SEO for small businesses: where to spend your first £1,000

If you run a small business and have about £1,000 to put into SEO, the hardest part is knowing where to start. There are plenty of agencies happy to take it as a monthly retainer, and plenty of tools that would eat it in a few months. For most small firms, though, the best return comes from fixing a handful of basics properly before you pay for anything that sounds advanced.

Below is how I would split a first £1,000 for three typical UK businesses, with the reasoning behind each line. These are illustrative examples, not client results. Your own split depends on what your site already does well.

Before you spend anything: the free checks

Some of the most useful SEO work costs nothing but an afternoon:

• Set up Google Search Console and check which searches already show your site, which pages are indexed and whether Google reports any problems.
• Claim and complete your Google Business Profile if you serve customers locally: categories, services, opening hours, photos and a link to the right page.
• Search for your own business name and your main service plus your town. Note who appears above you and what their pages offer that yours doesn't.
• Make sure enquiries are measured. If you can't tell how many calls or form submissions came from your website, you won't know whether the money worked.

Do these first. They often show that the real problem is not "more SEO" but a missing service page, a broken form or a profile with the wrong category.

Example 1: a local tradesperson (a plumber in Paisley)

Customers search for things like "emergency plumber Paisley" or "boiler repair near me". The work that matters is local relevance and trust.

• £400 – service pages. Separate, properly written pages for the main jobs (boiler repairs, leaks, bathroom installs), each saying where you work, what it costs roughly and how to book.
• £250 – a technical tidy-up. Mobile speed, a clickable phone number, page titles that name the service and area, and fixing any pages Google can't index.
• £200 – reviews and photos. A simple system for asking happy customers for Google reviews, plus real photos of completed jobs for the profile and the site.
• £150 – local citations. Consistent name, address and phone number on the main UK directories and trade bodies you genuinely belong to.

What I would not buy: a blog content package. A plumber with three thin pages gains far more from good service pages than from ten generic articles.

Example 2: a small online shop (handmade candles)

An ecommerce site lives or dies by its category and product pages, and by whether Google can crawl them cleanly.

• £350 – category pages. Useful introductory copy on the main categories ("soy wax candles", "candle gift sets") answering what buyers actually ask: burn time, scent strength, delivery.
• £300 – product page fixes. Unique descriptions instead of supplier text, clear titles, real photography and product structured data so prices and stock can appear in search.
• £200 – a crawl audit. Finding duplicate filter URLs, out-of-stock pages and slow images that waste Google's attention.
• £150 – two genuinely helpful guides. For example, "how to make a candle burn evenly", linking to the relevant products.

Example 3: a professional service (an accountant)

People choosing an accountant are comparing trust. The website has to answer "can I rely on these people?" as well as "do they do what I need?".

• £400 – pages for each audience and service. Sole traders, limited companies, landlords; self assessment, payroll, VAT. Each with fees or a fee guide where possible.
• £250 – credibility. Team page with real qualifications, professional body memberships, clear contact details and a privacy policy that matches how you handle data.
• £200 – one strong resource. A thorough, accurate page on a question clients ask every year, such as key self assessment deadlines, kept up to date.
• £150 – measurement. Tracking calls and form enquiries so you can see which pages bring clients, not just visitors.

What to avoid with a small budget

• Cheap link packages. "500 backlinks for £50" usually means spam links that do nothing or put the site at risk.
• Retainers with no defined work. If a monthly fee doesn't come with a list of what will be done, you can't judge it.
• Guaranteed rankings. Nobody controls Google. Promises of "page one in 30 days" are a warning sign.
• Too many tools. A small business rarely needs paid SEO software at the start. Search Console and a free crawler cover a lot.

How long before you see results?

Fixes such as better titles or a corrected Business Profile can help within weeks. New pages usually take a few months to settle, depending on competition and how strong the site already is. Judge the spend on enquiries over three to six months rather than rankings after a fortnight.

Where to go next

Once the basics are in place, the next pound is best spent on whatever the data shows is working: more pages around the services that bring enquiries, more reviews, or better content for the questions customers ask. If you would like a second opinion on where your own first £1,000 should go, my SEO consultancy starts with exactly that kind of review, and SEO training can help you do more of it yourself.