Most SEO advice online is written for SEO professionals, not for business owners. It's full of jargon, vague promises, and tactics that were relevant five years ago. Here's what actually moves the needle for small businesses right now.
Start with Google Business Profile
If you do nothing else, do this. Claim your Google Business Profile. Fill it out completely. Add real photos. Post updates occasionally.
For local businesses — restaurants, shops, service providers — this is often more important than your website. When someone searches "software company near me" or "web developer in Colombo," Google shows the map pack first. Your website might not even appear above the fold, but your Business Profile will.
It's free. It takes about 30 minutes. And it's the single highest-ROI thing most small businesses can do for SEO.
Your website needs to load fast
This isn't optional anymore. Google has been using page speed as a ranking factor since 2021, and it's only gotten more important.
Here's what "fast" means in practical terms:
- Your site should load in under 2.5 seconds on mobile
- The main content should appear without layout shifts
- Clicking a button should respond within 100 milliseconds
If your site takes 5+ seconds to load on a phone, you're losing visitors AND ranking positions. Test yours at pagespeed.web.dev — it's Google's own tool.
Write for humans, then check the boxes for Google
There's a temptation to stuff your pages with keywords. Don't. Google's gotten remarkably good at understanding natural language. Write clearly about what you do, who you do it for, and where you do it.
That said, there are some basics worth getting right:
- Title tags. Each page needs a unique, descriptive title under 60 characters.
- Meta descriptions. Write a compelling summary under 155 characters. It doesn't directly affect ranking, but it affects whether people click.
- Heading structure. One H1 per page. Use H2s and H3s to organise content logically.
- Internal links. Link your pages to each other where it makes sense. This helps Google understand your site structure and keeps visitors exploring.
Location pages are underrated
If you serve specific areas, create dedicated pages for them. Not thin, spammy pages with the city name swapped out — real pages with content relevant to that location.
We do this at PrimeTechix. We have pages for Colombo, Jaffna, Vavuniya, and London because the needs and context genuinely differ between those markets. A client in Jaffna looking for Tamil-language software has different priorities than a London startup looking for an MVP.
These pages help Google associate your business with specific locations, and they give potential clients a page that actually speaks to their situation.
Don't ignore mobile
Over 60% of web traffic in Sri Lanka is mobile. In the UK, it's about 55%. If your site doesn't work well on a phone, you're invisible to more than half your potential customers.
Mobile-friendly doesn't just mean "it fits on a small screen." It means:
- Buttons are big enough to tap
- Text is readable without zooming
- Forms are easy to fill out on a touchscreen
- Nothing important is hidden behind a hover state
Structured data helps more than you think
This one's slightly more technical, but it's worth mentioning. Structured data (JSON-LD) tells Google exactly what your page is about — your business name, location, services, FAQs, reviews.
It's the difference between Google guessing what your page is about and Google knowing. It can also get you rich results in search — things like FAQ dropdowns, star ratings, and breadcrumbs that make your listing stand out.
What doesn't work anymore
- Buying backlinks. Google's spam detection is genuinely good now. Low-quality links will hurt more than help.
- Keyword stuffing. Writing "best software company in London" twelve times on a page doesn't work. It looks desperate and Google knows it.
- Publishing AI-generated content at scale. Google can detect it, and even if it can't, readers can. Thin content that says nothing useful won't rank for long.
The honest truth about SEO
SEO takes time. If someone promises you page-one rankings in a month, they're either lying or using tactics that'll get you penalised eventually.
Good SEO is about building something genuine — a fast website, useful content, real expertise — and giving Google reasons to trust you. That takes months, not weeks.
But once it starts working, it compounds. The traffic comes while you sleep. And unlike ads, it doesn't stop the moment you stop paying.