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For a lot of people, SEO can seem like a mind-boggling mess of algorithms and acronyms. Even once you have the difference between a title tag and a meta description sorted, the finer points of how to increase your website SEO can still feel confusing.

The good news is that you do not need to know everything about SEO to make your website more visible. A handful of practical changes can help your business climb the rankings. There is one 2026 shift worth knowing before we start, though. Search has broadened well beyond the classic blue links. People now get answers from Google’s AI Overviews and tools like ChatGPT, and those systems lean heavily on pages that already rank well and are clearly structured. So the same fundamentals that lift your traditional SEO are also what get you seen in AI search. Here are seven ways to increase your website SEO that still hold up, plus a couple that matter more than ever.

Contents

Tip Why it matters
Helpful content Google rewards useful, people-first pages
Title tags and meta descriptions They win (or lose) the click in search
Fix 404s Broken links signal a neglected site
Build authority Trusted sites linking to you lift rankings
Optimise images Helps search, accessibility and speed
Site speed Now a confirmed ranking factor
Structured data Wins rich snippets and AI citations

Create helpful, people-first content

While we love slick imagery and cool design, Google loves content, and in 2026 it is fussier about which content. All your pages, especially the key ones (Home, About, Services, Contact), need clear, well-written, descriptive copy that feeds the search engines while still sounding like a human being. Optimise them around specific keywords and phrases, but write for people first.

The bar has risen. Google now rewards helpful, people-first content that shows real experience and expertise, what it calls E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness), and it quietly passes over thin, generic pages that just rehash whatever already ranks. So match what your audience is actually searching for, and bring something of your own: a real point of view, first-hand experience, your own data. Our guide to the vital ingredients for engaging website content goes deeper on exactly this.

Write unique title tags and meta descriptions

A title tag specifies the title of a web page. It is the clickable preview shown on search results pages. Make it unique on every page, and use your target keyword or phrase where you can. For this page, for example, the keyword is “increase SEO” and the title tag is “7 tips to increase the SEO of your website”. Keep it concise, because Google typically only displays the first 50 to 60 characters.

A meta description is the brief summary of a page that search engines usually show beneath the title. Think of it as advertising: write something compelling that makes people want to click. Around 150 to 160 characters is the sweet spot, and it pays to know the words to avoid in marketing so your description reads as a real invitation rather than empty filler.

Element Ideal length Its job
Title tag About 50 to 60 characters The clickable headline in search results
Meta description About 150 to 160 characters The summary that earns the click

An SEO plugin makes all of this far easier to manage. On WordPress, Yoast SEO and Rank Math both walk you through setting up each page correctly. You can find Yoast here.

Increase-SEO-Embark-Agency

Fix your 404 errors and broken links

A 404 error is the standard code sent when a page has been deleted or moved. Dead or broken links creep in whenever you update pages or link out to external sites like news articles and blogs. They are annoying for visitors, and they give search engines the impression that your site is not well maintained.

Google Search Console flags crawl errors for you, and you can clean them up by setting 301 redirects through your CMS, usually with a plugin. The rule of thumb: when you remove or move a page, point its old URL somewhere sensible with a 301 rather than leaving a dead end behind.

Build authority and earn links

In the first version of this article, this tip was about adding social share buttons. The spirit still holds, sharing helps content travel, but the bigger lever in 2026 is authority. Google wants to rank sources it trusts, and one of the clearest trust signals is other reputable websites linking to yours.

You earn those links by creating content worth referencing, getting featured in your industry, contributing guest articles, and being useful enough that people point to you. Making your content easy to share helps it spread, but the real prize is the inbound links and credibility that follow. All of that is far easier to build when you are a clear, trusted brand to begin with, which is where a strong brand strategy quietly pays off in your search results.

Optimise your images

Just as you optimise your written content, you should optimise your images. Give every image an accurate, descriptive file name, and add alt text and captions that describe what the image is and what it is doing on the page.

This does three jobs at once. It makes your images indexable and findable in Google Image search, it improves accessibility for people using screen readers, and, when you use the right formats and compression, it helps your pages load faster. One small habit, three wins.

Make your site fast

Waiting for a slow website to load is eternally frustrating, and here is an important update on the original advice. Speed is no longer just a user-experience nicety. Google’s Core Web Vitals, which measure how quickly a page loads, how fast it responds and how stable it is as it appears, are a confirmed ranking factor. Add that most browsing now happens on mobile, and a fast, mobile-friendly site matters on both counts.

Some quick wins you can action today: use the right image file types and compress them, remove any unused plugins, and enable caching. There is plenty more detail in our post on how fast your website should load.

Use structured data and earn AI citations

Finally, if you have worked through everything above and want an edge, look into structured data, also known as schema markup. It is code that helps search engines understand exactly what your content is, and it is what earns you those rich snippets: the stand-out results with star ratings, FAQs and the like that sit right at the top of Google.

It matters more than ever in 2026, because the same clear structure that wins rich snippets, sensible headings, concise direct answers, FAQs and schema, is exactly what AI Overviews and tools like ChatGPT rely on when deciding which pages to cite. Structuring your content around what your audience actually wants is the foundation of any good brand strategy, and increasingly it is how you stay visible as search itself changes shape.

Frequently asked questions

How can I increase my website’s SEO?
Start with the fundamentals: publish helpful, people-first content, write unique title tags and meta descriptions, fix broken links, build authority through quality inbound links, optimise your images, make your site fast, and add structured data. None of these require deep technical skill, and together they make a real difference to how visible you are.

Does page speed affect SEO?
Yes. This has changed since the early days. Google’s Core Web Vitals, which measure loading speed, responsiveness and visual stability, are now a confirmed ranking factor, and speed also drives the user experience that influences conversions. A fast, mobile-friendly site helps you both rank and convert.

What is E-E-A-T in SEO?
E-E-A-T stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness. It is the framework Google uses to judge how helpful and credible your content is. Showing real first-hand experience and genuine expertise, and earning trust signals like quality links, helps your content rank, while thin or generic pages tend to be overlooked.

Does SEO still matter with AI search and AI Overviews?
More than ever, it has just broadened. People now get answers through AI Overviews and tools like ChatGPT, but those systems heavily favour pages that already rank well and are clearly structured. Around 97% of AI Overview citations come from the top 20 organic results, so strong SEO is the foundation for being seen in AI search too.

How long should a title tag and meta description be?
Keep your title tag to roughly 50 to 60 characters, since Google truncates anything longer. Aim for around 150 to 160 characters for your meta description. Both should be unique to each page, include your target keyword where natural, and read as a compelling invitation to click.

What is structured data and why does it matter?
Structured data, or schema markup, is code that tells search engines exactly what your content is. It helps you win rich snippets, the eye-catching results with extra detail at the top of Google, and it also helps AI search tools understand and cite your pages. It is one of the clearer technical edges available in 2026.

Read more: 7 web design principles to convert browsers to buyers