Search engine optimisation, or SEO, is work that helps search engines understand your website and helps people find relevant pages. For a small business, the useful goal is to attract people looking for what you actually offer and help them take a suitable next step.
Begin with a clear service page
Choose one important service. Write down who it is for, the problem it solves, what you provide and how someone can contact you. Include examples that you are allowed to share. Use the words your customers use when asking about the service.
A useful page answers real questions. Adding repeated phrases or writing more words does not automatically make it better.
Check the foundations
Google’s SEO Starter Guide explains the basics of making content discoverable and understandable. A practical starting check is whether important pages can be crawled, have descriptive titles and connect through useful links. Inclusion or ranking is not guaranteed.
Ask your website team to explain any blocked pages, broken links or duplicate versions of a page. You should know which address is the main version of your site and which pages you intend to appear in search.
Turn an enquiry into better content
Keep a list of questions prospects ask before buying. A question such as “Can you improve our existing website?” may belong on your service page. A longer comparison may deserve a separate guide linked from that page.
Give each page a clear purpose. Avoid creating many nearly identical pages that do not help the reader make a decision.
Look at useful progress
Agree what you will review and how often. Useful measures include relevant search queries, visits to service pages and enquiries that match your business. Record substantial website changes so you can interpret what happened afterwards.
A rise in traffic is not enough on its own. If enquiries are unsuitable, review the promise on the page and whether it makes the intended audience clear.
Make a manageable first plan
Start with your main service page, contact journey and any obvious technical faults. Then improve supporting content as you learn which questions matter most. Assign an owner so the information stays accurate.
If you are replacing a site, discuss existing URLs and search traffic before design begins. Learn more about our website development work.