25 ultimate SEO tips

Good search engine optimisation can make your website successful, and we’ve gathered our top 25 SEO tips in one place to help you out. We’ve helped millions of customers succeed online and published thousands of articles on websites and marketing. Use our top tips and set your website up for success! 

Why SEO is important 

Search Engine Optimisation, or SEO, is a technique for creating and optimising web pages to make them more interesting for readers and search engines. The goal is to get search engines like Google to rank pages as close to the top of search result pages as possible. This is done by improving the user experience and making it easier for Google to understand what an article is about and why it’s valuable for readers. The result can sometimes be a manifold increase in traffic. 

For many websites, search engines are the largest source of traffic. Traffic from search engines is valuable for websites as it’s a good source of new visitors. If you succeed with SEO for your webshop, for example, you create a new way for customers to find you online and increase the efficiency of your digital marketing. 

The results of successful search engine optimisation can vary greatly, depending on your starting point and the type of website you run. By following the SEO tips in this article, you can see improvements ranging from a few percentage points to a hundredfold increase. That said, a website is never perfect, and there are always opportunities to optimise it for search engines. 

Our 25 ultimate SEO tips

SEO can be complicated, so we’ve tried to simplify it by gathering our top 25 SEO tips. We know what we’re talking about since we’ve helped millions of small businesses succeed online and published thousands of articles to drive traffic from Google. 

This list is not created in any specific order, and the tips that are most important to you depend on what you want to do with your website. We have still tried to create a list that is useful for as many people as possible, so read all the tips and use as many as possible. 

1. Choose a short and relevant domain

Your domain name can have a significant impact on your visitors and your visibility on Google for two reasons: 

• A short domain is easy to remember. 
• A relevant domain can directly improve your ranking on search engines. 

For example, if you run a webshop that sells dog food, a domain that includes the keyword dog food shows that your website is relevant for search results about dog food and can give you an advantage on Google. An example could be peters-dogfood.com. 

Keep in mind that there’s no need to end your domain name with .com. You can choose from over 400 top-level domains, including .co.uk, .dog, .ai, and many more. Searching for available domain names and finding one that suits you and your website is easy. 

2. Use an SEO tool

Search engine optimisation can be complicated, but you can do some of the work yourself. SEO tools such as Rank Math can do the heavy lifting for you. With Rank Math SEO, all critical changes to your website are made automatically, according to best practices. 

With Rank Math PRO, you get access to several extra features, such as unlimited keywords per page, integration with Google Analytics 4, the Keyword Rank Tracking feature, and the PRO version of the WooCommerce SEO module. one.com offers an exclusive trial period of Rank Math PRO that you can activate if you have a hosting package with us. 

3. Conduct keyword analysis

When you create your website, write an article, add a product, or a new page, you must start with keyword analysis. A keyword is a word that web users use when they perform searches. A keyword could, for example, be “healthy dog food”. With keyword analysis, you find out what words people use most often to search and how much competition there is for that keyword. 

There are several great tools for conducting keyword analysis. Ahrefs is a paid premium service that also offers a free tool for keyword research. Google Trends is another good tool for exploring what keywords are popular and how their popularity changes over time. 

4. Optimise for mobile

According to Statista, between 55 and 60 percent of all web traffic comes from mobile phones, and since 2023, Google has prioritised mobile-friendly websites.  It’s therefore important that your website is optimised for mobile. 

We will return to tips that can help you optimise your mobile website for Google, but our best tip is to always test your website on a phone while you are developing it. Make sure the website is fast, easy to use, and does not lack any important functionality. 

5. Use HTTPS

Security is a critical priority for all websites today and thus it’s become a crucial factor for users and search engines as well. Google ranks websites based on the security they offer. On the web, HTTPS creates a secure connection between users and websites. An SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate is needed to use HTTPS on a website. It is included in all hosting packages from one.com, and you do not need to do anything to install or renew it. 

6. Compress images

The speed of your website has a major impact on user experience and on how it’s ranked by Google. Large images are often the main reason for slow websites. When you upload images to your website, it’s important to check that all images have the right resolution and that they are compressed to be as small as possible. It can also be good to use a modern file format that can compress images efficiently, such as AVIF or WEBP. 

If you use WordPress, you can automate the compression of your website’s image with Imagify. Imagify can optimise all images on your website without you having to lift a finger and can optimise all images that you add. It can make your images 80 percent smaller and, in some cases, halve the loading time of your website. 

