When it comes to SEO (Search Engine Optimization), it is very easy to get overwhelmed with technical jargon and the seemingly endless list of “essential” strategies. Not only that, but the list seems to be constantly changing, which leaves many with a “why bother” attitude. But optimizing your website for Google doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, sometimes simple is best! Among the hundreds of SEO tips and tricks, we guarantee you’ll see the same core strategies on every list. That’s because a) they work and b) they are easy to do and maintain. So, here is our back to SEO basics guide to help you get started ranking higher– without the headache. 

SEO Basics Rule #1: Focus on Quality Content

You’ve heard it before, but we will say it again: content is king. It is the first and most important rule of SEO best practices to produce quality, engaging, useful, and relevant content in order to win points with Google. Easy enough, but where do you start?

First: Write What You Know

First, you need to decide what to write about. You will, obviously, start with your area of expertise (i.e. the product or service you offer). This is the first step in crafting relevant content. If you are a landscaping service, you won’t want to write about fitness. That is confusing for readers, and it is confusing for Google bots. Choose a subject that aligns with your brand.

Second: Write What Others Want To Know

Yes, choosing a subject relevant to your business is very important, but it is just as important to choose a subject that interests other people as well. Just because you are passionate about a certain topic does not mean users are. Let’s take the landscaping business again for an example.You may want to write an article about the “best lawn edging tools” That seems like a good question to answer, right? 

This is where SEO software comes in. There are plenty of options, and most include the ability to track trends in keywords and phrases. We use a platform called Ahrefs.com, but SEMRush and Ubersuggest are popular options as well. When we plug in our candidate subject, “best lawn edging tools” into the Ahrefs Keywords Explorer, we discover there is not much traffic for this particular topic:

This inquiry, done through Ahrefs.com, shows only 10 people per month are searching for “best lawn edging tools.” Back to the drawing board. 

But don’t be discouraged! Just because that initial question doesn’t have a high search volume doesn’t mean lawn edging as a subject is totally out of the game. Sure, people aren’t interested in tools, but are they interested in lawn edging in general? Indeed, they are:

Here we can see that both “lawn edging” and “landscape edging” have a decent search volume (7.3K and 21K, respectively). Above the search volume results, we see what is called a Keyword Difficulty Score. As a rule, you want high search volume and low keyword difficulty. Here, we have both! What this means is that not many people are writing about these particular terms, but plenty of people want to know about them. Looks like we have found a perfect jumping off point for our first piece of content. 

Don’t Forget Your Long Tail Keywords

We now have two good key phrases to go off of, but we needn’t stop there. I know we promised we wouldn’t throw a bunch of jargon at you, but hear us out. Long Tail keywords are another important part of basic SEO. These are keywords that do not have the high search volume of top ranking, single words, but may be easier to rank for due to their specificity. For example:

Here we see that “landscape edging ideas” and “lawn edging ideas” have a fair few people searching each month as well. We should definitely include these topics in our content. 

Third: Choose Your Headings

Headings are an important part of SEO because they help reinforce what your post is about. They also greatly enhance the user experience, since they help readers find what they are looking for more quickly (more on the UX below). 

You have several options for headings: H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, H6. As a rule, H1 should be reserved for your page title only. H2’s are the subheadings of each distinct section of content, while H3s are more detailed items within those subheadings. H4, H5, and H6 are not used as commonly, but they frequently appear in content that is heavily list-based (recipes, for example). 

Your H2s and H3s are more opportunities to use your keywords and phrases. Include them when it feels natural to do so. For example, in our landscaping edging article, we might have the following:

H1: A Complete Guide To Landscape Edging

H2: What Are The Benefits Of Landscape Edging

H3: Protection

H3: Aesthetics

H3: Weed Prevention

H3: Contain Overgrowth

H2: Can You DIY Lawn Edging?

H2: Garden Inspo: Landscape Edging Ideas For Every Budget

Third: Be Your Authentic Self

Genuineness is very important in creating quality content. People want to hear your voice, not a scrubbed down version of it or, especially, generic AI-generated material. It’s totally fine to use AI to get started, but make sure you go through and add your own opinions and personality (and definitely fact-check). This simple action automatically builds trust and authority in both your customers’ and Google’s eyes. 

SEO Basics Rule #2: Optimize Your Title Tags And Meta Descriptions

Remember that our keywords in our example are:

1. Landscape edging
2. Lawn edging
3. Landscape edging ideas
4. Lawn edging ideas

Four keywords is plenty, in our opinion. It’s hard enough to rank for one, so we like to keep the list fairly minimal. Your primary keyword should find its way into the title and meta description, since those are the first thing users see on search engine results pages. They are also important to the Google bots, who crawl those items first to determine what your page is about. In the following example, the primary keyword is “grisette.” It is found in the title and in the meta description, both of which are excellent basic SEO practices.

