Improve Performance
Last Updated June 16, 2026
SEO principles are a guide to help brands rank higher in search and drive relevant traffic to their websites. We share dozens of expert tips, plus examples to help you build an SEO plan to outrank your competition.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the key components of a well-rounded digital marketing plan. But that doesn’t mean that its tactics are one size fits all.
Quite the contrary, actually — while there are certain time-tested methods, SEO is often changing and evolving. (For proof, look no further than Google’s AI Overview on the search engine results page.)
But no matter the nuances of your SEO strategy, it remains the foundation of any good content strategy and contributes to the overall function of a website.
SEO principles can enhance a website’s visibility and ranking in search engines.
We’ll cover the top SEO principles and how to use them to your advantage in this handy guide.
24 top SEO principles and best practices
The principles of SEO enhance various website aspects to help search engines crawl, index, and understand the content.
In doing so, this helps Google present relevant content to the right user.
Before getting into each category of SEO principles and techniques, here are the basic SEO principles.
- Quality content
- Keyword research
- On-page SEO
- Mobile-friendliness
- Page speed
- User experience (UX)
- Internal linking with anchor text
- Backlinks
- Social signals
- Local SEO
- Technical SEO
- Analytics and monitoring
- User intent
- Structured data and schema markup
- ARIA landmarks
- Voice search optimization
- Transcripts for audio and video
- Accessibility statement
- URL structure
- Header tag usage
- Social sharing buttons
- Content freshness and updating old content
- Natural language and conversational tone
- Topic clusters and pillar pages
Basic SEO principles
As you create an SEO plan and invest time in the lengthy SEO process, these principles apply across the board, no matter the strategy.
1. Quality content
Well-honed, high-quality content is a main driver of online traffic. In fact, 73% of B2B and 70% of B2C content marketers use content in their overall strategy.
There are various forms of content to create to entice users to visit your website.
A content-centric SEO plan may include various content assets, including mail, blogs, infographics, video, and ebooks. Having different types of content that appeal to each stage of the marketing funnel is also useful for an SEO strategy.
For instance, creating high-quality content for a homepage, web pages, blog posts, and visuals helps get readers’ attention and, ultimately, their business.
When organizing your content strategy, ensure it’s human-created, valuable, useful, and relevant to the user.
2. Keyword research
Without keyword research, it’s difficult to focus on a topic or ad campaign accurately. Keyword research discovers terms and phrases to implement in title tags, headers, meta descriptions, alt text, and body text.
Use keyword research tools from Ahrefs, Semrush, SpyFu, Keyword Planner, or Ubersuggest to acquire target keywords.
A key to finding the right terms is searching for high-volume keywords with low keyword difficulty. Highly competitive keywords with thousands of monthly visits and a high keyword difficulty can be difficult to rank for. The latter acts more like low-hanging fruit (aka rankings you can grab easily).
3. On-page SEO
Make sure each web page is structured properly using headers like H2s and H3s. This informs Google what the page is about. It’s also ideal to implement alt tags, meta descriptions, title tags, and relevant keywords associated with the topic.
As a rule of thumb, avoid keyword stuffing. The content is keyword-stuffed if it doesn’t sound natural or you hear the same phrases too frequently.
4. Mobile-friendliness
A mobile-friendly website involves easy-to-read (not too small or too large) text, clickable buttons, non-invasive pop-ads, and easy navigation. With nearly 60% of people using smartphones and other smaller mobile devices to search online, being mobile-first is a priority, especially in Google’s eyes.
5. Page speed
If your website’s load time is over 8 seconds or so, you may lose your user. Optimizing your website to load faster greatly contributes to your overall ranking.
If using a WordPress website, plugins are available to help with caching and image minification to improve overall load speed. You can also test your website speed using PageSpeed Insights of HubSpot’s Website Grader to determine the current website performance.
6. User experience (UX)
Without a great user experience, it’s tough to keep people on your site long enough to convert them.
So you’ll need a responsive and engaging design, intuitive navigation, optimal readability, and clear calls to action (CTAs).
Our experience also tells us to lean into white space rather than cluttering up your pages, make your CTAs eye-catching, and leverage heatmapping to see where users are gravitating and where they’re getting stuck.
Further reading: Heatmapping: What It Is, How to Use It, and Top Expert Tips
7. Internal linking with anchor text
When composing any kind of content, whether a blog post or landing page, link to relevant internal sources you’ve published on your website. Accompany those internal links with the appropriate anchor text that accurately describes the source in a few words.
Doing this helps Google understand the page and gives users a path to take when gathering information on your website. It can also increase the length of a user’s session.
