If you run a niche business and are considering doing Search Engine Optimization, now is the right time to start. Don’t let the fact that you’re targeting a particular market discourage you. It’s a bonus.
Your niche market is special because not everyone is going after it. Why?
Simply because there are fewer people to sell to in this market.
But here’s the good news: when there’s less competition, you have a great chance to become the go-to source for your niche over time.
Think about it this way: in a big market, you’re just another face in the crowd. But in your niche, you can stand out. Your niche SEO efforts can help you reach the exact people who are looking for what you offer.
It might take some time, but with the right approach, you can make your business the first one people think of when they need what you sell.
Benefits of doing SEO for Niche Market
- Less Competition – SEO works on the basic principle of demand. The more demand a search term has, the more competition. With niche markets, search terms are often less competitive, making it easier to grow traffic. For instance, ranking for “handmade wooden toys” is likely easier than ranking for just “toys”.
- Can Create Topical Authority Easily – Google values topical authority, which means covering a topic deeply in your content. In a niche market, there are fewer topics to cover, so you can quickly gain authority. You can create comprehensive guides, FAQ pages, and in-depth articles that thoroughly cover your niche, establishing your site as a go-to resource.
- Targeted Audience Engagement – SEO for niche markets helps you reach people who are actively looking for what you offer. By using specific keywords, you attract visitors who are already interested in your products or services. For example, if you sell handmade leather wallets, optimizing for terms like “artisan leather wallets” or “custom leather accessories” can bring in people who are specifically interested in unique, high-quality wallets. This targeted approach often leads to higher engagement rates, longer time spent on site, and lower bounce rates.
- Higher Conversion Rates – When you attract the right niche audience through niche SEO, they’re more likely to take action on your site. This could mean joining your mailing list, requesting a quote, or making a purchase. For instance, if someone finds your site while searching for “eco-friendly bamboo toothbrushes,” they’re probably ready to buy and more likely to convert than a casual browser. You can further improve conversion rates by creating landing pages tailored to specific niche keywords.
- Cost-Effective Marketing – SEO for niche markets often requires less investment compared to broader markets. You can focus on a smaller set of keywords and create targeted content, which can be more budget-friendly than trying to compete in a wider field. This allows you to allocate your resources more efficiently, potentially achieving a higher return on investment.
- Build a Loyal Community – In a niche market, you have the opportunity to connect with a dedicated group of customers who share specific interests. By providing valuable, SEO-optimized content, you can foster a loyal community around your brand. This can lead to repeat business and word-of-mouth referrals. Consider creating a blog or forum on your site to encourage community engagement and boost your SEO efforts simultaneously.
- Easier Local SEO – If your niche business has a local component, you’ll find it easier to rank for local searches. Combining your niche keywords with location-based terms can help you stand out in local search results, attracting nearby customers who are looking for your specific products or services. For example, “vegan bakery in [Your City]” is likely to have less competition than just “bakery in [Your City]”.
How To Start Doing SEO for Niche Market
First, you must determine if there is a market for organic traffic in your niche. I hope you have identified it first-hand. You can use any keyword tool to test it.
1. Look for Competition
Even though you are in a niche market, having competition is a good sign that an audience exists. Look for similar sorts of competitors.
Don’t think that this would be tough for you to compete; rather, now you have at least some data and direction to go on with it. You can also identify what content and keywords your competitors used initially to grow.
When analyzing your competition, pay attention to:
- The types of content they produce (blogs, videos, infographics)
- Their website structure and user experience
- Social media presence and engagement
- Any unique selling points or approaches they use
This competitive analysis can help you identify gaps in the market that you can fill with your own unique content and niche SEO strategy.
It can also give you ideas for potential keywords and topics that resonate with your target audience.
Tip: – You can use a free tool like this one to extract all the URLs from a sitemap. A sitemap is usually a set list of the ordered number of all the pages a website has.
2. Keyword Research
Once you have the competitor with you, it’s time to get to work, identify the low search volume keywords related to your niche.
Keyword research allows you to understand how people are interacting with your products/services. You know better what the customer’s perspective is.
You may have some specialised terminologies used in your business, but customers could be unaware of this totally.
For example, if you run a specialty coffee roastery, you might use the term “cupping” to describe the process of tasting and evaluating coffee.
However, your potential customers are more likely to search for phrases like “coffee tasting” or “how to taste coffee flavours”. By including both the industry term and the more common search phrases in your content, you can capture a wider audience while still demonstrating your expertise.
This discrepancy between industry jargon and common search terms highlights the importance of thorough keyword research. It helps you bridge the gap between your specialised knowledge and the language your potential customers use when searching online.
Getting to know users can help you target the right keywords and over the time you can explain to them the industry standards and industry specific words also.
However, most of your focus would go on transactional intent, you should not ignore the low hanging fruits too.
With SEO and the right keywords, you can build brand awareness slowly in your niche market.
3. Have Keywords on Your Website
Once you have keywords with you, identify the right places to place them.
This can be done through all the pages on your websites, there can be instances that you have to build new pages too, but that is important and helps google to know more about your business too.
As a starting point you can put in keywords in the following places.
- Page Title: One of the most important places to have your keyword phrase is the page title. It’s one of the first things Google looks at, and users see in search results. Google only displays about 65 characters, so craft it effectively. Ideally, a page title should look like, “Keyword Phrase | Business Name or URL.”
