Read this first
SEO — Search Engine Optimisation — is the work that gets your website to appear when potential customers type a query into Google. There's no magic to it. It's a checklist of about thirty things, done consistently over 90 days. This guide walks through the eight that matter most for a UK small business, with the free tools to use for each. If you'd rather pay someone to do all of this for you, Presencly handles it on a £150/month plan with a 90-day page-1 Google guarantee — full refund if we miss. Either way, here's the work.
1. Claim and optimise your Google Business Profile
Local search runs on Google Business Profile (GBP), not your website. When someone types "solar installers near me" or "plumber Bristol," Google shows the Maps three-pack before the regular results. If you're not in it, you're invisible.
Tool: Google Business Profile — free. Do: Claim it, verify it (postcard or video), add ten photos of actual jobs, fill every field, list every service, choose the right primary category, and set accurate opening hours. Then: Ask every happy customer for a Google review. A 4.6+ rating with 30+ reviews beats a 5.0 with 4 reviews, every time.
2. Install Google Search Console and Google Analytics
You can't improve what you can't measure. Search Console tells you what queries Google is showing your site for; Analytics tells you what visitors do once they land.
Tools: Google Search Console + Google Analytics 4 — both free. Do: Verify your domain in both. Submit your sitemap.xml to Search Console (usually at yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml). Wait a week. The data will start telling you what's working and what isn't. Then: Once a month, look at Search Console's "Performance" tab. Sort by impressions. Any query showing impressions but no clicks is a page you can rewrite to win.
3. Run PageSpeed Insights and fix anything below 80 on mobile
Site speed is a direct ranking factor and a massive conversion factor. A slow site costs you both Google rankings and the customers who do arrive.
Tool: Google PageSpeed Insights — free. Do: Paste your homepage URL in, run the test, look at the mobile score. Below 80 is a problem. Common fixes: compress images (use TinyPNG), remove unused plugins, switch to a faster theme, enable caching. Then: Re-test every month. Sites get slower as you add content if you don't maintain them. Read our is my website any good? check for a fuller list of self-tests.
4. Write a clear title tag and meta description for every page
The title tag is the blue link that appears in Google results. The meta description is the grey text underneath. Both are written by you, in your CMS, and most small businesses leave them blank or default.
Tool: Whatever CMS you use (WordPress, Wix, Squarespace). The field is usually called "SEO title" or "page title" and "meta description." Do: Each page gets a unique title (50–60 chars) that includes the keyword you want to rank for plus your business name. Each page gets a unique description (140–155 chars) that includes the keyword and a reason to click. Bad: `Home | My Business` Good: `Solar Panel Installation in Bristol | MyBusiness — Free Quote`
5. Build one quality backlink per month
Backlinks — other websites linking to yours — are still one of Google's top ranking signals. You don't need hundreds. You need a few from trusted, relevant UK sites.
Tool: Ahrefs Webmaster Tools (free) shows you who links to you now. Do: Get listed on 5 UK directories (Yell, Thomson Local, FreeIndex, Cylex, Scoot). Get listed on your trade body's member directory if you have one (e.g. MCS for renewables, FMB for builders). Sponsor a local sports team and ask for a link from their site. Write one guest post per quarter for a UK trade magazine. Don't: Buy backlinks from Fiverr. Google will catch up and penalise you. The cleanup costs more than the original spend.
6. Publish one useful page per month targeting a real customer question
Every page that ranks is a page that answered something. The trick is answering things real customers actually ask, not what you assume they ask.
Tool: AnswerThePublic (free tier) shows you actual Google search questions in your industry. Do: Once a month, pick one question from AnswerThePublic, write a 600–1,000 word page answering it properly, publish it on your site, and link to it from your homepage. After 12 months you have 12 ranking pages. Example for a UK solar installer: "How much does a 4kW solar system cost in 2026?" or "What is the Smart Export Guarantee and how do I claim it?"
7. Add basic schema markup
Schema is hidden code that tells Google exactly what your business does. It's what triggers rich results (the star ratings, opening hours, FAQs you see in Google results).
Tool: Google's Rich Results Test — free. Do: Add LocalBusiness schema, Service schema for each service, and FAQ schema to your FAQ page. Most CMS plugins (Yoast, RankMath) do this for you in two clicks.
8. Check your robots.txt and sitemap.xml
Two small files that often quietly break SEO. robots.txt tells Google what to ignore; sitemap.xml tells Google what to crawl.
Do: Visit yourdomain.com/robots.txt — it should exist, allow `/`, and link to your sitemap. Visit yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml — it should list every important page on your site.
Want this done for you?
Doing all eight properly takes around 20–30 hours up front and 3–5 hours per month ongoing. If you'd rather spend that time on actual installs, Presencly handles all of this on a £150/month plan with a 90-day page-1 Google guarantee — full refund if we miss. We only work with UK renewable installers, so if you're outside that niche we'll point you to someone good.
Either way: run a free audit on your current site and we'll send a 2-minute Loom showing which of the eight you're missing.