Start with a diagnosis, not a tactic
Most advice on how to increase SEO is a list of tactics: add keywords, write a blog, get backlinks. The trouble is that a tactic only helps if it fixes the actual problem. A firm of chartered surveyors in Leeds that is invisible because half its pages are not indexed gains nothing from more blog posts. A page that is indexed but answers the wrong question gains nothing from more links.
Before you change anything, put each important page into one of four groups:
- Not indexed: Google has not stored the page, so it cannot rank at all.
- Indexed but irrelevant: the page exists, but it does not match what people searching that term want.
- Relevant but weaker: it matches the query, but the pages above it are more complete, more specific or more useful.
- Strong but not trusted: the content holds up, yet the site lacks the reputation, links and mentions that competitors have.
The free Google Search Console shows indexing status, the queries you already appear for and your average position. It is the first tool to open, and the source we use when we start an SEO audit.
Make sure Google can crawl and index the right pages
Google's Search Essentials set out the technical requirements: Google must be able to reach the page, the page must return a working status, and it must contain indexable content. In practice, the problems we see most often are mundane:
- a noindex tag left behind after a redesign or a staging site went live;
- canonical tags pointing to the wrong URL, so Google indexes a different version;
- important pages that no other page links to, so they are hard to discover;
- several near-identical pages for the same service, which compete with each other;
- an XML sitemap full of redirects and old URLs instead of the pages that matter.
Use the page indexing report in Search Console and the URL Inspection tool on your key pages. Fixing indexing is rarely glamorous, but nothing else on this list works until it is done.
Match search intent better than the pages already ranking
Search the term yourself, in a private window, and look at what Google shows. If the top results are guides, a sales page will struggle. If they are service pages from local firms, a long article will struggle. The results page is Google telling you what it thinks the searcher wants.
One clear page per topic
Give every important service or question its own page with a specific title and heading. A single "Services" page listing conveyancing, family law and employment law will rarely rank for any of them. Separate pages, each written for the people searching that service, usually do far better.
Use the words your buyers use
UK buyers search for "solicitor", "estate agent", "accountant near me" and "VAT return help", not American equivalents. If your site uses internal jargon or the wrong regional terms, you are optimising for searches nobody makes.
Answer the next question too
A strong page anticipates what the reader needs next: cost drivers, process, timelines, who it is not for. Pages that leave obvious questions unanswered tend to lose to pages that do not.
Write content that shows real experience
Google's guidance on creating helpful, reliable, people-first content asks whether a page demonstrates first-hand experience and expertise, and whether it was made for people rather than for search engines. This is where many business sites fall short: the text could have been written by anyone about any company.
Content that ranks over time usually contains things competitors cannot copy: your process, your judgement about trade-offs, examples from the kind of work you actually do, honest limits, and who is responsible for the advice. Name the author or the reviewing professional where that is relevant.
Do blogs increase SEO?
A blog helps when each article answers a real question your buyers ask and links naturally to the service that solves it. A blog filled with generic news or short posts written to "keep the site fresh" adds little and can dilute the site. Fewer, better articles beat a steady stream of thin ones. If writing is the bottleneck, our SEO content writing work starts from that principle.
Improve the experience on the page
Google measures loading, responsiveness and visual stability through Core Web Vitals. Good scores will not lift a weak page above a strong one, but a slow, jumpy site loses visitors who were ready to enquire, and that matters more than the ranking effect alone.
Check pages on a mid-range phone over a mobile connection, not only on your office desktop. Heavy sliders, uncompressed images, chat widgets and stacks of tracking scripts are the usual culprits. Make sure the contact route is visible without hunting for it: a page that ranks but does not convert is only half a result.
Earn links and mentions that mean something
Links from other websites remain one of the ways Google judges whether a site is trusted. What counts is relevance and genuineness, not volume. A mention from your trade body, a respected industry publication, a local business network or a supplier you really work with is worth more than dozens of links from unrelated directories.
Buying links, swapping them at scale or placing them in low-quality guest posts goes against Google's spam policies and can do lasting harm. Good link building looks more like PR: publishing something genuinely useful, such as original guidance or data you own, and telling the people who would want to reference it.
Strategies to improve SEO: what to prioritise
Not every action deserves the same priority. This overview helps you order the work. It describes effort and timing in relative terms; the actual time depends on your site and your competition.
| Action | Effort | When it tends to pay off | Typical mistake |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fix indexing and technical errors | Low to medium | Often soon after Google recrawls | Fixing cosmetic warnings while real blockers remain |
| Rewrite key pages to match search intent | Medium | Weeks to months | Adding keywords instead of answering the question |
| Create pages for uncovered services or questions | Medium to high | Months | Thin pages that only swap one word |
| Improve speed and mobile experience | Medium | Mostly in conversions; ranking effect is modest | Chasing a perfect score instead of real user experience |
| Earn relevant links and mentions | High, ongoing | Months and longer | Buying links or using irrelevant directories |
| Optimise Google Business Profile (local searches) | Low to medium | Varies by area and competition | Keyword stuffing the business name |
Ranking in AI results as well
Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode draw on pages from its index. Google states that there are no additional requirements to appear in these AI features beyond the usual SEO fundamentals: the page must be indexed and eligible to show a snippet. That means the work above is also the work that makes you citable.
Assistants such as ChatGPT and Perplexity use their own sources and methods, but they reward similar qualities: clear, specific answers, a well-described company and consistent information across the web. A short, direct answer near the top of a page, followed by depth, serves both readers and AI systems. If AI visibility is a priority, see our AI SEO service.
Do it yourself or bring in help
Plenty of businesses can handle the basics themselves: Search Console, a clean Google Business Profile, a clear page per service. If you serve a local area, our local SEO tips are a good next read. It becomes worth bringing in specialists when the site is large, the market is competitive, a redesign is coming, or rankings have dropped and nobody knows why.
If you do hire help, ask how they will diagnose the problem before they propose a solution, and be wary of anyone who promises a position or a date. Nobody can guarantee Google rankings. Our SEO agency work always starts with diagnosis, and the first step is a strategy session with the founder.