Stand out online: 5 SEO strategies for small business in 2025

Ready to ensure your Pasadena café, shop, or wellness space appears first in local Google searches? Effective SEO can elevate your website and attract more customers. I’m Marion, web designer at Acorn Creative, and I’ve helped local businesses like Beyond Our Dreams Infant Care & Preschool and Mother the Mamas enhance their online presence. Their sites now rank for “Pasadena daycare” and “Pasadena mom community,” surpassing Yelp. SEO is about connecting your community with your business. Here are five strategies to strengthen your small business’s SEO and thrive in 2025.

1. Incorporate Local Keywords to Attract Neighbors

When someone searches “Pasadena law firm” or “daycare near me,” you want your business to lead the results. Local keywords align with what customers enter on Google. For Beyond Our Dreams Infant Care & Preschool, we integrated “Pasadena daycare” into the site’s title and headers. Now, parents discover their nurturing daycare before browsing Yelp reviews.

How to Do It: Include your city and service in page titles, headings, or a homepage sentence. Need keyword ideas? Explore Google’s “People Also Ask” or use AnswerThePublic, a free tool. For café owners, “Pasadena coffee shop” could be your key to visibility.

2. Optimize Your Site for Mobile

Over 60% of searches occur on mobile devices, and Google prioritizes sites that load quickly and display well on smaller screens. A poorly optimized mobile site frustrates users. For Mother the Mamas, we streamlined images and applied responsive design, enabling moms to explore wellness events effortlessly on their phones. This improves rankings and user satisfaction.

How to Do It: Collaborate with a designer to create a responsive site that adapts to any screen. Compress images to under 100KB and target load times below 3 seconds. A seamless mobile experience drives more clicks and satisfied visitors.

3. Enhance Visibility with a Google Business Profile

Your Google Business Profile acts as a prominent listing on Google’s front page. A complete profile with your website, hours, and photos strengthens SEO and directs traffic to your site. Beyond Our Dreams linked their profile to their site, clarifying tour information for parents. This drives more clicks than Yelp alone.

How to Do It: Claim your Google Business Profile, a free service, add your website URL, and keep details current, including hours, specials, and photos. Respond to reviews to demonstrate activity. A café could share weekly specials to attract locals. Linking to your site creates a powerful SEO combination.

4. Create Content That Engages Visitors

Google favors sites that keep visitors engaged, and compelling content is essential. Consider blog posts or an “About” page with personality. A bakery might share “Why Our Cupcakes Are Hand-Decorated” to attract customers, or a coffee shop could offer “Top Coffee Brewing Tips” to draw enthusiasts. Quality content signals to Google that your site deserves a higher ranking.

How to Do It: Highlight what sets your business apart, aiming for 300+ words per page. Update content every few months to maintain relevance. If writing isn’t your strength, a designer can develop content that resonates. Engaging content invites customers to explore your site further.

5. Build Authority with Local Backlinks

Backlinks, or links to your site from reputable sources, signal credibility to Google. Local backlinks, such as from the Pasadena Chamber or a community blog, are especially valuable.

How to Do It: Engage with local organizations, like the Pasadena Chamber, or contribute guest posts to blogs like Pasadena Now. Even an event listing can help. Building backlinks requires time, but one high-quality link surpasses numerous Yelp reviews. Start small to elevate your site’s ranking.

Elevate Your Business with SEO

SEO is straightforward: it’s about helping Pasadena locals find your business. These five strategies, from local keywords to backlinks, can transform your website into a customer magnet.

Ready to elevate your online presence? Book a consultation to explore how SEO can benefit your business. As a new mom building my own company, I’m dedicated to helping Pasadena businesses thrive online, one website at a time.