- Meta Description: Though your meta description doesn’t influence search position, it can influence clicks. This text is displayed in search results under the page title and is often your first and last chance to market to customers. You have about 165 characters, so ensure your message and keyword phrase are clear and engaging.
- Body Content: The body content is crucial for various SEO aspects. Google continually looks at the text to determine what a page is about. When crafting your content, make sure it’s informative and reads naturally. Avoid keyword stuffing, as Google can detect this spammy tactic, which will negatively impact your SEO.
- Header Tags: The most essential spot to place a keyword is the H1 tag. There should only be one H1 per page, and including your primary keyword is a must. You can also add keywords in subheading tags (H2, H3, H4, etc.).
- URL: Adding your primary keyword into the page URL is an effective SEO tactic that many overlook. It helps keep your site structured and tells Google what your page is about. For example: www.example.com/services/sailboat-restoration/
- Graphics: Website graphics are another great spot to include keywords, when applicable. The image alt text, primarily meant for visually impaired users, is also scanned by Google. Incorporating a keyword here is another opportunity to prove your authoritativeness.
4. Create Super Content
Quality content is the backbone of all marketing efforts, including SEO, social media, and email marketing. Unique, in-depth content can drive traffic for extended periods. This approach is sometimes called the “skyscraper technique” in content marketing.
When creating content:
- Focus on your target audience: Use the keyword research from earlier to understand what your potential customers are looking for.
- Prioritise readability: Use header tags (H1, H2, H3) to structure your content logically. This makes it easier for readers to scan and for search engines to understand your content’s organisation.
- Aim for depth: Don’t just scratch the surface. Dive deep into topics, exploring different angles and providing comprehensive information. This positions you as an authority in your niche.
- Include visuals: Break up text with relevant images, infographics, or videos. This makes your content more engaging and can help explain complex concepts.
- Optimise for search: Apply the SEO techniques we’ve discussed to ensure your content is discoverable.
In niche markets, you have the opportunity to create highly specialised content that may not exist elsewhere.
Use your unique expertise to fill gaps in information and provide value that your competitors aren’t offering.
Consider creating high quality content series or pillar pages that cover broad topics in your niche, with links to more specific, related content.
This creates a web of information that search engines love and provides a comprehensive resource for your audience.
Also keep updating your content regularly. In niche markets, information can change quickly. Staying current shows both search engines and readers that you’re actively engaged in your field.
5. Technical SEO
Do you know Google ranks you higher when you help their crawlers? When your website is easy to crawl and search engine crawlers have less difficulty understanding your content, Google rewards you with higher rankings. This is achieved through improving your technical SEO.
Technical SEO involves optimising the functionality and usability of your website. It’s crucial for niche businesses to focus on this aspect. As your optimised content draws more traffic, you need to ensure your site can handle it effectively.
Key areas to focus on include:
Site Structure: Conduct regular site audits using tools like Screaming Frog or SEMrush. Look for issues like broken links, duplicate content, or poor URL structure. Address these problems to make your site more crawler-friendly.
Mobile Optimization: With mobile traffic dominating searches, ensure your site is mobile-friendly. Implement responsive design so your site adapts to different screen sizes. This improves user experience and meets Google’s mobile-first indexing requirements.
Site Speed: Fast-loading pages are crucial for both user experience and SEO. Optimise images, leverage browser caching, and consider using a content delivery network (CDN) to improve load times.
Security: Install an SSL certificate to make your site HTTPS. This not only protects user data but also gives you a ranking boost, as Google prioritises secure sites.
Structured Data: Implement schema markup to help search engines understand your content better. This can lead to rich snippets in search results, improving your visibility.
Use tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console to monitor your site’s performance and identify areas for improvement. Regular attention to technical SEO will help ensure your niche content reaches its intended audience effectively.
6. Build Strong Link Profile
Links are crucial for any robust SEO strategy. As one of the most significant indicators of your SEO health, you want to ensure your link profile is high-quality and relevant to your niche.
External Links:
- Use tools like Serpple’s Backlink Monitor tool to analyze links to your website.
- Evaluate these links: Are they from authoritative, high-quality sites in your industry, or are they from sketchy URLs with irrelevant information?
- If you find undesirable links, use Google Search Console to disavow them. This ensures your link profile is clean before you start building new, quality links.
- Focus on acquiring links from reputable sources within your niche.
Internal Links:
- Create a logical internal link structure to help users and search engines navigate your site.
- Use descriptive anchor text for internal links to provide context.
- Link from high-authority pages on your site to important pages you want to rank.
- Update old content with links to newer, relevant content.
Know More: Complete Guide on Internal Links
Even a few high-quality, relevant links can significantly impact your rankings. Focus on building relationships within your industry to naturally acquire valuable backlinks over time.
You should regularly monitor and clean up your link profile to maintain its health and avoid potential penalties from search engines.
Conclusion
Whether you are a niche business or your target audience is very huge, you can be seen anywhere in the world in Search Engine Result pages.
This means it would also take some serious work, but with enough of those you can find places in top SERPs easily for your targeted terms.
Adam White
Posted on October 6, 2024
Adam White is a 20+ year SEO professional who has optimized over 400 websites, built and sold over 20 internet and SaaS businesses all with SEO as the main traffic source. Follow him on Twitter/X