SEO – you know, that thing everyone talks about, but no one really wants to deal with, right? I know that it sounds really complicated, and to be honest, the SEO gurus want you to think that so you pay them a shit ton of money. But I’m here to tell you that to improve SEO isn’t that complicated – and it doesn’t have to cost a penny!
So, if you’re ready to get your website climbing those rankings without dipping into your emergency gin fund, I’ve got 9 free, super-easy SEO tips that’ll make Google and your wallet happy. From tweaking your content to compressing images (yes, that’s a thing), I’m serving up everything you need to improve your SEO – without the hefty price tag.
Oh, and before we dive in – if you really want to make your life easier, grab my FREE SEO Checklist. It’s packed with all the must-do steps to get your site ranking faster. I’m not joking when I say “this is way more than your average freebie!”
Now, let’s get into the juicy tips…
1. Use keyword-rich titles & descriptions
Let’s start with keywords – because without them, Google has no clue what your site’s about! So when you’re creating content, make sure your titles and descriptions are packed with keywords that actually tell Google (and your audience) what you do.
For example, if you’re a florist, don’t just go with “florist” or “flowers”. Get specific! Use words like ‘Shoreditch flower delivery,’ ‘bohemian wedding flowers,’ or ‘flowers for corporate events’ – you know, the description words people are actually searching for when they’re looking for something specific.
Here’s how I’ve done it on my own site. Instead of just calling myself a “website designer,” I’ve specified the platform I work with: WordPress. I’ve also included keywords for my other services, like SEO and Dubsado Strategist.
This helps both Google and the searcher understand exactly what they’re getting when they click on my page.
I could literally talk about choosing the right keywords all day, but I’m going to stop myself. So if you want some more in-depth guidance – I’ve written a whole Guide on Keyword Research and Competitor Analysis to help you get started.
Now, if you’re wondering how to find the perfect keywords for your business, you don’t have to guess.
There are loads of free tools out there to help you…
Best Free Keyword Tools to Improve SEO:
- Wordtracker is a great “keyword research” tool that allows you to find the right keywords for your website.
- SEMRush is a tool I use everyday with my SEO clients. You can setup one project completing for free and use their keyword overview tools as well as giving your website a SEO audit.
- Ubersuggest lets you do keyword research and snoop on your competitors’ keywords. You can also set up your site and get a free mini SEO report that points out any missing titles or meta descriptions – so you know exactly what to optimise first.
- Answer The Public uses autocomplete to find questions people are typing into Google. Just enter a broad topic, choose your target country, and hit “search.”
- Ahrefs Webmaster Tools shows all the top 100 keywords you currently rank for. Just go to the Organic Keywords report in Site Explorer.
- Google Trends visualises the search popularity of a keyword over time and highlights any rises and falls. It’s great for spotting trending keywords before everyone else does.
- Keyword Difficulty (KD) Checker gives you a quick estimate of how hard it will be to rank in the top 10 for any keyword.
2. Optimise your images & Compress Images
I bet your competitors aren’t doing this, so this is an easy free SEO hack to help you get ahead.
There’s a few different things you can (and should) do here, so let me break it down:
Use Descriptive File Names & ALT Tags
When you upload images, make sure you’re using descriptive file names and ALT tags. This is how search engines “see” your images, and it’s especially helpful for ranking in image searches (hello, extra traffic!).
A file named ‘IMG123.jpg’ does FA for your SEO, but a file name like ‘flower-bouquet.jpg’ tells Google exactly what the image is about.
Pair that with a relevant ALT tag like ‘Flower Bouquet for Weddings,’ and you’re making your site more accessible while boosting your ranking.
Choose the Right File Types
File types can make a huge difference in how fast your images load.
Here’s a quick breakdown:
- JPEG and WebP are best for photos since they’re smaller and load faster
- PNG works well for graphics or images that need a transparent background.
- GIF is ideal for simple animations.
Choosing the right file type helps reduce load times, which boosts your site’s speed and overall SEO performance.
