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SEO & Online Marketing
Practical SEO Advice

... and that’s exactly why people can’t find your website.

Most Common SEO Mistakes in Website Setup


These SEO mistakes are among the most frequent but fairly easy to fix. However, they require certain knowledge and, above all, access to the relevant files on the server or to the hosting control panel settings, possibly also on the proxy server.

They can very easily be the sole reason why potential customers find your competitors instead of you in search results!

Long reads are out of fashion these days, so I’ll keep it brief. But please feel free to get in touch if you need anything explained further.

Images

Files too large, wrong format (e.g. PNG instead of WebP), incorrect aspect ratios, missing alt attributes.

Meta tags

<title> and <description> must be unique for each page and reflect its content. Key phrases should be naturally included.

Incorrect or missing redirects

The website runs simultaneously on http, https, with and without www – it is necessary to unify to one preferred version.

robots.txt file

Blocks indexing of important pages or, conversely, leaves non-public sections accessible.

sitemap.xml file

Missing or incorrectly structured. Search engines thus lack a full overview of the site’s pages.

Duplicate content

Missing canonical tag, incorrectly set hreflang on multilingual sites – Google then struggles to decide which version to index.

Missing or expired SSL certificate

Without https, the site is considered untrustworthy – browsers may block it and SEO suffers.

Non-responsive website

Does not function properly on mobiles and tablets. Google uses mobile-first indexing.

Google Analytics / Search Console

Without these tools you have no overview of traffic, errors or indexing. A basic necessity for every website.

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Practical Tips and Advice for Optimising Your Website's SEO

The topic of SEO optimisation is very broad. Here, I’d like to offer a concise summary of some practical tips. Please don’t take everything I say too literally.

1. Make Sure Your Website is Mobile-Friendly

More than half of all web traffic comes from mobile devices. Google prioritises mobile-friendly sites in its rankings. Use tools like Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to check your site and make necessary adjustments to ensure a smooth experience on smartphones and tablets.

Ensuring your website is responsive and works well on various devices is essential. Here are some of the best tools you can use to test your site's responsiveness:

Top Tools for Checking Website Responsiveness

  • Responsive Design Checker
    https://responsivedesignchecker.com
    A simple tool where you enter your URL and check the design on multiple devices.
  • Google Mobile-Friendly Test
    https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly
    Google's official tool that tells you if your page is mobile-friendly, with detailed recommendations.
  • Lighthouse (Chrome DevTools)
    Built into Google Chrome DevTools.
    Open DevTools (F12) → Audits → select Mobile and run the test. You’ll also get audits for speed and accessibility.

2. Improve Your Website’s Loading Speed

A slow website frustrates users and harms your SEO rankings. Optimise images, leverage browser caching, and minimise code (CSS, JavaScript) to speed up your site. You can check your site’s speed with tools like Google PageSpeed Insights.

Top Online Tools for Checking Website Loading Speed

Monitoring and optimising your website’s loading speed is crucial for SEO and user experience. Here are some excellent online tools to help you analyse your site’s performance:


3. Use Clear and Relevant Keywords

Research which keywords your target audience is searching for and naturally include them in your page titles, headers, meta descriptions, and throughout your content. Avoid keyword stuffing — focus on relevance and readability.

Top Online Tools for Finding Relevant Keywords and Key Phrases

Finding the right keywords is essential for effective SEO. Here are some of the best tools to help you discover relevant keywords and key phrases for your website:


4. Use a Clear and Logical Heading Structure

Proper use of headings (<h1>, <h2>, <h3>, etc.) helps search engines understand the hierarchy and content of your pages. It also improves accessibility and makes your content easier to navigate for users. Make sure to use just one <h1> per page and organise your headings hierarchically.

Online Tools to Check Heading Structure and Accessibility

Ensuring a proper heading structure is crucial for SEO and accessibility. Here are some online tools that can help you verify your website’s heading hierarchy and overall accessibility:


5. Create High-Quality, Valuable Content

Content is king. Publish useful, original, and engaging content that answers your visitors' questions and meets their needs. Regularly updating your content also signals to search engines that your site is active.

