When you’re just starting out, SEO can feel like a huge, complicated mountain to climb. Between confusing jargon and endless advice, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed or unsure where to begin.
Here’s the good news: you don’t need to do everything at once to see results. By focusing on a handful of simple steps, you can set solid foundations, start attracting the right audience, and feel confident that you’re heading in the right direction.
In this post, I’ll walk you through five quick SEO wins you can implement in a weekend — even if you’re new to SEO.
Why SEO matters when you’re starting a business
Your website is often the first impression potential clients or customers have of your business. Without SEO, it’s like having a beautiful shop hidden down a side street with no signpost.
SEO helps you:
- Increase your visibility online
- Build credibility and trust with your audience
- Attract people who are actively searching for your products or services
- Drive traffic to your site without solely relying on ads or social media
For new business owners, getting the basics right from the beginning saves you time later and ensures your site is built to grow.
Quick-start SEO: What every small business owner should do first for new websites
1. Optimise your homepage title
Your homepage title (also known as your title tag) is one of the most important SEO elements on your site. It’s the text that shows up in search results and at the top of your browser tab.
A strong title helps search engines understand what your site is about — and encourages users to click.
Quick tip: Use this simple formula:
[Your business name] – [What you do] for [Audience/Location]
Example: Bloom Studio – Affordable graphic design for small businesses in Dublin
This approach is clear, descriptive, and includes a keyword that your audience might actually be searching for.
2. Write a clear meta description
The meta description is the short snippet of text that appears below your title in search results. While it doesn’t directly impact rankings, it plays a big role in whether someone clicks on your site or not.
Aim for around 150–160 characters and include:
- Your primary keyword.
- A short description of what you offer.
- A reason to click (your value or call-to-action).
Example: Affordable graphic design for small businesses. Get professional logos, websites, and marketing materials to grow your brand.
The Beginner’s Guide to SEO
Learn the fundamentals of SEO and drive more organic traffic to your website, and download your FREE SEO Checklist…
3. Claim and set up your Google Business Profile
If your business serves a local area, a Google Business Profile is essential. It makes it easier for people to find you on Google Search and Maps, and it signals trust to both users and search engines.
When you claim your profile, make sure to:
- Add your business name, address and phone number.
- Choose the most relevant category for your business.
- Upload photos of your work, team or location.
- Encourage happy clients or customers to leave reviews.
Even if you don’t have a physical shop, you can list a service area to appear in local search results.
4. Install an SEO plugin
If you’re using WordPress (my recommended platform), an SEO plugin like Yoast SEO or RankMath makes it much easier to optimise your content.
With a plugin installed, you can:
- Add and edit title tags and meta descriptions.
- Create an XML sitemap automatically.
- Set up social sharing previews.
- Get on-page SEO guidance as you write.
This saves time, ensures you’re following best practices and gives you confidence that your site is set up correctly.
5. Create and submit your sitemap
A sitemap is a simple file that lists all the important pages on your site, helping search engines discover and crawl your content.
Most SEO plugins will generate a sitemap automatically, usually at yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml.
Once you have it:
- Create a free Google Search Console account.
- Add your website as a property.
- Submit your sitemap under the Sitemaps section.
This lets Google know about your site and ensures your pages are indexed faster.
Learn more in my post: WordPress Sitemap: What it is and how to find it
The Essential SEO Starter Checklist
50 easy steps to boost your visibility as a new business
Putting it all together
None of these steps require advanced knowledge, but together they can have a big impact:
- Your homepage title and meta description help you show up in search results and attract clicks.
- Your Google Business Profile increases visibility in local searches.
- An SEO plugin makes it easy to optimise and manage your content.
- A sitemap ensures search engines can crawl your site efficiently.
By tackling these quick wins, you’re laying strong foundations for your business to grow online.
Ready to go further?
These are just the first steps in setting up SEO. If you’d like a step-by-step system that walks you through everything from keyword research to on-page SEO, then my SEO Quick-Start Toolkit is for you.
Inside, you’ll find:
- A quick-start SEO checklist with the exact fixes to prioritise.
- A keyword research template to find the right terms for your business.
- Step-by-step setup guides for Google Analytics and Search Console.
- On-page SEO checklists you can reuse every time you publish.
The SEO Quick-Start Toolkit is launching next week – September 2025! Join the waitlist below to be the first to grab it at the special launch price…
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