SEO basics
What search engine optimisation is, and the short list of things that matter most for an ordinary website.
What SEO is
SEO is the work of making a website easy for a search engine to find, read and understand, and useful to the person who lands on it. Most of it is not technical. It is clear pages about real things, on a site that works.
Nobody can promise you a ranking, and Google says so itself. What you can do is remove the things that get in the way and give each page a fair chance.
Can Google reach your pages?
Before anything else, a search engine has to be able to visit a page and be allowed to list it. A single leftover setting can hide a whole site. Getting your site on Google covers how to check.
Does each page say what it is?
Give every page one subject, a title that names it, and a main heading that matches. Write the way your customers talk, using the words they would type into a search box. See titles and descriptions.
Is the page worth finding?
This matters more than everything else here. A page that answers the question properly, written by someone who knows the subject, will do better over time than a thin page with perfect tags. Google’s guide to creating helpful content is a good test to hold your own pages against.
Does the site work on a phone?
Most searches happen on a phone, and Google reads the mobile version of your site first. Pages should load quickly, fit the screen and be easy to tap. See speed and mobile.
Do other sites mention you?
Links from other sites help Google find you and trust you. The ones worth having come from being known: suppliers, customers, local groups, industry bodies, the press. Paying for links is against Google’s rules and can do real harm.
It takes time
Changes can take days or weeks to show up in search results, and some take months. Make a change, give it time, and look at the numbers in Search Console before you change it again.
Read it from Google
- SEO Starter Guide: the best single page to read next.
- How Google Search works: crawling, indexing and ranking in plain terms.
- Google Search Essentials: the rules a site has to follow to appear at all.
- Do you need an SEO?: what to ask before you hire someone, and what to be wary of.