Yes, company size affects SEO strategy, because it shapes budget, reach, goals and more. All businesses want to generate more traffic from search engines, but how they go about it depends on one important factor: the size of the business.
Read on to see how the size of your company will affect your SEO and how that plays out for different brands.
How does company size affect SEO strategy?
Whether you are a small or medium-sized enterprise (SME), a larger company that needs enterprise SEO services or a new non-profit, the size of the organisation shapes your SEO strategy in several ways.
Budget
As you would expect, SEO budgets grow with company size. A start-up, such as a new CBD brand, does not have the same marketing budget as an established brand like Apple.
This has a knock-on effect, because the budget determines the people and tools a marketing team can afford.
Resources
Resources also grow with company size: larger companies have access to more complete and better tools than small businesses. A small team, for example, might use Google Analytics 4, while a larger team uses a paid tool such as Google Analytics 360.
Larger companies generally need more resources because of the scope of their strategy. A small business, for instance, would not get the same value from Google Analytics 360 as from Google Analytics 4, because Google Analytics 360 is built for the traffic needs of a larger site.
Candidates
Another way a company's size affects its search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy is in finding people to work with.
Large and mid-sized companies have an advantage over small brands for several reasons, for example:
- Pay: the bigger the company, the more competitive the package it can offer, whether that means salary, insurance, paid holiday or other benefits. That package can attract more experienced candidates.
- Recognition: larger companies also benefit from being known. Beyond advertising, outreach or organic search, experienced candidates seek these brands out directly. A small business does not get that.
With a bigger budget, larger brands can also afford to hire more specialists for their team.
That can include SEO specialists, web designers and professional copywriters. In small businesses one person often covers more than one role, for example SEO and copywriting, or SEO and web development.
Operations
Where a company operates, from its headquarters to the places it ships to, shapes its SEO strategy. A company with international operations, for example, will probably have a more complex search engine optimisation strategy that uses:
- traditional SEO
- international SEO
- local SEO.
Scope
With a larger budget and a bigger team, larger companies can build SEO strategies with a wider reach. For example, sector-specific services such as SEO for energy companies, pest control, dermatologists, dentists, locksmiths, manufacturers and more.
Smaller companies, by contrast, have a smaller team and need to focus on fewer activities to get results.
Goals
Small, medium and large businesses can all have ambitious goals, but they tend to focus on different areas depending on their size.
Small and large brands, for example, may focus more on building brand awareness, while mid-sized companies concentrate on growing market share through sales, which can affect whether they invest in national SEO services or local SEO.
Collaboration
SEO strategies at larger companies need more collaboration than at smaller ones. That can mean longer turnaround times, because the SEO team needs sign-off from several stakeholders before publishing new pages, starting new projects or changing existing pages.
As a result, at larger companies the SEO strategy can move more slowly.
These are just some of the ways company size affects SEO strategy. If you have worked at companies of different sizes, you have probably seen these factors at first hand, along with the knock-on effect size can have on budget, people and results.
What does an SEO strategy look like for companies of different sizes?
Here is how SEO typically works for small, medium and large businesses. For the size bands we use the definitions of the UK government's Business population estimates; the budget ranges are the ones we see on our own projects in Italy, quoted in euros.
SEO for a small business
A small business is an organisation with fewer than 50 employees.
So what does an SEO strategy look like for a small business? Here are the basics:
- A monthly budget of roughly €500 to €3,000
- A small team where one person covers several roles
- A limited budget that relies on free tools
- A small site with the goal of increasing brand awareness, traffic and sales.
Small businesses usually rely heavily on paid advertising while they build their SEO strategy.
SEO for a medium-sized company
A medium-sized company is an organisation with 50 to 249 employees.
What does a medium-sized company's SEO strategy look like? Here is what you can expect:
- An SEO budget of roughly €2,500 to €5,000 a month
- A team of 3-5 people with specialised, more complex roles.
- A fixed budget that includes SEO suppliers such as agencies or freelancers
- A site of 50-100 pages with the goal of increasing traffic and conversion rates.
Like small businesses, medium-sized ones will also use paid ad campaigns and social media marketing.
SEO for a large company
A large company is an organisation with 250 or more employees.
Search engine optimisation at a large company will look something like this:
- A monthly SEO budget from €3,500 to well over €5,000
- A team of more than 10 people in specialised roles
- A set budget covering marketing platforms, SEO agencies and other suppliers
- A site of more than 100 pages with the goal of growing market share through more traffic and revenue.
Large companies will use paid ads, Google Ads, social media and other digital marketing services, just like small and medium-sized businesses.
Does SEO work for companies of every size?
Yes, search engine optimisation works for every company, whatever its size. Smaller companies usually face different SEO challenges from larger ones, such as the need to build domain authority.
In our 10 years of experience we have worked with companies of every size and seen SEO make concrete, measurable changes. Search engine optimisation has helped these companies increase sales, expand into new areas and support their local business.
To find out more about how a sound SEO strategy can help your business grow, read our guide on how to tell whether your SEO agency is working.
Build an SEO strategy that fits the size of your company
Whether you are a small, medium or large company, there is an SEO strategy that works for you. Working with a good SEO agency gives you the skills and resources you may not have in-house.
With the right experience and method, an agency can help you improve your online presence and bring organic traffic to your website.
If your company is ready to hand search engine optimisation to an agency and get help from SEO professionals, take a look at our SEO services. Request a tailored quote for your business and start building a strategy that delivers results.
An example of how a small site competes with the big players in specific categories is in our guide to ecommerce SEO.
The extreme case of small size is the sole practitioner, who has to choose between competing locally and competing nationally against large online providers: we analyse it with data in SEO for freelancers and professionals.
