“What can I do myself to improve my site?” That is the question we get asked most at Stijgt. And honestly: you can do a lot yourself. Not everything, but the basics, yes. Below are the 12 SEO tips I give every business owner who wants to rank higher in Google, in the order I would carry them out myself.
First this: do you know whether it is working?
Before you change anything: make sure you can measure. With almost every new client we see that the tracking is wrong. Conversions are not registered, the cookie banner blocks all data or GA4 was never set up properly. Then you can work hard on SEO and still not know whether it delivers anything.
That is why measuring is number one on this list. Everything after that only makes sense once you can see the result.
12 SEO tips you can carry out yourself
1. Set up Google Search Console and GA4 properly
Search Console shows which keywords you are already found for, which pages get clicks and which errors Google runs into. GA4 shows what visitors do next. Both free, both indispensable. Above all, check that your most important actions (quote request, order, phone call) are tracked as conversions. How to do that properly is in GA4 and consent mode.
2. Claim and complete your Google Business Profile
For local businesses this is the most important local SEO tip. Your Google Business Profile is what people see when they search for your company name or for “loodgieter Leiden” (“plumber Leiden”): the map, the opening hours, the reviews. Claim the profile, choose the right primary category, fill in every section (services, products, opening hours, photos) and post an update regularly. A complete profile is shown more often than a half-empty one.
3. Collect reviews and respond to them
Reviews count in the local results and in your customer’s decision. Actively ask every satisfied customer for a review, for example with a direct link after completing a job. Respond to every review, including the negative ones. Google sees activity, customers see that you listen.
4. Keep your business details identical everywhere
Name, address and phone number should be exactly the same on your website, your Google Business Profile, your social media and in business directories. “Gieterij 39” in one place and “Gieterij 39a” in another looks harmless, but search engines link those mentions to determine how trustworthy your business is. Inconsistency costs trust.
5. Choose one keyword per page
Most sites try to rank for everything with the homepage. That does not work. Google wants to show the best page for each search query, so give every service, every product and every frequently asked question its own page with one clear main keyword. Look in Search Console or in a tool such as Semrush for the terms people use, and check whether there is already a page on your site that matches.
6. Write titles people want to click
The title tag is the blue line in the search results. Put your keyword at the front, make the title concrete and keep it around 60 characters. “Home” or “Welcome to Jansen BV” says nothing. “Dakkoffer huren in Leiden | Vanaf 1 dag, direct beschikbaar” (roof box hire in Leiden, from 1 day, available now) does. Also write a meta description of 120 to 155 characters that explains why someone should click on you. It does not count for your ranking, but it does for the number of clicks.
7. Answer the question in the first paragraph
Visitors and Google both read the start of your page most carefully. So start with the answer. Someone searching for “what does roof box hire cost” wants to see a price indication in the first lines, not a story about your company history. This also helps you get mentioned in the answers of ChatGPT and other AI tools.
8. Make your site fast, especially on mobile
Google assesses the mobile version of your site. Test your most important pages with PageSpeed Insights and look at the three Core Web Vitals. The biggest gain is almost always in images: upload them in the right format and no larger than necessary. A 4 MB photo on your homepage costs you visitors, and therefore customers.
9. Link internally to your important pages
Internal links tell Google which pages are important. Link from blog articles to your service pages and vice versa. Use descriptive link text (“see our roof boxes” instead of “click here”). A new page without a single internal link is rarely found well.
10. Clean up errors
Look at the Pages report in Search Console. Pages that cannot be found (404), are accidentally set to noindex or are blocked by robots.txt are lost opportunities. If you have ever changed URLs, check that the old addresses redirect neatly to the new ones. A full list is in our technical SEO checklist.
11. Update existing pages before creating new ones
A page that already sits at position 6 to 15 is your fastest opportunity. Search in Search Console for keywords with many impressions and few clicks. Expand that page, improve the title, add a frequently asked question and link to it internally more often. That often delivers more than three new blog articles.
12. Ask for mentions within your own network
Links from other sites remain an important signal. You do not have to start a link building campaign straight away for that. Start with suppliers, trade associations, local media and partners: ask whether they want to link to your site.
Overview: which SEO tip do you tackle first?
| Tip | Time | Impact | Knowledge needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Set up tracking | A few hours | High | Medium |
| 2. Google Business Profile | 1 hour | High (local) | Low |
| 3. Collect reviews | Ongoing | High (local) | Low |
| 4. Consistent business details | 1 to 2 hours | Medium | Low |
| 5. One keyword per page | A few days | High | Medium |
| 6. Titles and descriptions | A few hours | Medium | Low |
| 7. Answer up front | 15 min per page | Medium | Low |
| 8. Speed and mobile | Varies | High | Medium to high |
| 9. Internal links | A few hours | Medium | Low |
| 10. Clean up errors | Varies | High | Medium |
| 11. Update existing pages | 1 to 2 hours per page | High | Low |
| 12. Ask for mentions | Ongoing | Medium | Low |
Start with 1, 2 and 6: little work, immediately visible. Then 5 and 11, where most of the growth is.
What you are better off not doing
A few things I still see business owners do that do not work, or even do harm:
- Repeating keywords unnaturally. Google recognises synonyms; your reader drops off.
- Buying cheap links. Links from sites without traffic or with a high spam score do not help and can hurt.
- Ten location pages with the same text. Google sees that as duplicate content.
- Only wanting more traffic. Traffic is only worth something once it converts and once you follow up leads properly.
That last one is the lesson from my own companies. Good lead follow-up, the lifetime value of a customer and reliable tracking often have more impact than even more visitors. A better-converting site is a faster win for many business owners than a higher position.
From our own experience: at Rij Ruimer, our own roof box hire company that started in May 2026, SEO delivered traffic in the first months already. Not with tricks, but with exactly these basics: tracking that works, one page per search query and a site that loads fast on mobile. Also read how we approach marketing for rental companies.
SEO tips for business owners: what next?
If you apply the tips above consistently, you are ahead of most competitors. If you get stuck on technology, competition or simply time, you can look at getting help. What that costs and what such a programme looks like is in how much does SEO cost.
At Stijgt we always start with a baseline: checking the tracking, reviewing the site and seeing where the fastest win is. Everything we learn at our own companies, we apply for clients. Curious what is going on with your site? See our SEO service or get in touch.