How to optimise a website for SEO: a step-by-step guide

How to optimise a website for SEO: a step-by-step guide, in the order we do things on any website that comes to us, whether new or neglected for years. Order matters: content written before fixing indexing is not seen, and links obtained to slow pages bring less than they could. Each step explains what to check, with which tool, and when to move on.

This guide is for website owners and people doing SEO themselves; those who want to understand the mechanism first can start with the article on what SEO is, and those who want the whole method with the 12-chapter SEO guide on the website.

How to optimise a website for SEO: a step-by-step guide

1. Technical audit: can Google see the website?

Before anything else, check the page indexing report in Search Console: how many pages are indexed compared with how many you have, and the reasons for those not indexed. Check robots.txt, the sitemap, redirects and server errors. A website with half its pages in "Crawled, currently not indexed" has a value problem, not a keyword problem. The steps are in the guide to coverage reports; for an entire website, the GOAI website analyser performs the basic checks free of charge.

2. URL structure

Short URLs with words, without parameters or IDs: exemplu.ro/servicii-seo/, not exemplu.ro/index.php?page=12. A single domain version (https, with or without www), with redirects from the others. Changing URLs on an existing website requires 301 redirects for every old URL; the effect of structure on rankings is described in the article on URL structure and rankings.

3. Keywords: what people search for, and with what intent

Start with what you have: Search Console's performance report shows the phrases for which the website already appears. Add Google Ads Keyword Planner for volumes and a language model for grouping by intent, following the method in the article on keyword research with Claude and ChatGPT. The result is a map: one main phrase per page, with its variants, without two pages targeting the same phrase.

4. Architecture: every page within three clicks of the home page

Important pages (services, categories) linked from the menu; articles linked from categories and to one another; no orphan pages. A menu with at most 7-9 main entries; the rest in the footer or hub pages. Structure is drawn before content, not afterwards, as we describe in the guide's chapter on architecture.

5. Page content

Each page answers one need completely: a service page says what the client receives, how you work, what it costs (or how the price is determined), who it is for, and what clients say. An article answers a question with direct experience, figures and sources. Writing rules: H2 and H3 subheadings for sections, short paragraphs, lists for enumerations, the main phrase in the title, first paragraph and a subheading, without forced repetition. What content that brings customers, not just rankings, means is covered in the article on content that generates customers.

6. Titles and descriptions

The page title (meta title) under 60-65 characters, with the main phrase at the start and a reason to click; the description under 155 characters, with the page's specific promise. Unique on every page. They are the text users see in Google before choosing; templates are in the SEO title examples and meta description examples.

7. Images

Meaningful filenames, descriptive alternative text, declared dimensions, WebP format, under 200 KB for content images, and the same image URL wherever it appears. Your own images beat stock images in both image search and Lens. The complete guide is in the article on image SEO optimisation.

8. Structured data

Organization (or LocalBusiness) throughout the website, with name, address, telephone and sameAs; Article on articles, with author; Product on products; FAQPage on pages with real questions; BreadcrumbList on all pages. In JSON-LD format, validated with the structured data validator. Do not add markup for things that are not on the page (reviews, events); this is a policy violation. The guide is in the article on schema markup.

9. Speed and page experience

Core Web Vitals in the good range on mobile: LCP under 2,5 seconds, INP under 200 milliseconds, CLS under 0,1. Page caching, optimised images, less JavaScript, fonts that display immediately. Measure in Search Console (real data) and PageSpeed Insights (diagnostics); the steps are in the article on optimising Core Web Vitals.

10. Mobile

Google evaluates the phone version. Check on a real phone: text readable without zooming, buttons at least 48 pixels, forms that can be filled in with a finger, tables that do not extend beyond the screen, and no windows covering content on arrival. The context is in our article on mobile-first indexing.

11. Trust: who is behind the website

An about the company page with real details (CUI, address, telephone, team), author pages with biographies, policies (privacy, terms, ANPC where applicable), real reviews, and sources cited in articles. These are the signals Google groups under E-E-A-T and checks with every update; the explanation is in the article on why E-E-A-T matters, and automated checking is available with the E-E-A-T audit tool.

12. Links and measurement

External links come from content worth citing, editorial partnerships, local press, relevant directories, and the Google Business profile for local businesses. Not from purchasing. The strategy is in the article on link building strategies. Measurement: Search Console weekly (non-branded clicks, rankings for main phrases, indexing), Analytics for conversions, with a monthly comparison and one at every Google update.

The order for a new website versus an existing one

On a new website, steps 2 and 4 (URLs and architecture) happen before writing a line of content, because changing them after launch requires redirects; then 3 and 5, then the rest, with 8, 9 and 10 ready at launch. On an existing website, the order is that in the guide: the audit says what is broken, and technical repairs (1, 2, 8, 9, 10) happen before new content, so every new page starts on a healthy website. The exception is a commercial page with obvious potential (there is demand, but the website lacks the page): write it immediately, alongside the repairs.

Which free tools are enough

• Search Console and Analytics: indexing, performance, conversions.
• PageSpeed Insights and Lighthouse in Chrome: speed and diagnostics.
• Google Ads Keyword Planner: indicative volumes.
• Google's Rich Results Test and our validator: structured data.
• A free crawler (Screaming Frog up to 500 URLs) or the website analyser on goai.ro: titles, descriptions, broken links, duplicates.
• A language model for grouping and structure, with the validation from step 3.

Paid tools (Ahrefs, Semrush) add competitors' links and more precise volumes; they are useful, not mandatory, for a small company website.

How long it takes

Steps 1-2 and 6-10 take two to four weeks on a typical website; technical effects are visible in one to two months. Steps 3-5 and 11-12 are ongoing: new content and links accumulate. On clients' websites, initial improvements for commercial phrases appear between the third and sixth month, and stable rankings for competitive phrases after 9-12 months. Anyone promising the first page in 30 days is talking about phrases without competition or methods that come at a cost later.

How to know it is working

Three signs, in the order they appear: the number of queries with impressions grows (the website appears for more searches, even at poor positions), then rankings for the main phrases rise towards the first page, then clicks and, with a delay, requests for quotes. If the first sign is missing after three months, check step 1 again: usually, new pages are not indexed or compete with one another. The correct measurement method, with comparisons over equal periods and without branded traffic, is in the article on measuring the impact of an update; the same method also measures your own changes.

Mistakes that undo the rest

• Content written for "keywords", not a question: long, generic text without experience, which neither Google nor people prefer.
• Two or more pages on the same subject, competing with one another.
• An indexed test website, duplicate URLs, indexed parameters.
• Purchased links or mass link exchanges.
• URL changes without redirects.
• No measurement at all: without Search Console, you know neither what works nor what does not.

For an online shop, the steps have particular features (category pages, filters, products), described in the guide to SEO optimisation for an online shop; for WordPress, in the guide to SEO optimisation for WordPress. If you prefer us to carry out steps 1, 2 and 8-10, this is exactly the structure of the SEO audit and the technical SEO service.

Sources

• Google Search Central, SEO starter guide: official recommendations for structure, content and links.
• Google Search Central, helpful, reliable, people-first content: content self-assessment questions.

Source references

• Google Search Central, ghidul de început pentru SEO
• Google Search Central, conținut util, de încredere, scris pentru oameni