Search basics: results, keywords and markup

A search result is built from a page, and nearly every part of it can be read back to something on that page: the title, the description, the small links beneath, the icon beside the name. These guides take the parts one at a time, say what Google builds each from, and show how to check your own.

Start with the result itself, then move to the searches: which ones your customers make, which ones your competitors answer and you do not, and how to tell what a page above yours is doing differently. The last guides cover the markup and labels a search engine reads, and the checks worth running when a site launches or changes.

• How to write title tags and meta descriptions

  What each line does, how long to make it, why Google sometimes rewrites it and how to check yours.

• How to change how your website appears on Google

  The five parts of a search result, what Google builds each one from, and how to change it.

• How to get sitelinks in Google search results

  What sitelinks are, why they cannot be requested, what Google says helps, and how to remove one.

• Why your favicon is not showing in Google search

  Google's requirements for a favicon in search results, the usual faults, and how long a fix takes.

• How to do keyword research with free tools

  Four free sources of real search demand, and how to choose which searches to build pages for.

• How to find content your competitors have and you do not

  Four free ways to list what competitors are found for and you are not, and how to choose which gaps to close first.

• Why a competitor outranks you, and how to check

  Five things to compare, page against page, with a free tool for each.

• What schema markup is, and which types a business needs

  What it is, what it changes in search results, the types worth adding and how to test them.

• Hreflang explained: the right page for each country

  What the label does, when a site needs it, how to write the codes and the mistakes that make search engines ignore it.

• How to remove a page from Google search results

  The fast temporary block, the three permanent methods, and why robots.txt is the wrong tool.

• A website launch checklist for search

  Launch-day checks for indexing, titles, redirects, the sitemap, tracking and speed, and what to read in the first week.

• How to redesign a website without losing rankings

  What to record before, what to keep, and the checks for launch day and the four weeks after.

• How to check your website speed, and what the numbers mean

  The three numbers Google uses, where to read them for your site and a competitor's, and what usually fixes each.

• Core Web Vitals, explained for a business owner

  The three measurements, Google's thresholds, where to read your own, and what usually fixes each.

• What a technical SEO audit covers

  The six areas an audit checks, and what a useful one hands back.

Every guide here covers the part a site owner controls: what a page says, how it is marked up and what its result is built from. Where that result is shown is the search engine's decision, and no guide changes that.

• On-site SEO: what the service includes
• Brand and graphics: what the service includes
• New websites: what the service includes
• Redesigns and rebuilds: what the service includes
• How the guides are written

• AI search and answer engines
• Website platforms: fixing one, or leaving it
• When a website is not doing its job
• Local search, Maps and reviews
• When Google Ads is not working
• When a site is not showing on Google
• Hiring a studio, and reading its reports
• All guides