Learn SEO

Free, actionable guides to help you understand and fix SEO issues. Written for small business owners, not SEO experts.

Technical SEO

The foundation: crawlability, indexing, and site structure.

Canonical URL

A canonical URL is an HTML element that tells search engines which version of a page is the original or preferred one when duplicate or near-duplicate versions exist. It prevents duplicate content issues by consolidating ranking signals to a single URL. Proper canonical implementation is essential for maintaining clean search engine indexing.

HTTPS

HTTPS is the secure version of HTTP, the protocol used to transfer data between a web browser and a website. It uses SSL/TLS encryption to protect data in transit. Google has confirmed HTTPS as a ranking signal since 2014, and modern browsers flag non-HTTPS sites as "Not Secure." Every website should use HTTPS for both SEO and user trust.

SEO-Friendly URLs

SEO-friendly URLs are web addresses that are structured to be easily understood by both search engines and humans. They use descriptive words instead of random strings, include target keywords, and follow a logical hierarchy. Clean URL structures improve click-through rates in search results and help search engines understand your content organization.

Duplicate Meta Tags

Duplicate meta tags occur when multiple pages on your website share identical title tags or meta descriptions. This confuses search engines about which page to rank for a given query, leading to keyword cannibalization and reduced click-through rates. Fixing duplicate meta tags is one of the easiest wins in technical SEO.

HTML Doctype

The HTML doctype declaration tells browsers which version of HTML your page uses, ensuring it renders correctly in standards mode rather than quirks mode. A missing or incorrect doctype can cause layout issues, inconsistent rendering across browsers, and potential problems with how search engines interpret your page structure.

Structured Data & Schema Markup

Structured data is code added to your pages that helps search engines understand your content in a machine-readable format. Schema markup, the most common structured data vocabulary, enables rich results like star ratings, FAQs, and product details directly in search results, significantly boosting your click-through rates and visibility.

On-Page SEO

Optimize individual pages: titles, headings, and content.

Meta Description

A meta description is an HTML attribute that provides a brief summary of a web page. It appears beneath your page title in search engine results and directly influences whether users click through to your site. Well-written meta descriptions improve click-through rates and help search engines understand your content.

H1 Tag

The H1 tag is the main heading of a web page, defined by the HTML h1 element. It tells both search engines and users what the page is about. Every page should have exactly one H1 tag that includes the primary keyword and accurately describes the page content. Missing or poorly written H1 tags are a common SEO issue.

Image Alt Text

Image alt text is the descriptive text assigned to an image via the HTML alt attribute. It serves two critical purposes: it makes images accessible to visually impaired users who rely on screen readers, and it helps search engines understand image content for indexing. Well-written alt text improves both accessibility and image search visibility.

Internal Linking

Internal linking connects pages within your website using hyperlinks. A strong internal linking strategy helps search engines discover and index all your pages, distributes ranking authority across your site, and guides visitors to relevant content. It is one of the most underused yet powerful on-page SEO techniques available to any website owner.

Meta Title (Title Tag)

The meta title, also known as the title tag, is the HTML element that defines the title of a webpage. It appears as the clickable headline in search engine results, in browser tabs, and when shared on social media. Writing optimized title tags is one of the highest-impact SEO activities because they directly influence both rankings and click-through rates.

On-Page SEO

On-page SEO refers to all optimizations you make directly on your website pages to improve search engine rankings. This includes optimizing content, HTML elements like title tags and meta descriptions, internal links, URL structure, and page experience signals. Unlike off-page SEO, on-page factors are entirely within your control.

Performance

Core Web Vitals, page speed, and loading optimization.

Core Web Vitals

Core Web Vitals are a set of specific metrics Google uses to measure real-world user experience on web pages. They evaluate loading performance, visual stability, and interactivity. Passing Core Web Vitals is a confirmed Google ranking factor that directly impacts your search visibility and organic traffic.

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) is a Core Web Vitals metric that measures how long it takes for the largest visible element on a page to fully render. Google considers an LCP of 2.5 seconds or less as good. It is one of the most impactful performance metrics for both SEO rankings and user experience.

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) is a Core Web Vitals metric that measures the visual stability of a web page. It quantifies how much visible content unexpectedly moves during loading. A CLS score of 0.1 or less is considered good. High CLS frustrates users and can negatively affect your Google search rankings.