If you have the premium version of one.com’s Website Builder, it automatically optimises your pages and images to ensure a fast loading time.

7. Use a CDN

For your website to be fast and responsive all around the world, you need a CDN. A CDN (short for Content Delivery Network) is a network of computers that spans the world and can ensure that your website is fast for all users. 

With hosting from one.com, a free CDN is included in your WordPress website’s hosting plan. It is configured automatically so that you don’t have to do anything more than activate it in our pre-installed plugin. 

8. Optimise CSS and JavaScript

In addition to images, some code files can also make your website slow. This can be due to the code being inefficiently written or not fetched correctly.  

These problems can be difficult to solve, but there are automatic tools to help you out. WP Rocket is a WordPress plugin that can optimise your website automatically. It optimises all the code on your website and ensures that your website is as fast as possible. 

9. Use the correct heading tags

It is important that you use the correct headings so that your website is easy to find and navigate. This applies to both visitors and search engines. An enticing and descriptive heading can get more clicks from search results and can help visitors understand what your website contains.  

There are several types of headings, so it’s important that you use them correctly. 

What do h1, h2, h3, etc. mean? 

• h1: This is the top heading that describes the entire page, the entire blog post, or the article. There should only be one h1 per page. 
• h2: h2 is the most important type of subheading. It divides a page into its most important parts and helps users and search engines find and understand a page’s content and structure. 
• h3: h3 is always used under an h2 and is a heading used to divide an h2 into smaller parts. 
• h4, h5, etc. These are used when further division is needed. h5 and lower levels of headings are rarely used. 

Example hierarchy of headings 

h1: What is a CDN?

 h2: How does a CDN work?

 h2: Why you need a CDN

  h3: Handles traffic peaks

  h3: Makes your website faster

  h3: Increases security

 h2: Why you don’t need a CDN

 h2: Get started with a CDN

10. Use alt text

Alt text is a text that describes an image. It is usually not visible but can be displayed if an image does not load properly. It can also be used by screen readers to read a description of an image to people with visual impairments. Finally, it is also useful for search engines that can give you bonus points for good digital accessibility and that can use alt tags to understand the contents of images. Good use of images can make a page more relevant to visitors and can improve their rankings on search engines. 

11. Use structured data

Most websites can benefit from the power of structured data. If you have searched for a recipe and received information about how long it takes to cook a dish, searched for a movie and seen ratings for the movie in the search results, or searched for an event and received information about the event’s location and time in the search results, you have used structured data. With structured data, you can summarise information about a page to make it more accessible to people. 

The advantage of structured data is that it can make your pages more visible and attractive in search results. The disadvantage can be that structured data is difficult to use. We recommend using Rank Math since it can help you easily add structured data to your website. 

12. Create unique content

For your website to be ranked highly and be seen as valuable to your visitors, it needs to offer unique content. If you copy someone else’s content, you can receive a low rank from Google and have a hard time competing for users’ attention. If you instead create unique content that stands out, you can get more clicks and show both your visitors and Google that you have unique and valuable knowledge. 

13. Internal linking

When you write content for your website, it is good to consider how you create links between your pages, articles, and products. A link from an internal page to another can have two main benefits: 

• They give your visitors a reason to explore your website. 
• They show search engines that you’re an expert on a subject. 

To work effectively with internal links, it can be good to create pages based on topic clusters. A topic cluster is essentially an article that explains a broad subject. Around it, there are several specialised articles that describe parts of the same subject in depth. These articles can link each other and the main article, while the main article includes links to all the in-depth articles. A topic cluster shows visitors and search engines you know what you are discussing. 

14. Create link partnerships

Search results are largely ranked based on their credibility and authority. One way to measure authority is through links. If a large and credible website links to another website, the link shows that the other website is credible. A link can, therefore, increase a website’s authority and have a positive effect on how pages are ranked. 

It is important that other websites link to your website for it to climb the search result rankings. The links should be relevant and contained within the same niche as your website. 

You can get links to your website by talking to website owners about content that you have created, and that may be interesting for them to share. You can also ask if you can guest blog on their blog. You can include a link in your guest posts to build your authority. 

15. Create engagement

If you create engagement for your website, it can affect how your website is ranked. When you create your website and your content, it is important to ensure that your visitors stay and become interested in exploring your website. Interactive features such as comments can get them invested and have them return to your website more often. 