Compress Your Images
Even if you’ve picked the right file type, you’re still going to want to compress it and make the file size even smaller.
There are some great free tools like TinyPNG and CompressJpeg that make compressing your images super easy. Also, if you find your image size is too large and you want to resize the image before compressing then I love to use Image Resizer as you can crop your images. These tools shrink your images without losing their quality, meaning they’ll load faster and improve your SEO.
If you’re on WordPress, plugins like Smush, ShortPixel Image Optimizer & Converter for Media (all have a free version) will automatically compress your images as you upload them. This takes the manual work out of the process, so your images are always optimised without you having to think about it.
3. Publish high quality & keyword rich content
If you want Google to really notice you, you’ve got to publish high-quality, keyword-rich content. It’s one of the best ways to improve SEO on Google, show up higher in search results, and keep people on your site (which Google loves even more than you do).
And the easiest way to start? Blogging.
Yep, I said it. And before you tell me “blogs are dead” – you’re literally reading one right now!
Google loves nothing more than good quality fresh content. And the more you add, the more chances you’ve got at ranking for your keywords.
Now, if you’re sitting there thinking, “wtf do I blog about?”…head over to Answer The Public, type in your main keyword, and boom – it’ll show you exactly what questions people are asking.
Each one of these questions is a ready-to-go blog idea (you’re welcome). All you have to do is;
- Write blog posts that answer those questions,
- sprinkle in your keywords naturally (don’t stuff them everywhere),
- include your main key in the H1 title tag (you should only ever have one H1),
- use subheadings, lists and bullet points to make your content easy to skim.
Do that and soon enough, Google will be like, “yep, they know their stuff.”
4. Optimise your website for mobile devices
You’re at brunch, your friend mentions holidays, and next thing you know – you’re booking flights to Ibiza right there on your phone. Sound familiar?
That’s how most people are browsing these days.
In fact, as of February 2022, over 57% of all web traffic comes from mobile devices. So, if your website isn’t mobile-friendly, you’re missing out on a ton of traffic and potential customers.
Google is on to this as well. They use mobile-first indexing, which means they rank your site based on how it performs on mobile before they even look at the desktop version. So, if your site is a hot mess on phones, it’s going to hurt your SEO (and annoy anyone trying to check you out).
Here’s how to make sure your site is ready for the mobile users:
- Use a responsive design: your site should look just as good on a phone as it does on a desktop. A responsive design automatically adjusts everything so it works seamlessly across all devices (tablets too).
- Big fonts and tappable buttons: no one likes squinting or trying to tap a tiny button. Make sure your fonts are readable and your buttons are easy to tap.
- Optimise your images: just like on desktop, big, slow-loading images kill the vibe. Compress them (you’ve got this covered from earlier!) so your mobile site stays fast.
- Minimise content: people are skimming, not reading novels. Keep your content simple and scannable – long blocks of text don’t work on a tiny screen.
Your website should be as easy to use on a phone as it is to double-tap a post on Instagram.
5. Use social media to improve SEO
Social media might not directly impact your rankings, but it does help you build backlinks, drive traffic, and boost your brand awareness – all of which contribute to better SEO in the long run.
First things first: post high-quality, keyword-rich content on your social channels. This isn’t just for your website – your social media posts should be working for your SEO too.
Whenever you share blog posts, articles, or any other content, make sure you’re linking back to your site and using strong CTAs to encourage people to click through. The more people who visit your site, the more Google starts to notice you.
Oh and whilst we’re here talking about social media, please ditch your Linktree or any other third-party link service. You’re letting them have all that amazing traffic when you could be having it instead.
Instead, create your own version on your own website (you can hide it from your main menu). This will allow you to track your analytics and see exactly which social channels are driving traffic. Plus, it keeps visitors on your site longer, which Google loves.
Feel free to check my links page out for inspiration.
6. Submit your sitemap to Google Search Console
It’s basically a file that lists all the pages and posts on your site, making it easier for Google to crawl and index everything (which means improved SEO for you).