Render-Blocking Resources

Render-blocking resources are CSS stylesheets and JavaScript files that prevent a web page from rendering until they are fully downloaded and processed by the browser. They delay the display of visible content, directly harming Core Web Vitals scores like Largest Contentful Paint. Eliminating render-blocking resources is one of the most effective ways to speed up page loading.

Page Speed

Page speed measures how quickly your webpage loads and becomes interactive for visitors. It is a confirmed Google ranking factor that directly impacts user experience, conversion rates, and search visibility. Slow pages lose visitors and rankings, while fast pages earn higher engagement and better positions in search results.

AI SEO

Get found in ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and Perplexity.

AI Visibility Score: How AI Search Engines See Your Website

An AI visibility score measures how often your website is surfaced and cited by AI-powered search engines like ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and Perplexity. Understanding this metric is essential for businesses that want to remain visible as search shifts toward generative answers.

How to Appear in ChatGPT Search Results

Getting your website mentioned in ChatGPT responses requires a different approach than traditional SEO. ChatGPT draws from its training data and browsing capabilities to generate answers, and the sites it references tend to share specific characteristics around authority, clarity, and topical depth.

Google AI Overviews: How to Get Featured

Google AI Overviews display AI-generated answers at the top of search results, fundamentally changing how users interact with Google. Getting cited in these overviews requires a combination of strong traditional SEO, structured content, and authoritative topical coverage that Google trusts enough to feature.

How to Rank in Perplexity AI Search

Perplexity AI is a research-oriented search engine that provides detailed answers with inline citations. Unlike ChatGPT, Perplexity always browses the web in real time, which means your current content quality and SEO performance directly impact whether you are cited in its responses.

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO): The Complete Guide

Generative Engine Optimization, or GEO, is the practice of optimizing your content to be surfaced and cited by AI-powered search engines. As generative AI transforms how people search for information, GEO has emerged as a critical discipline alongside traditional SEO for maintaining online visibility.

LLM Optimization: Making Your Content AI-Friendly

LLM optimization is the process of structuring and writing your website content so that large language models can effectively understand, process, and cite it. As AI systems become a primary way people discover information, optimizing for LLMs is becoming as important as optimizing for search engine crawlers.

AI Search Visibility: Why Traditional SEO Isn't Enough

AI search visibility measures whether your website appears in answers generated by AI-powered search engines. Traditional SEO rankings no longer guarantee that your content reaches users, because AI engines synthesize answers from sources they select independently of organic ranking positions.

How to Get Cited by AI: Building Authority for LLMs

Getting cited by AI search engines requires building a specific type of authority that large language models recognize and trust. Unlike traditional link building, AI citation authority is built through brand presence, expert recognition, content depth, and the kind of verifiable expertise that AI systems are trained to prioritize.

AI SEO Strategy: Optimizing for Both Google and AI

An effective AI SEO strategy optimizes your website for both traditional Google rankings and AI-powered search engines simultaneously. Rather than choosing between the two, the strongest approach treats them as complementary channels that share a foundation of quality content, technical excellence, and genuine authority.

AI Content Optimization: Writing for Humans and Machines

AI content optimization is the practice of crafting web content that performs well for human readers while also being structured and written in ways that AI search engines can effectively process, understand, and cite. The best AI-optimized content feels natural to read while being highly accessible to machine interpretation.

Content

E-E-A-T, content quality, and authority signals.

E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trust)

E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. It is a framework Google uses to evaluate content quality. Pages that demonstrate strong E-E-A-T signals rank higher because Google wants to surface content from credible sources that genuinely help users find accurate, reliable information.

Content-to-Code Ratio

Content-to-code ratio measures the proportion of visible text content versus the underlying HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code on a webpage. A low ratio suggests that your page has too much code relative to useful content, which can signal thin content to search engines and slow down page loading times for visitors.

UX

Mobile optimization, usability, and user experience.

Mobile Optimization

Mobile optimization ensures your website delivers an excellent experience on smartphones and tablets. With Google using mobile-first indexing, the mobile version of your site is what determines your search rankings. A poorly optimized mobile experience means lower rankings, higher bounce rates, and lost customers across all devices.

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