12 things to know about SEO
Busting the common myths around search engine optimisation. Straight answers before you start, or before you spend money on someone who promises page one.
SEO doesn’t have to be complicated
Here are 12 questions worth asking about SEO, with straight answers, before you get started or before you spend money with someone who promises you page one of Google.
SEO is full of jargon, but most of what matters is common sense. Build a website that’s clear, fast and genuinely useful to the people you want to reach, and you’re most of the way there. The basics are built into every site I make, and the answers below explain why each one matters.
How Google decides
How do we get our website to appear at the top of Google?
A page’s position in search results depends on a mix of factors: how relevant it is to the search, how trustworthy your site is, the quality of your content and the competition you’re up against. Google weighs hundreds of signals to decide which pages deserve the top spots, and it keeps getting better at it.
Getting there means making your site more relevant and more trustworthy than your competitors over time. That takes well-optimised pages, good content, a solid technical foundation and the kind of authority search engines recognise. Some of this can be fixed quickly. Some takes time to build.
There are no shortcuts worth taking. Tricks that try to game the algorithm bring short-term gains at best, and penalties that are hard to recover from at worst.
What do you mean when you talk about making my site more ‘relevant’?
Google’s aim is to show the most useful, accurate answer to every search. Relevance is how well your page matches what someone is looking for.
It starts with content that’s genuinely useful to your audience and clearly focused on the topics you want to be found for. The words you use in page titles, headings, web addresses and body text all matter. But good SEO now goes well beyond keyword placement. Google looks at whether your content shows real knowledge of the subject, favours well-structured, readable pages, and rewards sites that answer questions thoroughly and honestly.
The goal is to give search engines every reason to believe your page is the best result for that search.
What do you mean making my site ‘trustworthy’?
Trust is one of the biggest factors in how Google ranks a website. Google describes it using a set of principles called E-E-A-T, which stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness. In plain terms, does this site show real knowledge and first-hand experience of its subject?
Trust is built in several ways. Links from reputable, relevant websites still matter, as each one is a sign that others vouch for you. Mentions in articles, an active social presence and positive reviews all help too. So do the basics, such as a secure site, clear contact details, a privacy policy and real names behind the content.
The good news is that if you’re good at what you do and say so clearly and honestly on your website, you’re already laying the right foundations.
Reading the results
What do you mean by rankings and organic results?
When someone searches on Google, they see a page of results, known as the search engine results page. Where your website appears on it for a particular search is your ranking.
Organic results are the listings Google shows because it judges them relevant and trustworthy. They’re earned, not paid for. Alongside them you’ll often see paid ads, a local map, “People also ask” boxes and AI-generated summaries, all competing for attention.
Position still matters. Higher results get far more clicks, and the drop-off between positions is steep. But what matters most is ranking for the searches real customers use, the ones that lead to enquiries and sales.
What do you mean by a ‘keyword’?
A keyword is the word or phrase someone types into a search engine. Someone needing a plumber in Bristol might search for “emergency plumber Bristol” or “boiler repair Bristol”. Ranking for the right ones can make a big difference to how many people find you, and how likely they are to get in touch.
A common mistake is targeting the words you assume people use, rather than the ones they actually do. Good keyword research uses specialist tools to find phrases with real search volume that are relevant to your business and realistic to rank for.
Google is also very good at understanding the intent behind a search, not just the words. Writing naturally and thoroughly about a topic works far better than repeating a keyword as often as possible.
Can you guarantee our search engine rankings?
No, and be very wary of anyone who says they can. Nobody can guarantee a position in Google’s organic results. The algorithm is complex, always changing, and outside anyone’s control.
What good SEO can do is improve your rankings steadily over time, through keyword research, quality content, technical work and trust that’s genuinely earned. That last point matters. Buying links might look like a shortcut, but Google is good at spotting them, and the penalties can be severe and slow to recover from.
Be especially cautious of promises of quick page-one results or “guaranteed visibility”. These claims are usually misleading, or rely on tactics that will eventually harm your site. In SEO, slow and steady wins.
Your options
I was told you could pay to appear at the top of Google?
Yes, and it’s a legitimate option in the right situation. Google Ads lets businesses bid for positions above and alongside the normal results for specific searches. You pay each time someone clicks your ad, which is why it’s called pay-per-click, or PPC.
Ads can work well for new websites that haven’t built up organic rankings yet, or for time-limited offers where you need visibility quickly. But costs can mount up fast in competitive markets, and when you stop paying, the traffic stops too.
Many people scroll past ads to the organic results, which they tend to trust more. For long-term growth, a strong organic position is usually worth more than a paid one. But the two aren’t mutually exclusive, and they can work well together as part of a wider marketing plan.
What about local search?
If your customers are local, this may be the most important answer on the page.
When someone searches for “plumber near me” or “accountant in Bath”, Google usually shows a map with three businesses above the normal results. Getting into that map pack depends largely on your Google Business Profile. That’s the free listing that shows your address, opening hours, photos and reviews.
A complete, active profile with genuine reviews makes a big difference. So does making sure your business name, address and phone number match everywhere they appear online, and having clear pages on your website for the areas and services you cover. For many small businesses, getting local SEO right brings in more enquiries than anything else.
Can I SEO my own website?
Yes, and many businesses do. Tools like Yoast SEO and Rank Math make the basics more accessible than ever, and there’s plenty of free guidance online.
The catch is time. SEO isn’t a one-off job. It means ongoing keyword research, writing content, technical upkeep, checking performance and keeping up as search changes. For most small business owners, that’s time that could be spent running the business.
There’s a technical side too, including page speed, mobile performance, structured data and how your pages link together. Getting these wrong can harm your rankings rather than help them.
If you have the time and interest, doing it yourself is a perfectly good starting point. But in a competitive market, working with someone who does this every day will usually get better results, faster.
What to expect
How long does it take to improve my rankings?
There’s no single honest answer, and anyone who gives you a precise timeline without knowing your website, your market and your competition should be treated with caution.
That said, some patterns hold true. New websites tend to take longer to gain traction, as search engines favour sites with an established track record. For an established site with a solid technical foundation, consistent SEO work might show meaningful improvements within three to six months. For highly competitive searches, it can take considerably longer.
The most useful way to think about SEO is as a long-term investment rather than a quick fix. Consistent effort over time, through quality content, technical improvements and growing authority, produces results that build on each other and last.
Does AI search change everything?
Google now shows AI Overviews above the normal results for many searches, summarising an answer directly on the page. Its AI Mode goes further, and many people now ask tools like ChatGPT instead of searching at all. For simple questions, that means fewer clicks through to websites.
The way to stay visible is much the same as good SEO has always been. Be clear, be accurate and show real expertise. AI tools draw on content that answers questions directly, is well structured and comes from sources they can trust. Being cited in an AI answer is now a form of visibility in its own right, even when it doesn’t bring a click.
This is still changing quickly, and nobody can promise exactly how it will settle. But a well-built site with genuinely useful content is the best preparation for whatever comes next.
Why is it important to rank in the top five positions of the search results?
Because that’s where most of the clicks go. The top few organic results take the majority of clicks for most searches, and position one gets far more than position two.
But the picture is more complicated than it used to be. Ads, the local map, “People also ask” boxes and AI Overviews all compete for attention above the normal results. A page featured in one of these can be highly visible even from further down.
So focus on being visible everywhere your customers look. Pages that answer questions clearly, show real expertise and are easy for search engines to understand have the best chance across all of them.
In short
The goal, as ever, is to be the most useful, credible and relevant result for the searches that matter most to your business.