Good copywriting and good SEO are not two separate things. The way you write your website, your service pages, and your blog posts has a direct impact on how Google understands your business and how likely a visitor is to actually get in touch. Here are eleven mistakes that small business owners make all the time, plus what each one is costing you.

1. Writing for yourself instead of your customer

Your homepage is not your CV. Visitors don’t care about your story until they know you can solve their problem. If your copy leads with “we were founded in…” or “our mission is…” rather than addressing what the customer needs, you’re losing people in the first ten seconds. That’s something anyone can be guilty of — we have to catch ourselves talking about sitemaps and robots.txt files!

2. Using jargon your customers don’t search for

You might call it “bespoke end-to-end solutions.” Your customers are typing “affordable kitchen fitter in Salford.” If your copy doesn’t reflect the language your customers actually use, Google won’t connect the two.

3. Ignoring the page title and meta description

These are the first thing a potential customer sees in Google search results, and most small business websites either leave them generic or stuff them with keywords in a way that reads like a robot wrote them. A well-written title and meta description is free advertising. Treat it like one.

4. Writing one page to rank for everything

One service page trying to rank for ten different services is a page that ranks for none of them. Google rewards specificity. If you offer multiple services, each one deserves its own page, written with focus.

5. No clear call to action

What do you want the reader to do next? If your copy doesn’t tell them clearly, simply, and more than once, a huge proportion of them will just leave. Every page on your website should have a single, obvious next step.

6. Thin content that doesn’t actually answer the question

A 150-word service page is not a service page. It’s a placeholder. Google knows the difference between content that genuinely answers a user’s query and content that’s just filling space, and it ranks accordingly.

7. Copying competitors’ copy

It’s tempting to look at what a competitor has written and use it as a template. The problem is that their copy was probably copied from someone else too. You end up with a website that looks and sounds like every other business in your industry, which gives Google (and your customers) no reason to choose you.

8. Forgetting about headings

Headings aren’t just visual. Google reads them to understand what a page is about. If your page is a wall of text with no structure, you’re making it harder for both search engines and humans to follow. Break it up, use descriptive headings, and think of them as signposts.

9. Not writing enough about location

If you’re a local business, your copy needs to reflect that. Not in a forced, keyword-stuffed way, but naturally and specifically. Mentioning the areas you serve, the local context you understand, and the customers you work with in your region all help Google connect you to local searches.

10. Using passive, vague language

“Services can be provided to help with your requirements” means nothing to anyone. Clear, active, specific language converts better and reads better. Say what you do, who you do it for, and why it matters. In plain English!

11. Never updating your copy

Your website is not a brochure you print once and forget. Copy that was written three years ago might be referencing old services, old prices, or old thinking. Google also tends to favour content that shows signs of being maintained and updated. Set a reminder to revisit your key pages at least once a year.

None of these mistakes are fatal, and none of them are difficult to fix. But left unchecked, they add up to a website that’s significantly underperforming month after month.

Wondering how many of these your website is guilty of?

At Pollinate, we offer a free SEO and content audit for small businesses and SMEs. We’ll go through your site with fresh eyes, flag exactly what’s holding you back, and give you a clear picture of what to fix first, copywriting and beyond. Contact us today to learn more.