Phase 1: Cover the basics

• Sitemap & robots.txt High priority

  A sitemap lists all your pages so search engines can find them easily. Submit it to your Google Search Console account. A robots.txt file tells search engines which pages they're allowed to crawl.

• Contact info in footer High priority

  Your footer should display at least a phone number and email address. A physical address helps too if your business has one. Make sure this information exactly matches what's on your Google Business Profile. This consistency (known as 'NAP': Name, Address, Phone) is a local SEO signal. Ask your developer to wrap the contact details in an <address> element, which is the semantic HTML tag for contact information and improves accessibility.

• Contact page High priority

  A dedicated contact page is a trust signal for Google. It demonstrates that a real, accountable business is behind the website, which contributes to your site's E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness). Have one even if your main call-to-action is a separate booking or estimate form. It should include at minimum an email address. A phone number is also helpful. The contact page should be reachable from your main navigation and footer.

• Schema markup Medium priority

  Schema markup (also called 'structured data') is code added to your website that helps Google understand who you are and what your pages are about. Two types to start with:

  • Local Business schema: tells Google your business name, type, address, phone, hours, and other key details. Add it to one page only (home, about, or contact). Use the most specific business type available: for example, a dental office should use 'Dentist' rather than just 'LocalBusiness'. Google supports hundreds of sub-types via schema.org.
  • Breadcrumb schema: tells Google the hierarchy of your pages (e.g. Home › Services › Plumbing). Should be included on all pages.

  Depending on your business, additional schema types may be worth adding. Google supports a wide range; see the full structured data gallery for what's available. Ask your SEO provider which are relevant for you.

• Google Lighthouse scores Medium priority

  Lighthouse is Google's automated auditing tool that grades your website across four categories: Performance, Accessibility, Best Practices, and SEO. A score of 90 or above is considered good in each category. The easiest way to run it is via PageSpeed Insights (just enter your URL). Your developer can also run it directly in Chrome DevTools. Share your report URL with your developer and ask them about any failing audits.

• 'About' page best practices Medium priority

  Your 'About' page should contain a short factual paragraph (1-3 sentences) describing your brand: what you do, where you operate, how long you've been around, etc. No marketing language in this paragraph; stick to facts. This helps Google establish your brand's identity in its Knowledge Graph. You can use marketing language freely in the rest of the page.

  To see what Google currently knows about your site, search your brand name on Google, then click the vertical ellipsis (3 dots) next to your domain in the results. In the panel that opens, click 'More about this page' under 'About the source'. The easiest ways to feed Google accurate information are, in order:

  1. Your Google Business Profile
  2. Your website's 'About' page
  3. Profiles on major business aggregator sites (ZoomInfo, Crunchbase, Glassdoor, Capterra)

  If your 'About' page is missing the factual paragraph, write one and send it to your developer to add. Consider also creating profiles on the aggregator sites above and linking to them from your 'About' page for additional benefit.

• Policy pages (Low priority)

  Policy pages signal to Google (and users) that your site is run by a trustworthy, accountable organization, contributing to your site's E-E-A-T. Write content for the following and send to your developer to publish:

  • Privacy policy (most important): legally required in many jurisdictions (GDPR, CCPA) and required by Google if you run Google Ads or AdSense. It should describe what data you collect and how you use it.
  • Terms of service: sets expectations for how visitors may use your site and limits your liability.
  • Editorial guidelines: if you publish blog content, this page explains your content standards and review process, reinforcing E-E-A-T.
• Add a 'careers' page (Low priority)

  A careers page signals to Google that your business is established and actively operating, reinforcing your site's credibility. Even if you have no open positions, a page stating that you'll post openings in the future is better than nothing. If you do list job openings, ask your developer to add JobPosting structured data to each listing, which makes your postings eligible to appear in Google's job search experience directly in search results.

• Blog post best practices (Low priority)

  Only applicable if you're blogging. Ask your developer to implement the following:

  • Breadcrumbs: display the page's position in your site hierarchy (e.g. Home › Blog › Post Title) with breadcrumb structured data.
  • Author byline and author box: display the author's name, photo, and a link to their author page and social media profiles. This supports E-E-A-T by making expertise and identity visible.
  • Published date and last updated date: display both dates visibly on the page and include them in your Article structured data so Google can show accurate dates in search results.
  • Author profile pages: each author should have a dedicated page with their bio, credentials, and links. Use ProfilePage structured data.

Phase 2: Off-page SEO

• Backlinks from SERP co-occupants High priority

  Backlinks (links from other websites to yours) are a major ranking signal. Not all backlinks are equal, and the most valuable ones tend to come from pages that already rank for the same search queries you're targeting. These are called SERP co-occupants.

  A SERP (Search Engine Results Page) co-occupant is any page that appears in the results for a search query you want to rank for. Getting a backlink from a co-occupant carries more weight than a generic backlink because Google already considers that page topically relevant to your target query.

