Quick Guide: Post or Page Basic SEO for Business Owners

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) helps your pages and blog posts rank higher on search engines, making them more visible to potential visitors. A well-optimised page ensures your website gets targeted traffic and better engagement.

How Search Engines Determine Relevance

Search engines like Google rank content based on:
✔ Keyword relevance – Does the page match what users are searching for?
✔ Content quality – Is it well-structured, informative, and engaging?
✔ User experience – Is the page mobile-friendly and fast-loading?
✔ Backlinks & Authority – Do reputable sites link to your content?

Need Advanced SEO? Brighter Websites can help with a custom SEO plan or content optimisation strategies. Contact us for details.

1. Optimising Page Titles & Headings

Best Practices for Titles & Headings

• Use your primary keyword in the page title (H1).
• Structure your content with H2s (2nd level headings) & H3s (3rd Level Headings) and so on to improve readability, accessibility and SEO.
• If you need to use a different size or style of heading, make sure the heading hierarchy remains consistent and relevant and then manually change the font or style, rather than selecting an an alternative heading level.
• Use semantic keywords (related terms) in headings and throughout the content.
• Avoid keyword stuffing—keep it natural and engaging.

For advanced SEO: Use Neuron Writer to analyse competitor content, find local SEO keywords, and apply Natural Language Processing (NLP) for better search rankings.

3. Writing Optimised Meta Titles & Descriptions

Meta Title Best Practices

✔ Keep your meta title under 60 characters.
✔ Include your primary keyword naturally.
✔ Make it compelling to encourage clicks.

Meta Description Best Practices

✔ Keep your meta description under 160 characters.
✔ Summarise the page while including the primary keyword.
✔ Make it engaging—think of it like an advertisement for your page.

Check your search preview using tools like Google Search Preview or Add meta title and meta description to WordPress and preview the result using SEOPress.

4. URL Structure & Permalinks

A well-structured URL improves click-through rates (CTR) and rankings.

• Keep URLs short & readable (e.g., yourwebsite.com/best-gardening-tips/).
• Include the main keyword but avoid extra words or numbers (e.g., blog-12345).
• Avoid dynamic URLs with symbols & special characters.

Edit the Post or Page URL

• Open the Page or post in the default editor, (or select quick edit from the page or post main page).
• Select Post (or Page) from the right side panel
• Click on the blue link next to Link and edit the URL
• you can enter a new URL with spaces and WordPress with automatically replace them with “-” my new page URL with become /my-new-page-url

5. Image Optimisation

Optimising images improves page speed, user experience, and SEO rankings. For more about Image alt text and image optimisation check out our post about Image Alt Text Optimisation.

✔ Use descriptive filenames (e.g., best-lawn-care-tips.jpg).
✔ Add alt text with a relevant keyword (for accessibility and SEO).
✔ Compress images before uploading (use TinyPNG or Smush). or ensure you have an image optimisation tool like Litespeed cache.
✔ Add geo-location tags (latitude & longitude) for local SEO benefits.

How to Add Image Alt Text

Some websites can be configured to automatically add image alt text based on the file name or post name when uploaded, you may still need to edit the Alt Text for improved SEO. There are three ways to Edit the Alt Text From WordPress Media Library for greater optimisation, as you can edit the permalink and Image title too. Be sure the change the file name before uploading, This can be changed using a plug in, however it can cause images not to appear correctly in some cases.

From The default WordPress Editor

1. Select the image
2. Select block from the right side panel
3. Add or edit the alternative text using a keyword in the description

From Breakdance Builder

1. Select the image
2. Select Alt from the left side panel
3. Use the default or add custom text

From WordPress Media Library

1. Open Media > Library
2. Select Edit on the image
3. Select Alt from the left side panel
4. Add or Edit the Image Alt text, Title, Permalink and any other fields necessary

6. Internal & External Linking

Internal Links: Link to relevant pages within your website to improve user navigation and help Google understand your site structure.
External Links: Link to trusted, high-quality sources when referencing data or research.

Example: If you mention SEO strategies, link to a relevant SEO guide on your website to keep visitors engaged, or link to a Credible SEO Source like AHREFS‘ – The Beginner’s Guide to SEO or SEMRush‘s SEO Writing: 16 Tips for Creating SEO-Optimised Content

7. Readability & Content Structure

Creating Easy-to-Read Content

✔ Write for humans first, search engines second.
✔ Use short paragraphs (2-3 sentences) to improve readability.
✔ Use bullet points & bold text to highlight key points.
✔ Maintain a conversational, natural tone—avoid robotic language.

Keep your content helpful—Google prioritises content that answers user intent clearly and concisely. Use Grammarly’s Readability Score or Hemingway Editor’s readability checker to calculate the average level of education needed to understand your content.

8. Calls to Action (CTAs) & Engagement Signals

Design your page and content for user conversion, Include relevant CTAs to encourage user interaction (e.g., “Contact us,” “Download our guide,” “Get a free quote”) and Encourage visitors to share, comment, or engage with your content.

Google tracks engagement (clicks, time on page, shares), and higher engagement boosts rankings. Use Google Search Console (GSC) for valuable insights into how your website appears in search results and how users interact with it. You can check Click-Through Rate (CTR), Search Performance, Which Queries & Pages Perform Best and Check Bounce Rate & Dwell Time.

9. Mobile-Friendliness & Page Speed

✔ Google uses mobile-first indexing—your website must be responsive on all devices.
✔ Fast-loading pages improve user experience and rankings.

How to Check Mobile Performance

Use Googles performance tools like PageSpeed Insights to check speed & fix any issues.
Ensure your site is mobile-friendly by testing it on different devices.

10. Final SEO Checklist Before Publishing

• Keyword is naturally placed in the title, headings, and body.
• Meta title & description are optimised and engaging.
• URLs are short, clean, and keyword-friendly.
• Images are optimised with alt text and compression.
• Internal links are added for better navigation.
• Content is easy to read, engaging, and mobile-friendly.

Run the SEOPress Content Analysis

SEOPress helps identify missing SEO elements like keyword density, meta tags, and readability issues. Before publishing, run a SEOPress Content Analysis to check:

✔Primary keyword is added to content analysis.
✔ Meta titles & descriptions are optimised.
✔ Any content issues are fixed.

Using SEOPress For Basic SEO

1. On the page you need to optimise – Open the SEOPress Meta Box
2. First select Content Analysis and Enter a keyword and save the post.
3. Add or Generate Titles and Meta Descriptions with your key word placed naturally in the text.
4. Click on save under the description and save the post again,
5. Return to content analysis and check the areas that need to be improved.
6. Once the page has been live for a week or more return to the content analysis and you should be able to retrieve keyword optimisation suggestions from google search console.

Expert Bonus Tip: Review SEO Performance 2-4 Weeks Later

SEO is not a one-time process—review your content’s performance after a few weeks and run a site SEO audit using one of the following

• Ahrefs (for advanced insights).
• SEOPress Audit (for a simple SEO check).
• Check Google Search Console

See how your page ranks & identify any issues like indexing errors, crawl issues, or keyword gaps.