6 Simple SEO Steps That Make a Big Difference for Your Website

Technology, Tutorials
MRM Blog: 6 Simple SEO Steps That Make a Big Difference for Your Website

If the phrase “search engine optimization” has ever made your eyes glaze over, you are not alone. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has a reputation for being technical, complicated, and expensive—and while it certainly can be all of those things at a deeper level, the foundational principles are far more actionable than most people realize.

To put it simply, SEO is the practice of helping search engines like Google understand what your website is about, so they can show it to the right people at the right time. Getting the basics right can make a tremendous difference in how easily your ideal audience finds you, without relying on social media or paid ads.

Here are six steps that actually help move the needle, and they’re so easy that you can begin working through them today!

Step 1: Start with the Right Words

Before anything else, think about how your ideal reader, client, or customer searches for what you offer. What words or phrases would they type into Google? Those are your keywords, and they should show up naturally throughout your website—in your page titles, your headings, and your written content.

You don’t need a fancy tool to get started. Try typing a topic into Google and notice what it suggests before you finish typing. Those auto-fill suggestions are real searches real people are making, and they can point you toward the language your audience is already using.

For example, if you’re a Christian life coach, “faith-based life coaching for women” or “Christian coach for entrepreneurs” will serve you far better than simply “life coach,” which is far too broad to compete in.

Step 2: Give Every Page a Clear Purpose

Each page on your website should be focused on one topic or goal. Your homepage introduces who you are and how you serve, acting as a landing page or table of contents for the rest of your website. Every other page of your site should have a clearly identifiable purpose. Your services page explains what you offer. Your about page tells your story. When pages are focused, search engines can more easily understand and rank them.

Each page also has a title and a short description that appear in search results, called the page title and meta description. These are prime real estate. They tell both Google and potential visitors what the page is about before they ever click. When our team builds or redesigns websites for our clients, we complete these entries intentionally for every page, oftentimes using the Yoast SEO plugin. We love the simplicity of this plugin, which is one of the most trusted tools in this space, because it works seamlessly within WordPress and the fill-in-the-blank structure makes it easy for our clients to maintain on their own.

Step 3: Add Alt Text to Your Images

Every image on your website has a behind-the-scenes field called alt text—a brief description of what the image shows. Search engines can’t “see” images the way humans do, so alt text helps them understand what’s on your page. It also makes your site more accessible to visitors who use screen readers.

Writing good alt text is simple: describe the image clearly and naturally, and include a relevant keyword if it fits. “Author Jane Smith speaking at a women’s conference” is far better than leaving the field blank or allowing the file name to auto-populate in the space. “Image1.jpg” does not add any value to your page or content. This is a small step that adds up quickly across an entire website. (Bonus tip: Giving your image file a relevant name before you upload it also helps with SEO.)

Step 4: Write Content That Answers Real Questions

One of the most effective long-term SEO strategies is also the most straightforward: write helpful content. Blog posts, resource pages, and FAQs that genuinely answer the questions your audience is asking give search engines more to index and more reasons to pay attention to your site.

This is exactly why a consistent blog matters beyond just staying connected with your audience. Every post is a new page Google can discover and rank. Over time, a library of helpful, keyword-informed content builds the kind of authority that drives organic traffic, meaning visitors who find you through search, not just through your social media posts.

Step 5: Tell Google Your Site Exists

This step surprises a lot of people. Google doesn’t automatically know your website is there. You have to tell it. This is done by submitting your sitemap—essentially a map of all your pages and posts—to Google Search Console, a free tool that also shows you how your site is performing in search results and flags any issues that might be holding it back.

If you have a WordPress site with the Yoast SEO plugin or something similar installed, your sitemap is automatically generated for you. Submitting it to Google Search Console is a one-time setup that opens the door for Google to begin properly indexing your content. This is a foundational step we complete for every website we launch.

Step 6: Build on a Platform That Works in Your Favor

Not all website platforms are created equal when it comes to SEO. WordPress, our preferred platform for all of our client websites, is widely recognized as one of the most search-engine-friendly platforms available. Paired with a premium theme like Kadence, which is built for speed and clean code, and a reliable SEO plugin, the technical foundation of your site is already working in your favor before you write a single word of content.

Page speed matters here too. A slow-loading website frustrates visitors and signals to Google that the experience isn’t great, both of which can hurt your rankings. If you are just starting out and on your own, be sure to research the tools and options so you have the strongest foundation possible. If you are working with a professional developer, the tools and themes are most likely chosen in part because of their performance so that side of things is handled well from the start.

