10 Mistakes Small Business Owners Make When Using SEO in 2025

Wouldn’t you be excited to see your business and content reaching a wide audience base online? Great! Your wish is magnifique because of its problem-solving nature and creating awareness through posts. 

But, the problem is search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo may not find them.

Why? 

Because you may have overlooked the proper usage of SEO, hence your well-crafted content never reached many people. Some simple edits on-page optimization, local SEO, or keyword research would have prevented them from losing value! 

In this article, let’s learn about what mistakes small business owners make when using SEO and simple countermeasures to prevent them.

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Table of Contents

10 Mistakes Small Business Owners Make When Using SEO

We experienced many of these mistakes ourselves, and the solving process was pretty easy compared to regular website tasks. 

1. Not Paying Attention to Keyword Research

After you initially start a blogging site, you will need to perform detailed keyword research before creating any videos, blogs, or articles. It’s a foundational base work for your website’s blogging side and paying attention to details is crucial.

Mistakes such as taking Keywords with low search volumes, high difficulty, too many competitors, or making content without going through this process is a terrible idea. 

Even though in 2025, Google is focusing more on topics than Keywords, we still can’t neglect its importance in a broader timeframe. 

So, you can’t just take a random KW from the web and start making content out of it! To achieve ranks on your content, you will need a solid keyword that has the potential to rank and offers value over time.  

Keep in mind, that searching for a good KW is as essential as making perfect content that will rank in Google Search Engine Result Page (SERP) and keep ranked for a long time. 

Here’s what a Keyword research sheet should look like,

While you start researching for keywords, you may encounter some important terms that help you find seed keywords and long-tail keywords afterward. We curated them below, 

Terms and Metrics		Definition
1	Search Volume	It simply means how many people search for the keyword per month
2	Keyword Difficulty	How competitive is the keyword in the SERP
3	Cost Per Click (CPC)	The average price an advertiser pays for a click in paid search ads for this keyword
4	Search Intent	Why would a user search for this keyword? What were the intentions behind these search
5	Domain Authority (DA) or Page Authority (PA)	This term shows if this KW has a strong domain authority over it
6	Trend	This term shows if the KW has a seasonal uprising Search Volume in a particular if it was trending or not
7	Top Pages	A list of URLs that are currently ranks the highest with the intended KWs

For this article, we used the KW “Mistakes Small Business Owners Make When Using SEO”. 

We selected this keyword through, 

1. Found its relevance with our business 

↓ 

2. Focus a Common Problem

↓  

3. Research Manually in Search Engines

↓ 

4. Check Out the Keyword Search Volume 

↓ 

5. Reviewed the “People Also Ask” Section and Featured Snippet 

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6. Finally, Picked the Right Keyword that Suits Our Niche

2. Neglecting On-Page SEO Methods

The second mistake that small business owners make is neglecting the importance of On-Page SEO and bluntly continuing their progress on a website. 

If you consider your website as a body, then take SEO as the soul. With proper SEO, you can make your website stand out without people thinking of it as a soulless bot. It’s just a practical need for any website to grow!  

Applying its methods on your website is not that hard, because most on-page SEO tactics are content-based. You can make your content, apply specific methods, afterwards publish it. 

Even applying old SEO methods such as image optimization, using relevant keywords, maintaining specific word limits, or linking to specific percentage data can greatly increase your content’s value to Google’s algorithm. 

For example, most organic search results that rank on Google’s 1st page contain 1400-1500 words on average. We just linked a specific percentage of data to one of Backlinko’s researched content. 

You get the idea! 

However, bluntly using particular outdated and unacceptable SEO tricks may do the opposite of recognition for your content like, 

• Unnaturally stuffing too many keywords. 
• Overcomplicating article contents. 
• Embedding links to fishy and unreliable sources. 
• Using AI to make content. 

People and Google algorithms especially hate AI-based content, so try to minimize its uses while you create the best piece.

3. Ignoring User Experience

Your website has to ensure a good user experience, keep the existing user on hold, also be as friendly and simple as possible. Sometimes, a good user experience can cover up the bad pile of content without any proper SEO. 

