How to Improve Your Website SEO — 10 Practical Tips

The title tag is the first thing Google (and people) see in search results. The meta description is the short text below the heading that determines whether someone clicks on your link. These two elements work as your "storefront" in Google — if they're not attractive and relevant, people will simply click on competitors. A well-written title tag and meta description can increase click-through rate (CTR) by 30-50%, which directly affects your traffic.

How to do it: The title tag should be 50-60 characters and contain the main keyword. The meta description should be 150-160 characters and motivate the click. Always include the city or region name if you provide local services. Instead of a generic "Services," write something like "Plumbing Services Bratislava | Fast Service Within 2 Hours" — such a title tag is specific, contains the location, and a unique selling proposition.

Website speed is one of the most important ranking factors in Google. A slow website loses visitors — 53% of mobile users leave a page if it doesn't load within 3 seconds. Since 2021, the so-called Core Web Vitals (LCP, FID, CLS) are an official Google ranking factor, meaning speed directly affects your position in search results.

What you can do: Start by testing your website with Google PageSpeed Insights and GTmetrix. The goal is to achieve a score of 90+ on mobile devices in PageSpeed Insights. If your score is below 50, your website is probably losing customers and Google rankings. GTmetrix additionally shows specific recommendations for speeding up your website — from image compression to server response optimization.

• Test your website with Google PageSpeed Insights — aim for a score above 90
• Compress images and use modern formats (WebP, AVIF)
• Minimize JavaScript and CSS — remove unused code
• Use quality hosting with fast servers

Google uses mobile-first indexing — this means it evaluates your website primarily based on its mobile version. If your website performs poorly on mobile devices, you'll lose rankings on desktop as well.

Over 60% of all website visits come from mobile devices. Responsive design is not a luxury — it's a necessity.

Tip: Test your website with Google Mobile-Friendly Test and check that texts are readable without zooming, buttons are large enough, and the layout is adapted for small screens.

Google aims to show users the best answer to their question. If your content answers the real questions of your customers, Google will reward it with a higher position.

Write for people, not robots. Instead of repeating keywords, focus on:

• Answering specific questions from your customers
• Clear structure with headings and lists
• Updating content — outdated information drops in rankings
• Unique content — don't copy texts from other websites

For local businesses, Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) is one of the most important SEO tools. When someone searches for "hair salon Bratislava" or "electrician near me," Google shows companies from Google Business profiles. A 100% completed profile, according to Google, has 7 times more chances of getting clicks than an incomplete profile. Moreover, it appears in Google Maps, which is critical for local business.

Complete your profile fully: Besides basic information, don't forget to add exact business hours including holidays, a description of your services, and business categories. Actively respond to reviews — even negative ones, professionally and with a proposed solution. Add posts and news at least once a week — Google favors active profiles. Companies that regularly post on Google Business receive on average 42% more route requests and 35% more website clicks.

• Accurate address, phone, business hours, and website
• Quality photos of your business (exterior, interior, products)
• Actively collect reviews from satisfied customers
• Regularly add posts and news

Backlinks are links from other websites to yours. Google considers them as "votes of trust" — the more quality links you have, the higher you'll rank in search results.

Quality matters more than quantity. One link from an authoritative website is worth more than 100 links from spam pages.

Where to get links:

• Local business directories and listings
• Websites of partners and suppliers
• Industry associations and organizations
• Guest posts — write articles for other websites in your industry

Headings help Google understand the structure of your content. A proper heading hierarchy is like a table of contents that allows quick navigation.

Rules for headings:

• One H1 per page — the main heading of the page, containing the primary keyword
• H2 for main sections — divide content into logical blocks
• H3-H6 for subsections — maintain the hierarchy (don't skip from H2 to H4)
• Insert keywords naturally — don't write headings only for Google

Images often make up 50-80% of a web page's size. Unoptimized images are the most common cause of slow loading and poor SEO scores.

What to optimize:

• Alt texts — every image should have a descriptive alt text for Google and visually impaired users
• Compression — reduce file size without visible quality loss (TinyPNG, Squoosh)
• Proper formats — WebP and AVIF are 30-50% smaller than JPEG at the same quality
• Lazy loading — load images below the visible area only when scrolling

Schema markup is special code that helps Google better understand your page's content. Thanks to it, you can get rich snippets — enhanced search results with stars, prices, or FAQs. Rich snippets significantly increase the visibility of your result in Google — they take up more space on the page and attract user attention, leading to higher click-through rates.

For example, FAQ Schema allows you to display expandable questions and answers directly in Google results. If your page has a "Frequently Asked Questions" section, adding FAQ Schema markup can display these questions under your link in search — your result will take up 3-4 lines instead of the standard two, significantly increasing visibility compared to competitors.

Most useful Schema types:

• LocalBusiness — for local businesses (address, hours, contacts)
• FAQ Schema — questions and answers displayed directly in search results
• Product / Service — for products and services with prices and ratings
• BlogPosting — for articles and blog posts

SEO without measurement is like driving without a speedometer. You need to know what works and what doesn't, to continuously improve your strategy.

Essential tools (free):

• Google Search Console — Google rankings, indexing, technical errors
• Google Analytics — traffic, user behavior, conversions

What to track: keyword rankings, organic traffic, bounce rate, number and quality of backlinks, and most importantly — conversions: how many visitors become customers.