Final Note

SEO is a long game, but the good news is that consistency compounds. Every page you optimize, every blog post you publish, every image you add alt text to—it all adds up over time. You don’t have to do everything at once. Start with what’s in front of you, starting with the steps outlined here, and build from there.

If you need help or want to discuss a deeper strategy, don’t hesitate to ask!

Share This:

This post may contain affiliate links. Read our full affiliate disclosure here.

The MRM Team

Our team believes in YOU, your vision, and your message! Whether we publish your soon-to-be bestseller, help you create a winning strategy to attract your target audience, or design your stunning brand identity and website, we will be your partners from concept to fruition.
 
If you have questions about where to begin, please send us a quick email or contact us here. We'll gather a few details and then schedule our FREE discovery call (i.e. coffee date) to start the conversation!

Similar Posts

  • |

    The Power of Batching {How to Protect Your Time}

    Does this sound like your normal work day? You answer a few client emails, hop over to update a page on your website, remember the invoice you meant to send yesterday, write a quick social caption, and circle back to your inbox—only to look up at 3:00 and realize the project you planned to finish hasn’t been touched.

    It’s not that you aren’t working hard. It’s that your time is being pulled in a dozen directions at once.

    That’s where batching comes in. It’s one of the biggest time-savers we recommend to clients, and it’s how we keep everything from client projects to our own newsletter moving forward without the rush. Think of it as a simple rhythm for busy creatives and business owners—a way to work ahead, not harder.

  • |

    4 Ways to Steward Your Business Well

    When we chose Steward Well as our theme for 2026, we expected it to shape how we protect our capacity, invest in our team, and handle our clients’ callings with care. And it has, but we’ve also realized the theme reaches much further than our workflows.

    Stewarding well is about everything God has entrusted to us—our calling, our creativity, our capacity, our experience, our gifts, and the community He has placed around us. None of it is ours to own, and all of it is ours to care for. That’s true whether your work looks like a business, a ministry, or, like so many of the people we serve, both at once.

  • |

    4 Things That Set Professional Book Design Apart

    We all know the saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” But that’s exactly what potential readers or buyers do.

    Before they read your description, flip through the pages, or fall in love with your words, they see the cover. Maybe it catches their eye on a bookstore shelf, as they scroll past it online, or as a thumbnail beside ten other books in an Amazon search. Either way, your book is already communicating something.

    That’s why professional book design is about much more than creating a pretty cover.

  • |

    The Anatomy of a Podcast Episode {10 Parts Every Episode Needs}

    Every podcast episode has more moving pieces than just the conversation itself. Between the graphics, the intro, the ads (if you run them), and the text that travels alongside the episode, there’s a lot to keep track of before you hit publish. The good news is that, once you know what belongs where, you can build a simple template and reuse it every time.

    Think of this as your episode outline or checklist—the pieces you gather and place in order before you sit down to record or upload. Here’s what belongs in every episode, and where it fits.

  • |

    MRM Project Feature: The Blythe Daniel Agency Website Redesign

    Blythe Daniel has been a treasured MRM client for more than a decade, and when it came time to give The Blythe Daniel Agency’s website its second full overhaul in that time, we couldn’t have been more honored to walk alongside her and her team again. As a literary agency representing a growing roster of authors, Blythe’s site needs to do a lot to support the agency. It needs to showcase her clients well, make new author submissions simple, and reflect the same warmth and professionalism she brings to every author or publisher relationship.

    Blythe and Stephanie worked closely with our team to reimagine the site from the ground up. The end result is an incredibly gorgeous online hub that functions and flows as much as it shines.

  • | |

    6 Reasons We Recommend Adding Substack to Your Toolbox

    If you’ve been wondering whether Substack is worth your time, you’re not alone. We’ve had this conversation with more than one client lately, and every time, we land in the same place: it’s one of the simplest, most flexible tools you can add to your content lineup right now.

    Substack combines a blog, a newsletter, and—if you want it—paid subscriptions, all in one place. Though it’s not really intended to replace your website or your existing email list, it can do both. It is primarily intended to give you a new, simpler way to reach people, build a content archive, and eventually create a revenue stream that doesn’t require a big investment to get started.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I accept the Terms and Conditions and the Privacy Policy


This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.