The Essential SEO Improvements Every Website Should Make

SEO can feel like a moving target. There’s always a new algorithm update, a new AI feature or a new set of best practices to keep up with. But the fundamentals that help a website rank change far less than the noise around them suggests, whether your site launched last month or ten years ago.

These are the improvements we’d make first on almost any website, in roughly the order we’d tackle them.

1. Keyword Research and Search Intent

Every important page should be built around one primary keyword, supported by a handful of related secondary keywords. Tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs and Semrush show you what people actually search for and how often.

Just as important is the intent behind the search. Someone searching “best running shoes for flat feet” is researching. Someone searching “buy Brooks Ghost 16 size 10” is ready to buy. The first needs a helpful guide, the second needs a product page. Matching your content to that intent is often the difference between ranking and not.

2. On-Page Optimisation

Title Tags

Your title tag is one of the strongest signals of what a page is about, and it’s the headline people see in the search results. Include your primary keyword, keep it under 60 characters so it isn’t cut off, and give people a reason to click.

Meta Descriptions

Meta descriptions don’t directly affect rankings, but they do affect how many people click. Keep them under 150 characters and write them like ad copy: what the page offers and why it’s worth visiting.

Headings

Use one H1 per page that includes your primary keyword, then organise the rest of the content with clear H2s and H3s. Good headings help search engines understand your content and help readers scan it.

URLs

Keep URLs short, readable and descriptive. /seo-services-nottingham/ tells both people and search engines what to expect. /page?id=4782/ tells them nothing.

Image Alt Text

Describe what each image shows, using keywords naturally where they fit. Alt text helps visually impaired visitors using screen readers and helps search engines understand your images.

3. Technical SEO and Core Web Vitals

Core Web Vitals

Google’s Core Web Vitals measure how your pages perform for real visitors:

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): how quickly the main content loads. Aim for under 2.5 seconds.
• Interaction to Next Paint (INP): how quickly the page responds when someone clicks or taps. Aim for under 200 milliseconds.
• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): how much the page jumps around as it loads. Aim for under 0.1.

They work as a tiebreaker rather than a deciding factor: if your content is as good as a competitor’s, a faster, more stable page can help you edge ahead. Check them in Google Search Console and PageSpeed Insights, and read our guide on what your Core Web Vitals score is actually telling you.

Mobile-First Indexing

Google uses the mobile version of your site to decide how it ranks. If your site is hard to use on a phone, that affects your rankings on every device, not just mobile.

HTTPS

A secure site is a basic requirement. If any of your pages still load over HTTP, fix that first.

Crawlability

Make sure search engines can find and access your important pages. Fix broken links and 404 errors, submit an up-to-date XML sitemap in Search Console, and check your robots.txt file isn’t accidentally blocking pages you want to rank.

4. A Website That’s Easy to Use

Search engines want to send people to pages that give them a good experience. If visitors land on your site and struggle to find what they need, many will leave and pick another result.

• Make your navigation simple and predictable.
• Make sure your site works properly on mobile, tablet and desktop.
• Use clear calls to action, so visitors know what to do next.
• Break up long text with headings, short paragraphs and lists.

5. Content Quality and E-E-A-T

Google’s guidelines talk about E-E-A-T: experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trust. The extra “E” for experience was added in December 2022, reflecting how much Google values first-hand knowledge.

You can show it by adding author bios, citing your sources, sharing original insights and using real examples from your own work. Content that says the same thing as every other page on the topic gives Google little reason to rank yours above theirs.

Refresh or Consolidate Underperforming Content

Most websites have pages that once performed well and have since faded, or several pages covering the same topic. Review your content regularly and look for:

• Pages with declining traffic, which often just need updating.
• Thin pages with little useful content.
• Outdated information, statistics or screenshots.
• Duplicate or overlapping pages competing with each other.

Pages that overlap can be merged into one stronger page, with the old URLs redirected to it. Where you need to keep similar pages, a canonical tag tells search engines which version to rank.

6. Topical Authority and Content Depth

Google increasingly looks at how thoroughly a website covers a subject, not just how well an individual page is optimised. Rather than publishing on random topics, plan your content so it covers your core subjects in depth. Our guide to topical authority explains how.

7. Internal Linking and Site Structure

Internal links help visitors find related content and help search engines understand which pages matter most. They also pass authority from your strongest pages to newer or less visible ones.

Check for orphan pages, which have no internal links pointing to them, and consider a pillar and cluster structure: an overview page on a core topic linking out to more detailed posts, which link back. Our guide to internal linking covers how to do this efficiently.

8. Schema Markup and Structured Data

Schema markup gives search engines extra context about your content, such as your business details, products, reviews, FAQs and events. It can make your pages eligible for rich results and helps AI-driven search features understand what you offer. Accuracy matters, as incorrect schema can do more harm than good. Our guide on why schema markup matters explains more.

9. Optimising for AI Overviews and Generative Search

Google’s AI Overviews have appeared at the top of many UK search results since 2024, and tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity now answer questions directly. Clear structure, accurate information, direct answers and genuine authority all improve your chances of being cited. Our guide to GEO and optimising for AI search covers this in detail.

10. Backlinks and Off-Page Authority

Links from reputable, relevant websites remain one of the strongest signals that your site is trustworthy. Quality matters far more than quantity. Earn links through genuinely useful content, original research, partnerships and PR, and avoid shortcuts like bought links, which can put your site at risk.

11. Monitoring and Measuring Performance

Use Google Search Console to track your rankings, search queries, click-through rates and indexing issues, and Google Analytics to see how visitors behave and whether they convert. Rankings and traffic naturally fluctuate, so work out what’s behind a drop before reacting to it. Our guide on diagnosing traffic drops walks through how.

SEO Is Not a One-Time Task

SEO isn’t something you do once and tick off. Search engines, competitors and your customers’ behaviour keep changing, so the websites that perform best are the ones that keep monitoring, improving and adapting.

If you’d like help working out where to start, our SEO team can review your site and give you a clear, prioritised plan, starting with a free SEO audit.