Well, you can take user experience as some combined features or methods that can help your users to feel comfortable while navigating your users. 

You can divide the user experience into 5 different areas, it’s surprising that most of these are just parts of your combined SEO strategy!

+ Website Optimization 

It’s crucial to make your website’s navigation smoother, so any prospects scrolling through your site can get precise information with ease. Optimization focuses on these website features, for example, navigation, design responsiveness, or easier functionality via different devices.  

Just think your users are getting what they want, they will definitely be looking for more. So, it pretty much comes down to having a good experience. 

+ Friendly Websites 

By friendly websites, we mean – 

• Navigation menus that are easy to navigate.
• A website that fits perfectly in screen sizes. 
• Simplified website layout. 
• No advertisement or any other sort of pop-up distraction. 
• A secure website browsing experience. 

Applying to most of these edits will be perfect to make your website friendly enough and turn it into a surgery delight. 

+ Simplicity for Landing Page

Landing pages are the best to make a simple website look and showcase preciseness of your given services. But, the design has to be beautiful yet simple because remember your audience wants to reach a meaningful end as fast as possible. 

There are thousands of great landing pages out there that represent beauty, simplicity, and straightforwardness at the same time.

Another great example is GetResponse, which covers all the essential elements ranging from perfect style, conveying a message, simplified navigation bar, and features.  

The last example is Slack which perfectly represents all their services without any complex design or outlandish element.  

+ Information Jot

Adding tons of information without any practical structure might make your prospects overwhelmed with unnecessary information.

It will be less helpful and more of an info jot! So, try to keep your content, jot-free and ensure you are aiming to be on the point.

4. Avoiding Old Content Updates

You will see websites containing hundreds of articles content in their blogs, thousands of old video content, and countless other media. 

Having such a huge pile is not bad, but is it good though? Also, are the old uploaded contents performing well on Google SERP and maintaining a specific rank position? But, the real question is why even care about old content? 

Well, your old content is the pillar of your website’s foreseeable growth. They may be outdated but still hold remarkable importance to your site’s overall growth. 

And, here is a bulleted list of their significance, -_- 

• These contents will drive continuous traffic to your website. 
• Will make your website credible and establish authority. 
• They contain valuable backlinks from trusted sources. 
• Improves your domain authority. 
• Old content is the base of your blog site.
• They represent evergreen topics and maintain user engagement for a long time. 

However, these pillar contents will lose their value and may lose rank over time. This is why repurposing aged content is crucial!

So, importance check ✔ 

What’s best about old content updates is that you don’t need to be 100% perfect.

Just make some small changes, for example, updating LSI keywords, updating outdated statistics data,  improving the intro/ conclusion, and finally replacing all broken or dead website links.

5. Publishing Articles Without Images or Other Engaging Visuals

Images make content more heavy, make your site load slower, and the usual blah blah; trust us, images make your content lively! Just like breathing fresh air. 

These visual elements can help your readers understand complex writings simply by using an infographic or an image to present an example. Most images or any other visual elements just make your writing more interesting. 

If images are not your strong point, then consider making more detailed content such as videos. Whatever, your content is make sure you explain the topic and simplify the process perfectly!

6. Avoiding Local SEO Tactics

Local SEO is a determining factor in getting recognized by an audience base of people who are most likely to become your customers.

Without any local address, online presence, or local contact information, you are missing out on a significant audience poll sir!  

So, 

You may have a local brick-and-wall store, consider opening a Google business account for it. A business profile will work great for your physical store, and give it enough visibility to get recognized for sure. 

A local business account or Google Business Profile (GBP), is a digital tool that lets businesses manage their online presence across Google Maps and Google Search Result Pages (SERP).

When a user searches for something such as a grocery shop, parlor, restaurant, cafe, or hospital that suits the requirements of your business will appear on their result page.

Even typing the entire name will do so! 

Let’s open a Google Business Profile (GBP) just by following the below 3 easy steps.

Step 1:  Visit the Google Business Profile Page

First, ensure that you have a proper Gmail account because without one you are not eligible. Then go to the Google Business Profile Page. Press Manage now. 

