Hi, I am Stephanie, founder and creative strategist at Maude House, and I live for making complicated marketing topics feel human, simple, and actually doable. SEO can sound intimidating, but at its core, it is just the art of helping search engines understand who you are, what you do, and why you matter.

If you want more visibility, more organic traffic, and more qualified leads without paying for ads every five minutes, SEO is your long game.

What SEO actually is

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the process of optimizing your website so it ranks higher on search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. The goal is simple. Increase your visibility in search results so your ideal audience can find you without you waving your arms around online.

Search engines want to deliver the most relevant, high quality answers to users. Your job is to make your website the obvious choice for the keywords your audience is searching.

How to improve your SEO

1. Keyword research

Start by identifying the keywords your ideal customers are actually typing into Google. You want terms that are relevant, high intent, and aligned with what you offer. Then integrate these keywords into the places that matter.

• Website copy
• Page titles
• Meta descriptions
• Headers
• Image alt text

Keywords help search engines understand what your site is about.

2. On-page optimization

This is the behind the scenes work that makes your website search friendly. Focus on:

• Clear, descriptive page titles
• Clean URL structures
• Strong meta descriptions
• Header tags that organize your content

Search engines love clarity. Your structure should feel intuitive to both humans and algorithms.

3. Create high quality content

Content is an SEO powerhouse. Regular, valuable, original content signals authority. It keeps users engaged and gives search engines more pages to index. Think:

• Blogs
• Guides
• Case studies
• Resource pages
• Tutorials

If your content is helpful, people stay longer, share more, and trust you faster.

4. Earn high quality backlinks

Backlinks are endorsements from other reputable websites. Search engines view them as votes of confidence. The more high quality backlinks you earn, the more authority your site builds. Aim for:

• Guest features
• Collaborations
• Press mentions
• Directory listings

Backlinks directly boost your credibility and rankings.

5. Mobile optimization

Most of your traffic is coming from a phone. If your site is not mobile friendly, your rankings suffer. Google prioritizes mobile responsive sites, so make sure yours loads correctly across all devices.

6. Improve page speed

Slow websites kill SEO and conversions. Users bounce. Search engines notice. Speed matters.
Compress images.
Clean up code.
Use caching tools.

Fast sites rank and convert better.

7. Technical SEO

This is the maintenance that keeps your site healthy.
Fix broken links.
Remove duplicate content.
Resolve crawl errors.
Optimize site structure.

Technical issues quietly sabotage your rankings if you do not address them.

The real truth about SEO

SEO is not a quick fix. It is a long term strategy that builds momentum over time. When done well, it becomes one of the highest ROI channels in your business. But you have to stay consistent and stay updated as algorithms evolve.

If you want visibility. If you want authority. If you want organic leads flowing to you without constantly paying for attention, SEO is essential.

If you want more unhinged but valuable breakdowns of marketing, branding, SEO, and the strategies I use to grow brands at Maude House, join my newsletter. It is equal parts educational and chaotic, and it will absolutely make you better at this stuff.