Yes, the same question over and over again, how do I appear at the top of Google? That's the question I get every day as a small business marketing consultant.
Well the journey begins with what your small business and brand stand for. When people think of your brand, what do they think of? Lets talk big brands to show you what I mean. When I think of a safe car brand, I think of Volvo. When I think of a cola brand, I think of Coca-Cola. When I think of a search engine, I think of Google.
All of these examples, generally in their history and in modern day, are leaders in their category. So, what category is your small business brand in? Remember, people more and more, are very specific when searching for something online, so therefore what you are offering needs to be as specifc as that to match.
Google wants to match the consumers search to the most relevant outcome. So the key is to make your site as relevant as possible, with relevant information and make sure your web developer knows what he's doing so that your site is built and maintained (constant, additional, relevant information is great too) search engine friendly. There's never a simple answer, but these will help you get on to the right track.