This week we ran a full small business SEO review for a small, handmade skincare brand that sells online. It took one day. The technical findings were real, but they weren't the most useful part. The most useful part was deciding which words the store should try to be found for, and which ones to leave alone.
What the review actually found
Most small online stores have the same quiet gaps. This one did too:
- 15 of 16 products had no search title or search description of their own.
- 57 of 60 product photos had no text description that Google can read.
- There were no real product categories, just one long list of everything.
None of this is dramatic. Nobody visiting the shop would notice. But search engines and AI answer tools read exactly these fields. When they are empty, the store is harder to find, even for people who are looking for what it sells.
These are cheap fixes. The harder question was what to put in them.
Should a small online store target its own state or city?
The obvious instinct is to lean on location. The brand is in Virginia, so why not chase "Virginia skincare"?
Because the store ships nationally. A buyer in Ohio searching for a handmade balm doesn't type "Virginia." Chasing your state's name puts you in a small pond full of people who mostly want a shop they can walk into.
The rule we settled on: location is a trust badge, not a target. "Made by a family in Virginia" belongs on the page because it builds trust. It does not belong at the center of your search strategy if you sell online.
The local side still matters, but it lives somewhere else: a verified Google profile and real reviews. That is where nearby customers find you.
Pick phrases for products you actually stock
Our research produced 70 specific search phrases, grouped by theme and each matched to the page that should answer it. Just as useful was what we left off the list.
Leave out products you don't sell
One phrase suggested early on was a product the store doesn't carry. It might bring traffic. But every visitor it brings would arrive, look around, and leave. That is wasted effort and a bad signal.
Leave out claims you can't back
Some popular phrases include a certification the brand doesn't formally hold. Even if the ingredients are sourced the right way, targeting a word that implies a certificate is a promise the page can't keep. We used accurate wording instead.
Leave out health promises
Search phrases that suggest a product treats a condition were not targets. A small brand gains nothing by ranking for a claim it shouldn't make.
How to show up in AI answers, not just Google
More people now ask AI tools questions instead of scrolling search results. Those tools quote pages that answer a question clearly and directly.
So part of the plan is simple:
- Add short, honest FAQ answers to product and category pages.
- Write ingredient explainers on the blog that answer one question each.
- Point the store's existing weekly blog at these topics, instead of starting a new project.
That last point matters. The cheapest SEO plan is usually the one that reuses work you're already doing.
Draft first, then decide
Everything from this review is sitting as drafts on one summary page for the owner to read. Nothing went live on the store. The audit, the phrase list, the category copy and the review plan are all ready, but the owner decides what changes and when.
For a small business, that order protects you. A rushed edit to a live store can break more than it fixes.
The takeaway: aim your search effort at the specific things you actually sell, and let your location do its job as proof that you're real. If you're unsure which phrases are worth your time, start by crossing off the ones your shop can't deliver on.