With the season of gift-giving just around the corner, making sure your business is seen by hungry online shoppers is vital at this time of year. While search engine optimisation is certainly a long-game strategy, there are a few quick-fix tactics that can drive rapid rankings just in time for the Christmas period.

Make the most of low-hanging SEO fruit with these six strategies:

1. Optimise your anchor text. Instead of starting from scratch, comb through your existing written copy and find opportunities to create anchor text. Google uses anchor text – that clickable text that hyperlinks to other pages – to essentially determine what a page is about, so instead of using vague phrasing such as “click here”, capitalise on keywords.

2. Set up a Google My Business account. This is super-simple to do, and a great way to boost your brand recognition. Having a Google My Business account gives you the chance to appear in Google’s local search pack, which ranks above organic listings on a search engine results page.

3. Fix your local listings. While on the topic, it’s a good idea to check that all your details – your name, address and phone number – are consistent across the web, as Google uses this to decide your business’s credibility. Keeping this info up-to-date is a small but significant way to improve your rankings.

4. Re-use existing content. Creating fresh new content is undeniably a time-consuming process. Instead, why not recycle what you already have? Find out what you’ve produced that has performed well in the past, and share it again on social media or repurpose it for other mediums (for instance, translate a blog post into a quick infographic).

5. Get mobile-friendly. Google is increasingly pushing for businesses to go mobile-friendly, having recently rolled out two algorithm updates favouring sites that are optimised for mobile devices. If you’re not sure whether your website is adequately fit for all canvases, use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool to quickly determine whether you pass or not. Ensuring you are mobile-friendly is a fairly simple process and an extremely effective SEO strategy.

6. Rectify duplicated content. Google will automatically penalise any websites with written copy that has been, well, copied. Whether you have multiple pages displaying the same content or have stolen chunks of information from other websites, this is severely detrimental to your SEO campaign. Check that your site passes the duplication test using tools such as Plagiarism Checker or Copyscape, and reword any sections of content that aren’t unique.

By dedicating just a little bit of time to tweaking your current website and ironing out any kinks, you can elevate your business on Google and get shoppers clicking on your website this festive season.