8. Backlinks
Gathering high-quality backlinks from credible websites is an off-page technique that can drastically boost your domain authority and improve rankings. Tools from Ahrefs and Semrush can analyze your current backlink profile and explore new link-building opportunities.
The goal is to have fewer backlinks from websites with stronger authority rather than large quantities of backlinks from websites with lower authority.
9. Social signals
While your social media presence may not directly impact how your website ranks in search engine algorithms, Google does acknowledge and favor websites that are active on social media platforms.
Being active on social media can lead to higher engagement with users, more organic traffic to the website, increased conversions, and the potential for acquiring new backlinks.
These factors can contribute to better visibility and performance in search engine results.
10. Local SEO
Businesses serving in local areas can use local SEO strategies to increase ranking and online presence to local business prospects.
This may include optimizing Google Maps SEO, keeping online directories consistent for NAP (name, address, and phone number), and managing online reviews. Start by claiming your Google Business Profile so you have control over your listing in search engine results pages (SERPs).
Then, move on to other directors, like Yelp, Bing Places, Angi, and Apple Maps.
11. Technical SEO
For a well-functioning website, your technical SEO has to be on par. First, make sure you have a crawlable website. For example, create an XML sitemap and optimize site and URL structure.
“One of the most important technical components comes down to site architecture and information architecture,” says Gert Kulla, CEO of Batlinks.
“How your site is structured, how content is organized and labeled, the internal linking scheme, and URL structure — these elements form the backbone of strong technical SEO.”
12. Analytics and monitoring
SEO tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console are essential for metrics tracking, SEO forecasting, and improving overall website performance.
They can help you understand your website performance, where organic search traffic is coming from, bounce rate, average user session, and any areas needing improvement.
“Tracking is an essential part of any SEO campaign,” says Sam Yadegar, co-founder and CEO of HawkSEM.
“We use ConversionIQ (CIQ) to granularly track every single step of the buyer journey so we can understand what aspects of a campaign are working and where we should trim the fat. This allows us to optimize towards a higher ROI YoY.”
Semantic SEO principles
After squaring away the basic SEO principles, there are semantic SEO techniques you can implement. This involves a much deeper dive into SEO.
Here are some ways to semantically improve your SEO.
13. User intent
Compose content that anticipates a user’s needs and questions. This involves analyzing the SERPs to see what Google deems is important for the searcher.
For example, view the top three posts, AI Overview, and any featured snippets to see what the content covers (and doesn’t cover). Then use this to match the search intent with content that’s more in-depth.
Also, research other related topics and questions that appear in the People Also Ask section of the SERPs.
14. Structured data and schema markup
As a more advanced measure, schema markup goes the extra mile to help Google website crawlers understand your content. In some cases, well-honed content with implemented schema markup can yield a first page ranking in Google SERPs.
You can also show up in other rich snippets like People Also Ask or related questions. To achieve this, mark up products, articles, reviews, events, and other content.
SEO and ADA principles
To make your website cater to a more specific audience with unique needs, there are ADA SEO principles that should be implemented to make websites more ADA accessible and compliant to people with disabilities.
Here are some SEO steps you can take for the ADA group of searchers.
15. ARIA landmarks
ARIA landmarks aid searchers with screen readers in finding certain regions of the page on a website. This could include navigation, footers, and the main content.
This also helps users skip over content repeated on a website and can help them understand a page’s programmatic SEO.
16. Voice search optimization
One in five people use voice search regularly to find products, places, and information. When creating your website and building a content marketing strategy, include more conversational questions, long-tail keywords, and phrases in web pages.
For example, instead of writing, “Best pizza restaurant in New York City,” you could write, “What are the best pizza restaurants in New York City?”
17. Transcripts for audio and video
If you’re creating audio or video content, include transcripts on the page or as a download for those who are deaf, hard of hearing, or don’t have their device’s sound features turned on.
Having a transcript on a page for a video or podcast can also help with SEO by providing Google bots with indexable text.
18. Accessibility statement
To demonstrate your commitment to accessibility, provide an accessibility statement somewhere on your website.
In the accessibility statement, outline these commitments and provide contact information where users can submit feedback.
SEO principles in web design
Appearing in the top spot of Google doesn’t mean much if users detest your site and bounce away soon after arriving.
Here’s how to ensure your site design has a great user experience.
19. URL structure
When setting up a website, choose a URL structure that makes sense to users and Google search engines. Do this by keeping your URL short, descriptive, and rich with specific keywords.
For example, in the URL: https://www.mysite.com/blog/dynamic-content-management-system
Instead of: https://www.mysite.com/resources/blog/dynamic-content-10384020
20. Header tag usage
Headings structure your content so it’s easier for readers to skim to find what they need.
