How to do SEO of a website?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) helps a website become easier for search engines to understand and easier for people to find through organic search.

But SEO is not just about adding keywords to a webpage. A website needs the right structure, useful content, technical foundation, good user experience, and ongoing improvement.

So, how do you actually do SEO of a website?

Here is a simple step-by-step process.

1. Understand the website

Before doing SEO, understand what the website is about.

Look at:

What the website offers
Who the target audience is
What products, services, or information it provides
What problems it helps people solve
Which topics are important to the business
Which pages are most important

This gives you a clear direction for the SEO work.

For example, imagine a small bakery website that sells cakes and baked products in a particular city. Its SEO strategy could focus on its products, local customers, cake-related searches, and useful information about ordering cakes.

2. Understand what people search for

SEO starts with understanding what your potential audience searches for.

These searches are commonly called keywords or search queries.

Think about:

What would someone search to find your product or service?
What questions might they ask?
What information do they need before making a decision?
What problems are they trying to solve?

For example, someone looking for a home appliance might search for:

best refrigerator for a small family
how to clean a refrigerator
refrigerator energy saving tips
refrigerator buying guide

You do not need to target every possible keyword. Focus on searches that are relevant to your website and useful to your audience.

3. Plan the website structure

A clear website structure helps both visitors and search engines understand the website.

Organize related pages into logical sections.

For example, imagine a small online furniture store:

Website

→ Home
→ Furniture
→ Bedroom Furniture
→ Living Room Furniture
→ About
→ Blog
→ Contact

The Furniture section could then contain individual product pages.

A good structure also makes it easier to connect related pages with internal links.

4. Create useful content

Content is an important part of SEO because it gives search engines information about what your website covers.

Create content that genuinely helps your audience.

Depending on the website, this could include:

Service pages
Product pages
Blog posts
Tutorials
Guides
Frequently asked questions
Case studies
Resource pages

Avoid creating content simply to increase the number of pages.

A smaller website with useful, relevant content can be more valuable than a website filled with repetitive or low-value pages.

For example, a gardening business could publish helpful articles about choosing plants, preparing soil, and caring for a home garden instead of publishing many short articles that repeat the same information.

5. Optimize page titles

The page title helps describe a webpage to search engines and users.

Each important page should have a clear and relevant title.

For example, instead of using a generic title such as:

Home

a fictional photography business could use:

Wedding Photography Services in Delhi | ABC Photography

The title should accurately represent the page rather than trying to include as many keywords as possible.

Google recommends that page titles be descriptive, concise, unique, and relevant to the page.

6. Write useful meta descriptions

A meta description provides a short summary of a webpage.

It can help people understand what they may find when they see the page in search results. Google may sometimes use the meta description when generating a search-result snippet.

For example, a fictional website selling handmade furniture could use:

Explore handcrafted wooden furniture for bedrooms and living spaces, with custom designs available for homes in Delhi.

Write descriptions for people first. Avoid stuffing keywords into them unnaturally.

7. Optimize headings

Use headings to organize the content.

A page normally has one main heading, followed by subheadings that organize different sections.

For example, imagine a fictional home gardening website publishing an article called:

H1: How to Grow Vegetables at Home

The article could then use:

H2: Choose the Right Vegetables
H2: Prepare the Soil
H2: Plant the Seeds
H2: Water and Care for the Plants
H2: Harvest the Vegetables

Headings should describe the content that follows them. They should not be used simply to make text appear larger.

Well-organized headings can also make long content easier for visitors to read and navigate.

8. Use keywords naturally

Keywords help search engines understand the subject of a page.

However, repeating the same keyword again and again is not a good SEO strategy.

Instead, write naturally and cover the topic properly.

For example, if a page is about home workout equipment, naturally discussing concepts such as exercise equipment, home workouts, strength training, and fitness accessories can help cover the subject without repeatedly using exactly the same phrase.

The goal is to make the page useful and comprehensive, not to repeat a phrase a certain number of times.

9. Add internal links

Internal links connect one page of your website to another page on the same website.

They can help visitors discover related information and help search engines understand the relationship between pages. Google recommends linking to relevant pages and using clear, descriptive anchor text.

For example, a fictional travel website could publish an article about planning a trip to Rajasthan and link to another page about places to visit in Jaipur.

Similarly, a recipe website could link an article about making homemade pasta to another article about choosing the right pasta sauce.

Use descriptive anchor text where appropriate so visitors have an idea of what they will find after clicking the link.

10. Optimize images

Images can improve a webpage, but they should also be optimized.

Consider:

Using relevant images
Compressing large image files
Choosing suitable image formats
Writing useful alt text where appropriate
Giving images meaningful file names when practical

For example, a fictional hotel website could use an appropriately optimized image of its swimming pool rather than uploading an unnecessarily large original image from a camera.

Image optimization can improve accessibility and help search engines understand images.

It can also reduce unnecessary page weight.

11. Make the website mobile-friendly

Many people access websites from mobile devices.

Your website should therefore work properly across different screen sizes.

Check that:

Text is easy to read
Buttons are easy to tap
Navigation works properly
Images fit the screen
Important content is accessible
Pages do not require unnecessary horizontal scrolling

For example, a local restaurant website should allow visitors to comfortably browse the menu and find contact or location information from a smartphone.

