SEO basics for non-technical founders
The handful of things that actually move search rankings for a small site, minus the jargon.
SEO has an image problem. It sounds like a dark art practised by people with spreadsheets the size of a small country, when for a small business site the whole game comes down to a short list of unglamorous decisions. If you get those right you will out-rank competitors who are paying agencies to do something clever.
1. One page, one job
Search engines rank pages, not websites. A page that tries to cover your service, your prices, your story and your contact details will rank for nothing in particular. Give every important topic its own page with its own headline, and make that page unmistakably about one thing.
2. Write the words your customers use
Businesses describe themselves in industry language; customers search in plain language. You may sell "bespoke fenestration solutions"; they are typing "replacement window fitter near me". Read your own reviews and support emails and steal the phrasing your customers already use.
3. Titles and descriptions are your shop window
The page title is the blue link in search results and it does real work. Keep it under about sixty characters, lead with the thing people search for, and make sure every page has a different one. The description below it doesn't affect ranking directly, but it changes whether anyone clicks.
4. Speed is ranking
A slow site loses visitors before they see anything, and search engines notice that. Two fixes cover most of it: compress your images before uploading them, and remove any script you added "just to try" and never used again.
5. Say who you are
- A real address or at least a city, on every page.
- A phone number or contact form that works.
- An about page with a human name on it.
- Consistent business details across your site, your listings and your social profiles.
This is the part people skip because it feels like admin rather than marketing. It's the part search engines use to decide whether you are a real business.
6. Publish something useful, occasionally
You don't need a daily blog. You need a handful of pages that genuinely answer the questions customers ask before they buy. Four good answers beat forty thin posts, and they keep earning links and traffic for years.
What to ignore
Keyword density, meta keyword tags, buying links, spinning the same article twenty ways, and anyone who guarantees a number one position. None of it survives contact with a modern search engine.
Most small-site SEO is not optimisation. It's finishing the site properly.
Do the six things above, then leave it alone for three months. Ranking moves slowly and the biggest mistake is redecorating before anything has had time to grow.