strategy with TitanBOT®: Uses proprietary software to emulate search engine spiders, identifying testing opportunities and predicting search outcomes.
- Keyword Research and Competitive Analysis: Involves a deep analysis of site performance and competitor strategies.
7. Ignite Visibility
Ignite Visibility is a highly-awarded performance marketing agency recognized for its expertise in digital strategy, paid media, SEO, social media, creative work, and email marketing. They offer full-service digital marketing solutions, encompassing various aspects from SEO to creative email marketing.
Services Offered
- Local SEO: Focuses on optimizing Google My Business profiles and establishing consistency across business listings.
- Multilingual and Multiregional SEO: Offers specialized strategies for global market expansion, ensuring that content resonates with local audiences in their native language.
- eCommerce SEO: Addresses technical issues, optimizes product descriptions, and improves internal linking structures for e-commerce sites.
8. 1SEO
1SEO Digital Agency provides comprehensive digital marketing services designed to boost online sales and manage social media presence for small businesses.
Services Offered
- Keyword Research: Begins with thorough keyword research using tools like Google Ads and SEMrush to understand the value and search volume of keywords.
- On-Page Optimization: Focuses on creating content with well-optimized elements like URLs, meta titles, and meta descriptions.
- Backlink Building: Implements strategies for acquiring backlinks from other reputable sites.
9. Vital Growth Digital Marketing
Vital Growth Digital Marketing is a marketing agency specializing in enhancing brands through top-tier SEO, product-centered content, and Google Ads.
Services Offered
- Full-Service SEO: They specialize in developing SEO strategies that enhance website rankings, drive traffic, and increase conversions, focusing on long-term brand presence.
- Keyword Research and Analysis: Identifies relevant and high-performing keywords, crucial for optimizing the website to appear in search results for targeted search terms.
- Content Creation and Optimization: Focuses on creating and optimizing search-engine-friendly content to drive traffic and improve search rankings, along with optimizing existing website content.
10. Disruptive Advertising
Disruptive Advertising is a digital marketing agency that goes beyond managing ad accounts to provide a full-funnel marketing strategy. They focus on leveraging the best platforms and services to address the challenges faced by small businesses and aid in their growth.
Services Offered
- On-Page Optimization: Involves optimizing web pages to rank higher in search engines by improving content, meta tags, site structure, and ensuring mobile-friendliness and technical soundness.
- SEO Reporting and Analysis: Provides insights into the website's performance with a custom dashboard and analysis.
- Content Creation and Writing: Provides services in keyword research and copywriting to improve online visibility and boost conversions.
Final thoughts
SEO is a critical component for small businesses looking to enhance their online presence and compete effectively in the digital marketplace. Agencies like Embarque offer specialized services that cater to the unique needs of small businesses, enabling them to achieve significant improvements in organic traffic and overall visibility.
If you're a small business owner looking to boost your online presence and drive substantial growth, Embarque is your go-to SEO agency. We are ready to navigate the complexities of SEO with you, crafting a strategy that aligns perfectly with your business goals.
Contact Embarque today, and let's embark on a journey to optimize your digital footprint and scale your small business fast!