  Co-occupants often include non-competitor sites like Yelp, Better Business Bureau, HomeAdvisor, and similar directories, as well as industry associations, news sites, and local blogs. To build your list, search for each query you want to rank for and record every non-competitor site in the first 3-4 pages. Then pursue listings or mentions on those sites.

• Your business social media profiles Medium priority

  Create profiles on the major social media platforms (Facebook, X/Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn) and provide the URLs to your developer. They'll add them to two places:

  • Your website footer, so users can find and follow you.
  • Your Organization structured data via the sameAs property, which tells Google these profiles all belong to the same entity as your website. This helps Google build a more complete picture of your brand.

  Make sure each social media profile also links back to your website. This two-way connection strengthens your brand's entity recognition.

• Business citations (Just the good ones) Medium priority

  A business citation is any online listing that includes your business name, address, phone number, and website. Getting listed on authoritative citation sites helps Google verify your business's existence and identity, which strengthens your brand entity in its Knowledge Graph and supports local SEO.

  Two categories worth targeting:

  • Business data aggregators: sites like Crunchbase, ZoomInfo, Glassdoor, and Dun & Bradstreet compile company data and are treated as authoritative sources by Google. A listing here also feeds downstream to many other directories.
  • Industry and local directories: sites like Yelp, Better Business Bureau, and industry-specific directories relevant to your niche. These also commonly appear as SERP co-occupants for your target queries (see the item below).

  Make sure your name, address, and phone number are identical across every listing, and match what is on your website and Google Business Profile (NAP consistency).

  A word of caution: some SEO providers will bulk-submit your business to hundreds of low-quality or irrelevant directories as a cheap way to show deliverables. This provides little to no benefit and can create NAP inconsistency problems that hurt your local SEO. Focus on quality over quantity: a listing on Crunchbase or the BBB is worth far more than 50 listings on obscure, auto-generated directory sites.

Phase 3: Compete for your target 'search queries'

1. 1. Tell your SEO provider what kind of searches you wish to rank for

   Think in terms of what your potential customers would type into Google, not what you would type. For local businesses, this means describing your services or products and the geographic areas you serve. For example: "emergency plumber Austin TX" or "wedding photographer downtown Chicago." The more specific you can be, the better your SEO provider can focus their research.

2. 2. Ask your SEO provider for a 'Keyword research report'

   A good keyword research report should contain:

   • Search queries grouped by the similarity of their SERP results (known as 'keyword clustering'). Queries that return similar results pages belong to the same cluster and should be targeted by the same page.
   • Estimated monthly search volume per query and per cluster. You can explore trends yourself using Google Trends.
   • A recommended primary keyword for each cluster, i.e. the term most likely to represent the topic based on Google's Knowledge Graph, industry-standard terminology, and/or search volume.
   • SERP opportunities, where available. For example: a SERP where pages with videos get a significant ranking boost, yet the current top results don't have one. Your page can gain an advantage by including one. Similar opportunities can exist for image galleries, tables, charts, PDFs, and other content formats.
3. 3. Decide what pages to make

   Create one page per SERP cluster, not per individual search query. Creating multiple pages targeting the same cluster causes keyword cannibalization, where your own pages compete against each other and dilute your ranking potential.

   Since quality content takes time and money, prioritize which clusters to tackle first. Good prioritization signals:

   • High search volume
   • Strong SERP opportunities identified in your keyword report
   • Direct business value (high-intent queries that lead to conversions)
4. 4. Request a content brief

   A content brief is a document your SEO provider prepares that tells you (and your developer) exactly what a page needs to rank for a given cluster. It typically includes the target keyword, recommended page title and headings, topics to cover, word count guidance, internal linking suggestions, and any schema markup to add. Request one for the first cluster you want to target.

5. 5. Create content

   Gather or write content following the brief's instructions. Google rewards helpful, people-first content that demonstrates first-hand experience and expertise, so prioritize quality over volume. Once your content is ready, provide it to your developer to publish. Make sure they also follow the brief's technical instructions (schema markup, internal links, heading structure, etc.).

6. 6. Publicize your content

   Share your new page on social media and any other channels where your audience is active. Initial direct traffic is believed to help rankings, but only when Google detects positive user engagement on the page (such as time on page and low bounce rate, measured via Chrome browser data). Also submit your updated sitemap in Google Search Console so Google indexes the new page promptly.

7. 7. Repeat the process

   Once your page is published and indexed, move on to your next prioritized SERP cluster and go back to step 4. SEO is a long-term compounding effort, and each new page you publish builds your site's overall authority and topical coverage.

8. 8. Consider new search query ideas regularly

   New query ideas come from many places: customer conversations, seasonal trends, new services you're offering, or competitor research. Send them to your SEO provider to add to your keyword research report. You can also explore search demand yourself using Google Trends, and review what queries are already bringing people to your site in your Google Search Console performance report.