If Google can find your content easily, it can rank your content more easily – simple as that.
Creating a sitemap is easier than you think.
You can use tools like XML-Sitemaps or my personal fave, the Rank Math SEO plugin.
Rank Math not only helps you create a sitemap in seconds, but you can also download it.
Once you’ve got your sitemap, you’ll need to submit it to Google Search Console.
How to submit sitemap to Google
- Log into Google Search Console.
- Head to the Sitemaps section (it’s on the left menu).
- Paste the URL of your sitemap (usually something like: yourwebsite.com/sitemap.xml).
- Hit submit, and boom – you’re done.
7. Use Google Analytics & Google Search Console
If you just read that headline and thought, “what are those?” – you’re going to want to set up these two tools right now. They’re absolutely essential for understanding what’s happening on your site and improving your SEO. Oh, and did I mention they’re free?
Google Analytics shows you how many people are visiting, what pages they’re checking out, how long they’re sticking around, and even where they’re dropping off.
Want to know which blog posts are driving traffic and which ones aren’t pulling their weight? Analytics will tell you.
Google Search Console shows you how your site is performing in Google’s search results.
You can see what keywords are driving traffic to your website, track your rankings, and find any issues (like broken links) that might be hurting your SEO. It’s also where you can submit your sitemap (from point 6) and help Google index your pages faster.
Together, these tools give you everything you need to refine your SEO strategy and keep improving over time. So if you haven’t already set them up, go do it now.
8. Monitor your website’s performance
If you want to stay in Google’s good books, you’ve got to keep an eye on your website’s performance.
That means checking things like speed, uptime, and security regularly. If any of these are off, you can kiss your SEO ranking (and your visitors) goodbye.
First up: site speed. No one likes a slow website, least of all Google. You can use tools like Pingdom or GTmetrix to see how fast your site is loading. If it’s taking more than 5 seconds to load this is going to have a negative impact on your SEO & user experience so it’s important to improve this.
Next is uptime. If your site’s down, Google’s not going to be impressed. Set up Uptime Robot to get a heads-up if your site goes offline so you can get it back up fast.
And last but not least, security. Google cares about it, so you should too. Make sure you’ve got strong passwords, two-factor authentication, and a security plugin like Wordfence to keep things locked down.
By keeping an eye on these three things, you’ll catch problems before they turn into SEO nightmares.
9. Install RankMath Plugin
If you’re using WordPress and not using RankMath, what are you even doing? RankMath is hands-down my favourite SEO plugin (wayyyyy better than Yoast), and I recommend it to anyone looking to level up their SEO game. I also set it up for all of my SEO clients.
It’s packed with features like keyword research, sitemap submission, and even social media integration – basically, everything you need all in one place.
The tool itself is free, but if you want to spend a little extra you can also grab some credits for their Content AI feature, which gives you smart suggestions for keywords, questions, and internal links.
It’s like having an SEO expert whispering in your ear, telling you exactly what to do to get your content ranking higher.
Content AI even tells you how many headings, links, images, and how much word count you need to get that perfect SEO score. It’ll give you a score out of 100. The higher you score the higher your chances of ranking on Google.
Final Thoughts
So there you have it, nine tips to improve SEO without breaking the bank.
Seriously, start implementing these today and you’ll see your rankings climb in no time.
Want to make the process even easier?
Grab my FREE SEO Checklist! It’s packed with tools to streamline your SEO game, including:
- Service page wireframe: an easy-to-follow template to make your service pages a breeze.
- Keyword research template: a one-click spreadsheet to kickstart your keyword strategy.
- Easy-to-use Notion board: duplicate and reuse this organised Notion board to stay on top of all your SEO tasks.
And that’s just the start!
Don’t fancy taking on this SEO challenge alone? Hire me to optimise your website for you, find out more about my SEO packages here & find out more about my very affordable blogging packages. Whether you want your blogs written for you, uploaded for you & optimised for SEO, I have a package to suit your business.
Happy optimising! 🙂
