03 Core Concepts

SEO fundamentals

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is the practice of improving a website so that it ranks higher in search engine results. A related practice is AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation), which is optimising content so it's used up by AI chatbots. The fundamentals we discuss here apply to both SEO and AEO.

It's our belief that good SEO practices are synonymous with building a good website.

SEO practices can be split into two types: “white hat” SEO (good practices that help users and follows search engine guidelines) and “black hat” SEO (tactics that try to game the system by exploiting loopholes). In our experience, black hat tactics always backfire in the long run so stick with the white hat approach.

When figuring out which websites to rank, search engines look for quality: accurate and relevant content, working links, descriptive alt text, a mobile-friendly design, and fast load times.

So the good news is if you're following our principles of what makes a great website, you're already doing much of what search engines want from your site.

Here are a few actionable steps you can take to make your site more SEO friendly:

  • Create fresh content – Write or update posts and focus on quality over quantity
  • Update key pages – Refresh content, meta tags, and internal links on important or outdated pages
  • Check Google Search Console – Monitor errors, indexing issues, and keyword performance
  • Fix broken links – Regularly check and fix 404 errors
  • Improve internal linking – Ensure you link between relevant pages
  • Add alt text to images – Write descriptive alt tags that accurately describe images
  • Perform speed checks – Regularly test page load times and address performance issues
  • Test on mobile – Ensure the site works well on mobile devices

Focus on creating genuinely useful, accessible, high-quality content, and improving your site in ways that help users and this will help you rank better on search engines.