Rather than bolding important text, title your pages with H1s and designate any subheadings as H2s, H3s, and H4s. This organizes content and structures your pages better to improve readability and crawlability.
21. Social sharing buttons
If you want to improve engagement with new prospects and current users, add your social media channels on your website.
Most websites like WordPress, Shopify, Squarespace, and others have this option in their builders. They serve as a way for users to easily share content on their favorite platforms, improving your traffic.
SEO writing principles
Behind every great SEO strategy is top-notch content writing.
Here are some aspects to pay attention to for SEO writing principles:
22. Content freshness and updating old content
We’ve written before about the importance of updating or refreshing your existing content. Mainly, updating old content tells Google there are newer, more relevant resources available to users and will rank it higher.
To identify which content to update, use tools like Semrush and Ahrefs to see pages with declining search engine rankings and traffic. Start with those that have fallen from a top spot on page one, then move on to content on page 2, and so on.
23. Natural language and conversational tone
One of the best ways to build rapport with a user is to speak in a conversational tone.
This means avoiding jargon and sales-y language, and using natural language as you would while speaking to a friend.
This also means avoiding publishing unedited AI content, which can have a distinct robotic tone, especially if you haven’t “trained” the platform in your brand’s voice.
24. Topic clusters and pillar pages
In the same vein as an internal linking practice, you can create pillar pages that act as comprehensive overviews of a topic. From there, build smaller cluster pages on related subtopics and link to the main pillar page.
Structuring your pages like this helps Google and Bing search engines identify the relationships between topic clusters and pillar pages. And it shows you’ve covered topics in-depth, which makes you an authority on the subject.
Further reading: What is a Topic Cluster Strategy? (+ Why It Matters for SEO)
E-E-A-T principles of SEO
The E-E-A-T principles of SEO is a set of guidelines that helps content creators and webmasters create content specific to Google’s algorithm requirements.
These guidelines will inform your content strategy and help you create content that’s genuinely useful, reliable, and backed by subject matter experts.
This kind of content improves website ranking potential since Google increasingly moves to strengthen the algorithm’s requirements for high-quality content.
A strategy that aligns with E-E-A-T principles can help businesses position themselves as a more authoritative brand in the industry and attract more prospects.
That’s how we help our clients soar to the top and drive more traffic. For instance, NorthStock, and HVAC company, partnered with us and saw its conversions increase by 53%.
“When doing SEO for our clients, we make sure to position them as an industry thought leader,” shares Yadegar.
“We don’t just write an article to rank for a keyword. Rather, the content strategy is to show the search engines we are covering a certain topic and going as in-depth as needed to ensure our clients are viewed as the industry expert(s) they are.”
He adds that taking a comprehensive, strategic, and value add approach for the target audience is key when doing SEO properly.
3 examples of websites demonstrating SEO principles
Next, let’s look at several websites incorporating these principles. We’ll cover websites in industries from dental to plastic surgery to roofing.
1. Prime Orthodontics
When visiting the Prime Orthodontics website, you’ll automatically notice the homepage loads almost immediately. In the bottom left corner, there’s an ADA icon to help users with screen readers navigate the website.
Prime Orthodontics also optimized its title tags and meta descriptions for local search by including its location in the metadata. At the bottom of the website, there’s even a link to its sitemap.
2. Death Wish Coffee
Death Wish Coffee is a great example of Shopify SEO best practices. The brand’s stylish website features a responsive design and fast load speed, plus it seems to use Shopify Plus to its fullest extent.
On its website, you’ll easily find enhanced product descriptions, consistently posted content, great URL structure, perfect use of headings and title tags, and superb quality content. The website is easy to navigate and can direct users with clear CTAs.
3. American Society of Plastic Surgeons
For an example of plastic surgery SEO, American Society of Plastic Surgeons has a website worth examining. It loads quickly and boasts more than 1 million backlinks.
Using Semrush’s backlinks tool, you can see a lot of backlinks come from websites with high domain authority. This is likely a result of its online credibility and the immense amount of content and resources they’ve produced. It’s also under the YLYM category, with credible writers crafting its content.
It also has a significant amount of pillar pages with many topic clusters it can point content back to.
The takeaway
SEO is easier to master when you have a set of clear rules to follow. With the above principles, you have a roadmap for building a strategy that’ll last for years.
Or at least, until the next major Google algorithm update happens.
To learn more about how to kickstart your SEO or to hire a professional to help you reach your goals, reach out to HawkSEM for a free consultation today.
This article has been updated and was originally published in July 2024.