Found, not just built: SEO basics for people who hate SEO

Most small businesses think of SEO as a dark art practised by people who send spammy emails. It isn't. Stripped of the jargon, search is just this: when someone types what you do, do you show up? Here's how to tilt the odds without selling your soul.

Say what you do, in the words people use

Search engines match the words on your page to the words in someone's search. If your site is full of clever taglines and empty of plain descriptions — 'bespoke solutions for forward-thinking partners' — there's nothing to match. Write the boring version too: what you do, where, and for whom.

• Name your services the way customers name them, not the way you do internally.
• Mention your city and region somewhere real — not buried in the footer.
• Give every page one clear job and one clear topic.
• Answer the actual questions people ask before they buy.

Google can't recommend you for something you never clearly said you do.

The technical bits that actually matter

You don't need a hundred-point checklist. You need a site that loads fast on a phone, works without errors, has a sensible page for each thing you offer, and isn't accidentally telling search engines to stay away. Get those right and you're already ahead of most competitors.

After that, the single best 'SEO tactic' is unglamorous: keep publishing useful things and earn the odd mention from sites people trust. Findability compounds slowly, then suddenly.