SEO basics: 10 things every business website should get right
The Hamatra Team · Published · 9 min read
Most business sites do not need advanced tactics. They need the basics done consistently, in the order where each one unblocks the next.
Each item below includes how to check it, because a checklist you cannot verify is just a list of opinions.
1. A technical foundation that does not block you
Pages must return successful responses over HTTPS, without redirect chains, and be reachable by crawlers.
How to check: crawl the site and look at status codes, redirects and robots rules. A single stray "Disallow: /" or a 500 on a key page outweighs every other item on this list.
2. Keywords that reflect real searches
Use the words your audience uses, and give each intent exactly one page. Two pages targeting the same query compete with each other.
How to check: list your important pages and the query each one owns. Duplicates are the problem.
3. Content matched to search intent
Look at what currently ranks for a query. If it is all explanatory guides, a product page will not win that position — and vice versa.
4. Unique, specific page titles
One title per page, front-loading what makes the page distinct, short enough not to be truncated.
How to check: a crawl that lists titles side by side makes duplicates and template titles obvious.
5. Meta descriptions on pages that matter
Not a ranking factor, but the main thing you control about how the result reads. Missing or duplicated descriptions hand that control away.
6. A sensible heading hierarchy
One H1 stating the subject, H2s for sections, H3s beneath them. Headings are structure, not font sizes.
How to check: read the headings alone. They should summarise the page.
7. Internal links that connect related pages
Every page worth having should be linked from somewhere relevant, with anchor text that describes the destination.
- No orphan pages.
- No broken internal links, which strand readers and waste crawl attention.
- Links in both directions between related pages.
8. Content that is actually worth the visit
Answer the question completely, include real examples, and cut the padding. Thin pages are the most common reason good technical work produces nothing.
9. Mobile usability
Assessment is mobile-first. Readable text, tappable targets, no horizontal scrolling, and a viewport meta tag that is actually present.
10. Performance and indexing, verified
Compress images, avoid blocking scripts, and keep layout stable. Then confirm the pages you care about are indexable: no noindex, correct canonical, present in the sitemap, linked internally.
Work the list top-down. Items 1 and 10 decide whether anything else you do can produce a result.
Related questions
The Hamatra Team
Website analysis & reporting
Hamatra builds crawl-based website analysis that reports only what the crawl observed, written so the person paying for the work can act on it.
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Technical SEO covers everything that determines whether search engines can reach, render, index and trust your pages.
- Meta Title
The meta title (title tag) is the page's title in the browser tab and, usually, the clickable headline in search results.
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The meta description is a short summary of a page that search engines often show beneath the title in results.
- Internal Linking
Internal linking is the network of links between your own pages, which helps discovery, distributes importance and explains topics.
- Indexability
Indexability is whether a page is eligible to be stored in a search engine's index and shown in results.
- Thin Content
Thin content is a page with too little substance to satisfy the query it targets.
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SEO (search engine optimisation) is the work of making a website easier for search engines to crawl, understand and trust, so its pages appear for the searches its audience actually makes.
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