How do you improve SEO on your website?
To improve SEO on your website, start with the pages that make you money. Make sure Google has indexed them, give each a clear title and heading that match real searches, answer customer questions in plain language, make pages work well on phones, link your pages together and earn mentions from trusted local sites.
Notice what is first: the pages that make you money. For a local business that usually means the homepage, each main service page, and pages for the towns you serve. Improving a blog post nobody reads will not move the phone. Improving your drain cleaning page might.
Start with a 15-minute SEO health check
Before you change anything, spend 15 minutes finding out where you stand. This tells you which fixes matter most.
- Search
site:yourdomain.comon Google. If your main pages do not appear, indexing is your first problem. - Open the Page indexing report in Google Search Console. It lists pages Google has not indexed and why.
- Open your homepage and top service page on your phone. Note anything slow, hard to tap or covered by a pop-up.
- Look at the Performance report's Queries tab. See which searches already show your site and at what average position.
- Read your page titles in the search results. Do they say what you do and where, or just your business name?
Write down what you find. The fixes below are ordered so you can work through them from the top.
12 ways to improve SEO on your website
These are the website fixes that matter most for local businesses, each backed by Google's own guidance.
1. Write a clear title for every important page
Your page title is often the blue headline people see in Google. Google says a good title is unique to the page, clear and concise, and accurately describes the page. For example, "Drain Cleaning in Tempe, AZ | Valley Pro Plumbing" for a made-up business beats "Home | Valley Pro Plumbing."
2. Give each page one clear main heading
The main heading (H1) should say what the page is about in plain words. Google's guidance names the title and main heading as prominent places for the words people search.
3. Build one page for each main service
A single "Services" page cannot rank for ten different jobs. A dentist with separate pages for implants, emergency visits and teeth whitening gives Google a clear match for each search.
4. Make service-area pages genuinely different
Pages for the towns you serve help, but only if each says something real about that area: the jobs you do there, local conditions, photos from nearby work. Google's spam policies warn against scaled content abuse, meaning many pages made mainly to manipulate rankings.
5. Write a useful meta description
Google's starter guide says a good meta description is short, unique to one page, and includes the most relevant points. It will not directly lift rankings, but a clear one can earn more clicks.
6. Use readable URLs
Google suggests including words in the URL that are useful for people. /water-heater-repair/ tells a searcher more than /page?id=482.
7. Add descriptive alt text to images
Alt text explains what an image shows. "Technician replacing a garbage disposal" is useful. "IMG_2231" is not.
8. Link your pages together with descriptive words
Google says every page you care about should have a link from at least one other page on your site, and that good anchor text is descriptive and relevant. Link to your AC repair page with "AC repair," not "click here."
9. Make pages fast and easy to use on a phone
Google says Core Web Vitals are used by its ranking systems. Most local searches happen on phones, so fix large images, slow pop-ups and buttons that are too small to tap.
10. Use HTTPS and avoid intrusive pop-ups
Google's page experience guidance asks whether your pages are served securely over HTTPS and whether they avoid intrusive interstitials that cover the content. Both are basic trust signals for visitors too.
11. Show real expertise and who is behind the business
Google's helpful content guidance asks whether content shows first-hand expertise and whether it is clear who created it. Real job photos, the owner's name and license details, and plain answers to real questions all help.
12. Add structured data where it fits
Structured data, also called schema markup, helps Google understand your business details. Our guide on what schema markup is explains where it helps a local business.
Which SEO fixes should you do first?
Do the quick, high-payoff fixes first, then the bigger builds. This table ranks the list for a typical local business website.
| Fix | Effort | Payoff for a local business |
|---|---|---|
| Fix pages Google has not indexed | Low to high | Very high: unindexed pages cannot rank at all |
| Clear titles and main headings | Low | High |
| One page per main service | Medium | High |
| Internal links between related pages | Low | Medium to high |
| Mobile speed and usability | Medium to high | Medium to high |
| Genuinely local service-area pages | Medium | Medium to high |
| Meta descriptions and readable URLs | Low | Medium (mostly more clicks) |
| Alt text and structured data | Low to medium | Medium |
Many of the higher-effort fixes are build problems. If your site was built without them, a rebuild designed for search can be faster than patching. Our guide on what technical SEO covers explains the behind-the-scenes side.
What SEO work can you safely skip?
Some popular SEO tasks do little or nothing, according to Google's own documentation:
- Filling in meta keywords. Google Search does not use the keywords meta tag.
- Hitting a word count. Google says content length alone does not matter for ranking.
- Buying a keyword-rich domain. Google says keywords in a domain have hardly any effect beyond breadcrumbs.
- Chasing a perfect speed score. Google says perfect Core Web Vitals scores just for SEO may not be the best use of your time.
- Special tricks for AI search. Google says there are no extra requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, and normal SEO best practices still apply.
Your website is only half the picture. The other half happens off your site, through your Business Profile, reviews and links, which we explain in on-page vs off-page SEO.
Get a second set of eyes on your site
If you would rather have someone check your site for you, request the Free Missed-Lead Audit. It shows how visible you are on Google Maps and in AI answers, plus how your calls and reviews compare with competitors. When you want the ongoing work done for you, that is what local SEO with Larkpin covers.