Online Tools to Check Content Quality and Originality

High-quality and original content is essential for SEO and user trust. Here are some great online tools to help you assess and improve your website content:

  • Hemingway Editor
    https://hemingwayapp.com/
    Helps make your writing clear and easy to read by highlighting complex sentences and passive voice.
  • Yoast SEO Content Analysis
    https://yoast.com/seo-blog/
    Provides real-time content SEO analysis and readability checks, ideal for WordPress users.
  • Google Search Console
    https://search.google.com/search-console
    Offers insights into how Google indexes your content and alerts you to any issues affecting content visibility.

6. Optimise Your Meta Titles and Descriptions

Each page should have a unique meta title and description that accurately reflect the content. These elements show up in search engine results and strongly influence whether users click on your page.

Online Tools for Optimising Meta Titles and Descriptions

Well-crafted meta titles and descriptions improve click-through rates and search engine rankings. Here are some useful online tools to help you optimise these elements:


7. Fix Broken Links and Redirects

Broken links (dead links) frustrate users and can harm your SEO. Regularly check your website for broken links and set up proper 301 redirects where necessary to maintain a smooth user experience and preserve your site's SEO value.

Online Tools for Testing and Optimising User Experience (UX)

Good user experience is key to keeping visitors engaged and improving SEO metrics like bounce rate and session duration. Here are some excellent tools to test and optimise UX on your website:

Comprehensive Online SEO Tools for Website Analysis

To effectively optimise your website’s SEO, it’s helpful to use a range of tools that provide audits, keyword tracking, backlink analysis, and more. Here are some popular all-in-one SEO platforms:

  • SEObility
    https://www.seobility.net/
    A comprehensive SEO checker that scans your entire website for errors, broken links, keyword rankings, and optimisation opportunities.
  • Screaming Frog (Screaming Frog SEO Spider)
    https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/
    A britsh powerful desktop program again. I think it's good! Crawls websites to analyse onsite SEO factors like broken links, duplicate content, and meta tags.
  • Ahrefs
    https://ahrefs.com/
    A top-tier SEO toolset for backlink analysis, competitor research, keyword tracking, and site audits (paid with limited free features).
  • SEMrush
    https://www.semrush.com/
    A widely-used SEO suite offering keyword research, site audits, rank tracking, and competitive intelligence.
  • Google Search Console
    https://search.google.com/search-console
    Free tool from Google offering detailed reports on your site’s indexing, performance, and SEO issues.

Naturally, there are other tools available – perhaps even better ones. If you know of any, I’d be grateful if you let me know!

Clearing Cache: Why and How to Do It

Cache can be a bit of a nuisance. It stores temporary files to help websites load faster, but sometimes it causes problems by showing outdated content or slowing down your browser.

How to Clear Cache in Your Browser

You can usually clear cache in any browser using these handy keyboard shortcuts:

  • Windows: Press Ctrl + F5
  • Mac: Press Cmd + Shift + R

These shortcuts open the clear browsing data window, where you can select Cached images and files (sometimes called Temporary files) and clear the cache.

For example, in Google Chrome:
Menu (three dots) → More tools → Clear browsing data → Cached images and files → Clear data.

Clearing Cache in Your Operating System

  • Windows: Use the Disk Cleanup tool to remove temporary files.
  • macOS: Cache files are stored in ~/Library/Caches/. You can safely delete the contents, but proceed with caution.

Cache in Web Tools and Servers

If you use CMS platforms like WordPress or Joomla, you might have cache plugins that need clearing (e.g., WP Super Cache). Also, some hosting providers or CDNs like Cloudflare offer cache clearing options.

Clearing Cache on Hosting and Proxy Servers

It's important to remember that cache isn't only stored on your device or browser. Hosting providers often use server-side caching to improve performance. Likewise, proxy services such as Cloudflare can cache your site’s content to speed up delivery to visitors.

When you make updates to your website, you may need to clear the cache on your hosting server or proxy service to (or both) ensure visitors see the latest version. Check your hosting control panel or Cloudflare dashboard for cache clearing options.

Clearing cache regularly can help keep your browser and websites running smoothly.