A good mobile experience is important for both visitors and search visibility.

12. Improve website speed and technical performance

Technical SEO helps search engines access, understand, and process your website.

Important areas can include:

Page loading performance
Crawlability
Indexability
HTTPS
Mobile usability
XML sitemaps
Robots.txt
Broken links
Redirects
Canonical URLs
Structured data where appropriate

For example, an online clothing store with hundreds of large product images may need to optimize those images and review its page performance to provide a better experience for visitors.

You do not necessarily need to change everything at once.

Start by identifying technical problems that could prevent search engines or visitors from properly accessing important pages.

13. Make sure important pages can be indexed

A page needs to be accessible to search engines if you want it to appear in organic search results.

Check whether important pages are:

Accessible to search engines
Not accidentally blocked
Not marked with an inappropriate noindex directive
Using the correct canonical URL
Included in the website’s overall structure

For example, suppose a fictional online course website creates a new course page but accidentally adds a noindex directive to it. The page may not appear in search results as intended.

An SEO strategy cannot work properly if important pages are unintentionally prevented from being indexed.

14. Create and maintain an XML sitemap

An XML sitemap provides search engines with information about important URLs on your website.

For many websites, the CMS or SEO plugin can generate and maintain the sitemap automatically.

After creating or updating your website, check that the sitemap works correctly and contains the URLs you actually want search engines to discover.

For example, an online store may have hundreds of product pages. Its sitemap can help search engines discover the important URLs that the website wants to make available for crawling.

15. Fix broken links and unnecessary redirects

Broken links can create a poor experience for visitors and make it harder to navigate a website.

Regularly check for:

Broken internal links
Incorrect URLs
Pages that have been removed
Unnecessary redirect chains
Links pointing to outdated pages

For example, imagine a fictional technology blog that changes the URL of an article from /smartphone-guide/ to /smartphone-buying-guide/. Any important internal links still pointing to the old URL should be reviewed and updated where appropriate.

When a page has been permanently moved, use an appropriate redirect rather than leaving visitors at a dead end.

16. Build authority naturally

SEO is not limited to changes made on your own website.

Other websites may link to your content. These are called backlinks.

Relevant backlinks can help search engines discover your website and can contribute to your website’s authority.

Instead of trying to obtain links from anywhere, focus on creating something worth referencing.

For example, a fictional financial education website could publish an original guide explaining common budgeting methods. A relevant educational website or finance publication might find that guide useful and reference it.

Other examples include:

Useful original research
Helpful guides
Industry resources
Data or statistics
Original insights
Valuable tools
High-quality educational content

You can also promote useful content through relevant communities, social media, email, and other appropriate channels.

17. Monitor SEO performance

SEO is an ongoing process.

After making changes, monitor how the website performs.

Useful areas to monitor include:

Organic search traffic
Search impressions
Clicks
Search queries
Search rankings
Indexed pages
Click-through rate
Important landing pages
Technical issues

Tools such as Google Search Console and website analytics platforms can help you understand what is happening.

For example, a fictional online bookstore might notice that a particular book-buying guide receives many impressions but relatively few clicks. That could lead the website owner to review the page title and search-result presentation.

Do not judge SEO only by traffic. Look at whether the traffic is relevant and whether visitors are reaching the pages that matter.

18. Improve existing content

SEO does not always mean publishing something new.

Existing content can often be improved.

Review older pages and ask:

Is the information still accurate?
Does the page answer the searcher’s question?
Can the explanation be clearer?
Are there broken links?
Are there outdated examples?
Can relevant internal links be added?
Is the page still aligned with the website’s purpose?

For example, a fictional software company may have an article explaining an older version of its product. If the product has changed, the company can update the article so that it remains useful to readers.

Updating useful content can be an important part of a long-term SEO strategy. Google recommends keeping content useful, well organized, and up to date where appropriate.

19. Keep SEO focused on users

It is easy to become too focused on search engines.

But the ultimate purpose of a website is to serve people.

When optimizing a page, ask:

Will this change make the page clearer, more useful, easier to navigate, or easier to access?

If the answer is yes, it is more likely to contribute to a better website overall.

For example, an online home appliance store might simplify its product descriptions and navigation so visitors can more easily understand and compare different products. The improvement is useful to visitors regardless of whether it directly changes search rankings.

A simple website SEO process

You can think of website SEO as a continuous cycle:

Understand → Research → Structure → Create → Optimize → Connect → Measure → Improve

First, understand the website and its audience.

Then research relevant search queries and organize the website around useful topics.

Create valuable content, optimize important pages, improve the technical foundation, connect related pages, monitor performance, and keep improving.

SEO is not a one-time task

SEO is not something you complete once and forget.

Search behavior changes. Websites change. Content becomes outdated. Technical problems appear. Competitors publish new content. Search engines also continue to evolve.

That is why SEO works better as an ongoing process.

You do not need to make hundreds of changes at once.

Start with the fundamentals:

Useful content + clear website structure + good technical foundation + relevant internal links + good user experience + regular measurement

Then continue improving the website based on what you learn.

Final thought

Doing SEO of a website does not mean trying to manipulate search engines.

It means making your website easier to discover, understand, access, and use.

When you consistently create useful content, build a clear website, solve technical problems, and improve the experience for your audience, you create a stronger foundation for long-term organic visibility.