How do I make my website SEO-friendly?

If you’re building a new website or giving your current site a much-needed refresh, making it SEO-friendly isn’t something you leave until the end. It needs to be built into every layer, from the technical structure to the content your visitors see.

First impressions and mobile-ready design

A clean, modern design isn’t just nice to have; it has a direct impact on both trust and performance. Visitors make snap judgements, and search engines notice how people engage with your site. Just as importantly, your website must be fully mobile responsive. With most searches now happening on mobile devices, responsiveness is no longer a design choice; it’s an SEO requirement.

Choosing a CMS that supports SEO

Your CMS plays a major role in how search-friendly your website is. You’ll want a platform that’s regularly updated, produces clean code, allows easy editing of metadata and outputs mobile-friendly pages by default. When the CMS does the heavy lifting for crawlability and structure, your website is automatically set up for better search performance.

User experience that supports engagement

Good usability is a cornerstone of SEO. When visitors can find what they need quickly, navigate effortlessly and engage with your content, it sends powerful positive signals to search engines. Reduced bounce rates, increased dwell time and clearer user journeys all help improve visibility. A site that ‘feels good’ to use often performs better in search.

Aligning your site with business goals

Whether your site’s purpose is lead generation, enquiries or product sales, the design, layout and content need to support that goal. Conversion-focused websites naturally align with SEO because they offer real value, clarity and relevance, the very things search engines prioritise when ranking pages.

Making keywords work for you

Keyword relevance still matters, but not in a ‘stuff as many in as possible’ kind of way. It’s about understanding the terms your audience uses, weaving them naturally into headings, meta-tags and on-page copy, and creating genuinely helpful content. Search engines reward clarity and usefulness far more than forced optimisation.

Onsite SEO essentials

Behind every SEO-friendly website is a foundation of solid onsite practices. Clean URLs, well-written title tags, compelling meta descriptions, thoughtful internal linking and strong page speed performance all contribute to how your site ranks. These basics are what give your content the best possible chance of being found.

Building authority and learning from competitors

A truly SEO-friendly website doesn’t exist in isolation. It requires external signals, such as backlinks, citations, and regular indexing, to establish authority. Keeping an eye on competitor websites also gives you benchmarks and insights into what’s working in your niche. When you understand how others perform, you can create a strategy to stand out.

Need some help getting started? Our SEO Training course will give you the tools you need to build your SEO-friendly website.