No recycled theory: the real list of SEO optimisations built into every Elaphe Studio site by default, with examples measured in production.
SEO starts before the first line of code
People often ask me for an "SEO option" as if it were a sunroof upgrade. The truth is that most of your search ranking is decided by the very structure of the site: if it's well built, Google understands it; if it's badly built, no trick will make up the lost ground. Here, without unnecessary jargon, is what I actually apply on every project — it's the same list I applied to this very site.
The technical side: included by default
Every page on my sites declares its canonical address (so Google doesn't see duplicates), its unique title and description tags, and its XML sitemap generated automatically from the real content — when the client adds an article from their dashboard, the sitemap updates itself. I also add Schema.org structured data: the local business profile, frequently asked questions and breadcrumbs are described in a format Google reads directly. That's what earns those rich search results, with expandable questions right under the link, which noticeably increase click-through rates.
Speed: measured, not promised
Google ranks fast sites higher, and your visitors have no patience for slowness. On this site, I recently went back on a hunt for excess weight: a demo video weighed 13 MB, it now weighs 4.6 MB after recompression, with no visible difference on screen. Images are served in AVIF or WebP depending on the browser, at the exact size they're displayed. Animations are pure CSS wherever possible, so they don't make modest phones stutter. None of these optimisations is spectacular on its own; together, they make the difference between a site that drags and a site that snaps.
Multilingual: hreflang or invisibility
If your site exists in several languages, each version must announce the others to Google through hreflang tags, with a default version. Without that, Google might show the Spanish page to a French customer, or worse, treat your versions as duplicate content. This site is in five languages, and every page properly announces its four siblings. It's invisible to you, decisive for international search rankings — and it's the kind of detail I audit first when I'm asked to redesign an existing multilingual site.
Content: where I can't cheat for you
The technical work gets your site to the starting line; content is what wins the race. Google increasingly rewards genuine experience: a text that tells how you actually work, in your own words and with your real cases, will always outrank a generic page. My role is to structure that content for search — the right headings, the right questions, the internal linking between pages. Yours is to give me the living material nobody else has: your expertise. The best results always come from that collaboration.
After launch: the follow-up
A site isn't ranked the day it goes live — it earns its ranking over time. I connect every site to Google Search Console, I check that the pages are properly indexed, and I fix whatever comes up. The first positions usually arrive between the first and third month for local queries, longer for competitive ones. Be wary of anyone promising you the first page within a week: nobody controls Google — all you can do is give it every reason to like you.
Where to start
If your site already exists, a quick audit usually reveals two or three major blockers that are easy to fix — often the best return on investment in SEO. And if the site is yet to be built, you might as well bake in everything above from the design stage: it's included in my quotes, not an option.