Social media does not necessarily affect search results directly, but engagement is good for creating positive signals that your content is interesting. Try to create as much engagement as possible to show that your website should be ranked higher. 

16. Create a good user experience

How quickly your website loads is a critical part of the user experience for your website. It is also important that you have clear navigation and that you choose suitable colours for your website. A website that is fun and easy to use encourages users to stay. 

Google can measure many parts of your website’s user experience to rank your pages based on how well they work. Lighthouse is a free tool from Google that you can use to understand how you can improve the user experience of your website. 

17. Create a PWA

One way to create a good user experience and increase engagement on your website is to create a PWA. A PWA, Progressive Web App, is a way to make your website into an app that works on smartphones, computers, and tablets. With a PWA, users get the benefits of an app that can be started from a shortcut on their home screen, that works offline, and that is fast. Creating a PWA is easy. We have created a guide where we show how you can create a PWA in five minutes. 

18. Update old content

It is important to create new content for your website, but if you already have old content on your website, it can also be valuable to update it. By updating old content, you can ensure that it keeps its value and a good position on search result pages. 

A good method for updating old content is a content audit. With a content audit, you can understand what content pieces are most important and what you should spend your time on for the best results. 

When you update old content, you should take the opportunity to remove some of it. Some articles or pages on your website may no longer be relevant. These can, in the worst case damage your reputation and should be deleted. 

19. Check spelling and grammar

To maintain high credibility and authority, your content needs to be of high quality. This includes the use of language on your website. Google checks for grammar and spelling mistakes to include it as part of its rankings. 

You can use your browser’s built-in spell checker when you create your website, or you can use a free word processor such as Google Docs to check your spelling and grammar. 

20. Collect social proof

Google uses a large number of signals to understand how credible you are. Social proof is one such factor. Social proof can be customer ratings, reviews on social media, and other customer stories. By asking your customers or visitors to leave a review about you, you can show new visitors and Google that you are well-liked. 

You can use social proof and structured data to make customer ratings visible in search results. Of course, you may also use customer ratings to create trust on your website or webshop. 

21. Answer common questions

If you need inspiration for writing articles, search for a topic and look for questions that Google provides answers for. You can use AnswerThePublic to get a list of questions that you can use as ideas for articles. 

If you write an article with a clear answer, Google can pick out your answer and show it at the top of a results page. It may mean that some users get their answers on the search results page and never visit your website again, but it may also mean that you get the all-important top position on Google. 

22. Use video

Many web users are no longer satisfied with text. Images and videos are essential to create engagement. If you can include a video that increases your readers’ understanding of a topic, you can increase the value of your page. Google can see the value of a relevant video and use it as a reason to rank your page higher. 

When you create videos, it can be good to publish them on YouTube. Videos published on YouTube often get a good position in search results as they are usually placed at the top of results pages. If you publish a video on YouTube and embed it in an article on your website, you can appear twice on the same search results page: once for your YouTube video and once for your article. It is a strategy for video marketing that can give very good results. 

23. Write dates in the heading

Most people want new and updated information about the topic they are searching for. If you update your content regularly, you can make use of this fact. An easy way to do this is by including a current year in the heading. Here’s an example: 

Best electric car for big families [2024] 

A current year in the heading shows that you have updated the article and that it can have greater value than older articles. This does not necessarily affect your ranking directly but can give you more clicks from users who perceive your page as current and interesting. 

24. Use canonical tags

If you have several pages with the same or similar content, it is important to use a canonical tag. It is a tag that signals to Google that you have duplicated content and that the copied page is not as important as the original. This way, you can show that you are not trying to cheat and ensure that your most important article gets the traffic it deserves. The result is that the copied article gets a lower ranking, the original article retains its high ranking, and the risk of duplicate content is removed. 

25. Create a simple URL structure

When you create a URL for a page, it is important that it is simple and relevant. Try to include the keyword you are optimising your page for in your URL, avoid unnecessary words, and make sure it is short. Here are some good and bad examples: 

Good: https://example.com/best-electric-car 

Bad: https://example.com/article-22321 

Bad: https://example.com/we-reveal-which-electric-car-is-our-favorite 

Get started with our SEO tips 

It is time to create or improve your website and climb to the top of Google! Make the most out of our 25 SEO tips and see how they can change your online presence. If you don’t already have a website, you can start a WordPress website and gain access to all add-ons that we recommend for search engine optimisation with our 1-click installation.