The area to add a meta description will vary depending on the builder you are using and whether or not you have an SEO plugin. In WordPress, for example, through the AIOSEO plugin, the meta description form appears under the page or post content:

(Notice the max recommended characters is 160. Try not to go over this, or your meta description will be cut off.)

SEO Basics Rule # 3: Improve Website Speed 

We take it back about content being most important. Because honestly, if your site doesn’t load fast enough, it doesn’t matter how great your blog is. No one will stick around to read it. 

Your site should load in less than three seconds, or stats show users will leave (a.k.a. “bounce”) before you can say Jack Robinson. Common culprits of slow sites include:

Large Image Files

Images that are too big can bog down a site. You can compress images to a smaller size using tools like TinyPNG or ImageOptim, or install an image optimizer plugin on your site. 

Slow Server

Sometimes, the server is to blame for a slow site. If you have a small site with optimized images and video, consider switching hosts. 

No Content Delivery Network

Your host should also have a Content Delivery Network (CDN) and side caching abilities so that static images can be loaded faster for users. Caching simply involves temporarily storing a copy of content on servers that are geographically closer to users, which reduces the delay in data delivery in that area. 

Too Many Plugins

Periodically go through and deactivate and remove unnecessary or redundant plugins. Not only will this speed up your site, you’ll reduce the risk of it breaking should one of those plugins suddenly become incompatible with another plugin or your site’s theme. 

These are steps non web-developers can take to help their site load more quickly. There are plenty of other technical issues, however, that can cause issues. If you are still having trouble with a slow site after trying the above, you’ll need professional guidance. Lucky for you, we know a guy! Call our office to discuss possible reasons why your site isn’t loading as it should. 

SEO Basics Rule # 4: Prioritize Mobile Views

Most of us do not build websites on mobile devices, but most of us do look at them that way. In fact, more than 70% of all web traffic in the US comes from mobile devices. Don’t forget to create a mobile view of your content! If you are using a responsive site builder, it may automatically adjust your display so that it looks good on mobile. Still CHECK, though, because this is not always the case. Most builders allow you to preview your page in mobile portrait view. If yours doesn’t, publish the page and look at it on your phone. Fix areas of text that are truncated, fonts that have gone too small, and images that are cut off. 

SEO Basics Rule # 4: Make It User Friendly

Ah, the User Experience (UX). It sounds like some mystical, unreachable phenomenon, but it is very, very simple. Think of the UX as the Golden Rule: treat website users the way you want to be treated on a website. What makes you stay on a site? What makes you want to tear your hair out? While not everyone has the same preferences, there are a few good rules to follow in terms of design and function to enhance the UX:

• Make navigation easy, with clear links and large enough fonts. Make sure the menu is optimized for mobile views as well. 
• Keep sections of content brief. Our attention spans are ever-shrinking, and most people have not come to your page to read the entire article. They are looking for one particular piece of information. Use short paragraphs, bullet points, and headings so users can find what they are looking for. 
• Include bright and engaging visuals such as images, videos, and infographics to jazz up what is otherwise just an essay. Make sure they are relevant to the topic to avoid confusion. Don’t go crazy–too many images can have just as bad an effect as a single, 800-word paragraph with no headings. One is too boring, the other is too overwhelming. Strike a balance with your images and text. 

SEO Basics Rule #5: Go Back And Do It Again

SEO is not a set-and-forget kind of thing. It requires ongoing monitoring and adjustments to remain relevant and useful to current search trends. What was popular last year may be completely forgotten the next. Heck, what was trending a week ago may now be obsolete. This is where analytics tools are extremely helpful. For example:

• Google Analytics: This tool helps track traffic, user behavior, and engagement metrics. You can analyze which pages perform well, where visitors come from, and how long they stay on your site. This data can help you know which pages to revisit, which to scrap, and what to write next. 
• Google Search Console: This tool helps identify technical issues, track keyword rankings, and monitor how Google crawls and indexes your site. It provides insights on search performance, click-through rates, and errors that need fixing, such as broken links or indexing issues. You can submit certain pages to be recrawled and get a handy list of links of pages you need to remove or add redirects to. 

Let Us Help You Win SEO In 2025!

SEO doesn’t have to be overly complicated, but it can be time-consuming. If you need help revamping your site or creating optimized content to help you rank, give the experts at Redstone Communications Group a call! We love working with our clients to build tailored SEO strategies and seeing their businesses grow over time as a result. Call or go online today to schedule a chat, and let’s build something awesome together!