Most small businesses don’t need an SEO strategy deck. They need the basics done properly, then kept up.

This is the list we work through when someone asks why their site isn’t showing up on Google. Go in order. The first five items cover most of the problems we see.

Since we first published this checklist, a lot of people have started getting answers from Google’s AI Overviews or ChatGPT before they click on anything. The same basics decide whether those tools mention you, so we’ve noted where that matters.

1. Make sure your site loads fast

Google measures speed with a set of scores called Core Web Vitals. Start with Largest Contentful Paint: how long it takes for the main thing on the page to appear. Aim for under 2.5 seconds on a phone.

• Run your homepage through PageSpeed Insights (free, from Google) and look at the mobile result.
• Oversized images are usually the problem. Resize them before you upload, and use WebP where you can.
• Delete plugins you don’t use. Each one adds weight.

2. Test it on your phone, properly

Google ranks the mobile version of your site, not the desktop one. So pick up your phone and do what a customer would do: find your hours, call you, book something. If any step makes you pinch or zoom, fix that first.

3. Write page titles people would actually click

Every page needs its own title and meta description. Say what the page is and where you are. “Bookkeeping for Restaurants in Somerville | Smith & Co.” does a lot more than “Home.”

• Titles: keep them to about 60 characters, or Google cuts them off.
• Descriptions: about 155 characters. Google rewrites these often, so write a decent one and move on.

4. Use the words your customers use

Think about what someone types, or says to their phone, when they need you. “Dog groomer near Brighton.” “Emergency plumber Quincy.” Use those phrases in your headings and page copy where they fit. If a sentence sounds like it was written for a search engine, rewrite it for a person.

This matters more now that AI tools answer questions directly. They lean on pages that answer clearly. A services page that says what you do, who it’s for, where you work and roughly what it costs gives them something to quote.

5. Claim and fill out your Google Business Profile

For a local business this is often worth more than anything on the website itself, and it’s free.

• Claim and verify the profile.
• Fill in every field: hours, services, service area, categories, photos.
• Update holiday hours. People notice when Google says you’re open and you’re not.
• Claim Apple Business Connect and Bing Places while you’re at it. Each takes a few minutes, and map apps and some AI assistants pull business details from them.

6. Get reviews, and answer them

Reviews help you show up in the map results, and they’re what people read right before they call.

• Ask after a job goes well. A text with a direct link to your review page works better than asking in person.
• Reply to every review, including the bad ones. Short and specific beats long and defensive.

7. Fix broken links and stale pages

Run a free broken-link checker every few months. While you’re at it, look for old prices, old staff photos and last year’s dates. (We say this having just done it on our own site.)

8. Give each service its own page

If you offer three services, give each one a page. If you travel to several towns, a page for each can help, but only if it says something real about working there. Copy-pasted town pages with the name swapped out do more harm than good.

9. Add basic schema markup

Schema is a bit of code that tells search engines facts about your business: name, address, hours, reviews. Most SEO plugins, like Yoast or Rank Math, add the basics for you. Check what you have with Google’s Rich Results Test.

One change since older guides were written: FAQ markup no longer earns the expandable FAQ listings in Google for most businesses. Google limited those to government and health sites in 2023, so don’t add it just for that.

10. Publish something useful every so often

One helpful post a month beats ten thin ones. Write down the questions customers ask you on the phone and answer them. They’re the same questions people type into Google and ask ChatGPT.

Where to start

If this feels like a lot, do 1, 2 and 5 this week. That’s an afternoon, and it covers the problems we run into most.

If you’d rather have someone go through it with you, our SEO Audit covers all ten and gives you a ranked list of fixes. Or book a free 20-minute call and we’ll tell you where we’d start.