Step 2: Fill All the Necessary Fields

Add the name of your business. Afterwards, select the Category. 

Now, you will fill up the business location section.

On this page, you will have to manually enter your business location and ask for information about your business’s 

• Country. 
• Street Address. 
• City. 
• State. 
• Zip Code. 

You may also need to set your location using Google Maps.

Step 3: Add Contact Information and Verify Your Profile

Now, all you need to do is add your contact information such as your phone number and Gmail account.

Finally, verify your Google Business Profile by going through some finishing steps. You may need to go through 1 verification process or many, which depends on your convenience.

Unfortunately, how much time this process will take or when they will contact you depends on Google. So you might have to wait them out! After the verification process ends, you will see your business on Google Maps and SERPs.

7. Skipping Schema Markups for Official Business Websites

Schema Markup is your website’s structured data that helps search engines identify it and understand your content. 

This element significantly increases your website’s visibility, helping it to appear in search results more often. Also, markups work like featured snippets that appear as questions.

Not adding schema markup can cause your website some visibility-related problems, 

• Decreases your website’s chances of appearing in search results. 
• Makes your content complex for search engines to understand. 
• Significantly lowers your Click-through Rates (CTR). 
• Missed traffic from users. 
• Weakens your website’s credibility by providing good information.

8. Overlooking Competitor Monitoring Practices 

Imagine, a large base of potential clients interacting with your competitor’s business, and getting customers and profits that could have been yours.

It’s a hard-to-swallow truth, but it will happen again and again and again! Until you do some competitor analysis. 

If you are ignoring this crucial SEO strategy, chances of you missing out on valuable insights, information, and statistical data. Eventually, your strategies will not be effective and campaigns will not live up to your expectations. 

But, 

Competitor analysis eliminates most of these hassles and helps you achieve your desired outcomes. You can understand what type of content your audience loves, the information structure they admire, their preferred social media posts, and any information about strong backlinks. 

Take competitor analysis as a sniper rifle that targets competitors, instead of potential clients, general audience, and regular prospects.

9. Not “Eyeballing” Ranked Keywords

You may have a bunch of articles published on your website, but don’t have the time to monitor them. It’s an SEO mistake that can heavily impact your site’s future growth!

It’s a simple process! Your task is monitoring previous keywords that have ranked, the objective will be, 

• If they maintain a rank position. 
• How much time did it take to rank in the top 30 or 10 SERP positions?  
• Does the KW have many competitors? 
• How good are the other contents written on that specific KW? 
• Or, If they ranked at all. 

Just open a Google Sheet file and enter your monitoring data there. You can monitor your content once a week or 15 days, is enough.

10. Failing to Monitor Changes and Not Adapting

SEO is not static, but a variable element that is an ever-evolving landscape. If you want to maintain an uprising progress, you will need to look out for small details and information.

You may not analyze your changes, but search engines are always refining its process to rank content. Not just monitoring, but adaptability will also be a crucial element for your online presence.

Adapting to new trends, factors, and creation techniques can help you yield expected results. But, not doing so may result in wasted resources and a significant drop in search performance.

One of the greatest examples of adaptability is Nokia.

In the early 2000s, Nokia used to dominate the mobile phone market with their stylish button phones. However, the uprising smartphone market diminished its popularity rapidly and at that time, Nokia also didn’t make any progress toward developing smartphones. 

By 2013, Nokia’s inability to keep up with smart technology resulted in significant market demands, which eventually led them to sell their mobile phone division to Microsoft.

FAQs

Only 36% of Small Businesses Mind about SEO Strategies, So Stand Out by Leveraging Yours

It’s true, a Medium article suggests that only 36% of small businesses have a working SEO strategy. 

They also report that most small or startup businesses don’t have enough time to execute a longer process and want to see quick results fast. 

With an approach like this, they eventually crumble into failure and are forced to shut down without seeing any success. 

But, you can change the fate of your business. You will undoubtedly need SEO but give it time to flourish and that will surely bring meaningful results. 

Even the 7th Wonder of the World- the Taj Mahal took 22 years to build!