SEO, honestly explained

The three pillars of SEO

• Content — what's on your pages (relevant, deep, original)
• Technical — can Google read your site (speed, crawlability, schema)
• Authority — who links to you and what they say (backlinks, mentions)

Keyword research

Start with questions your customers actually ask. Use Google's "People Also Ask" and "Searches related to". Tools: Ahrefs, SEMrush, or free Google Search Console + Keyword Planner. Aim for long-tail keywords (3+ words) with measurable volume — niche words are much easier to win than "hosting".

On-page SEO

• Title tag — 50-60 chars, keyword up front
• Meta description — 150-160 chars, persuades the click
• H1 — one per page, contains main keyword
• H2/H3 — sub-headings that make scanning easy
• URL — short, readable, with keyword (no ?id=42)
• Internal links — link between your own pages
• Alt text — descriptive, on every image

Technical SEO

• Page speed — Core Web Vitals (LCP, FID, CLS). Under 2.5s LCP
• Mobile-first — Google indexes the mobile version
• HTTPS — mandatory (see our SSL)
• Sitemap.xml — auto-generated by any CMS
• Robots.txt — tells search engines what not to crawl
• Schema markup — JSON-LD for rich snippets (FAQ, product, organisation)

Content marketing

Write for humans, not robots. But make it scannable. Long-form (1,500+ words) often ranks better — if it actually adds value, no fluff. Update old articles regularly.

Local SEO

• Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) — claim & fully complete
• Ask customers for reviews
• Local citations: mentions on directory sites with the same NAP
• Locally relevant content (your city, your service, your speciality)

How long does SEO take?

First improvements: 4-6 weeks. Real traffic growth: 3-6 months. Compounding: 6-18 months. Quick wins don't exist — anyone promising them is lying.