SEO is, for the most part, plain craftsmanship. You listen to what people actually type into search, line it up against what you can offer, and make sure Google can find your page, understand it, and not trip over it. No secret numbers, no tricks. Anyone who promises you the top spot within a week is either lying or about to get you into trouble.

Keywords are intent, not a list of phrases

People don’t type random words into Google. They type what they need right now. Someone is still just looking around (“how to choose accounting software”), someone is already comparing options (“QuickBooks vs. Xero”), and someone is ready to buy or call (“accounting firm near me prices”). This is called search intent, and it’s the whole heart of SEO.

Start by sitting down and writing out what clients actually ask you. In their exact words. Then drop those words into search and look at what Google itself suggests in autocomplete and in the “Related searches” section at the bottom. It’s free, and it’s more honest than most paid tools.

Don’t chase the most-searched phrases. You’ll never break through on “shoes.” On “men’s leather brogues near me” you will, and those are the people who buy.
One page, one intent. If you try to cover ten different queries with a single page, you’ll rank for none of them.

On-page: telling Google and people what the page is about

This part is fully under your control, and it’s the cheapest part of the whole of SEO.

Title tag. The headline that shows up in the results. Put your main phrase in naturally and keep it to roughly 60 characters, or Google will cut it off. Every page gets its own, not a copy.
Meta description. It doesn’t count as a ranking factor, but it decides whether someone clicks. Treat it like an ad line: what I’ll find here, and why here.
Headings (H1, H2). One H1 per page that says what the whole thing is about. Structure the subheadings logically, not by whatever happens to be bold in your editor.
Image alt text. Describe what’s in the image, in a plain human sentence. It helps blind users, image search, and the case where the image fails to load. Don’t cram keywords in by force.

The technical side: letting Google in at all

The best copy in the world is useless if the page is slow or a crawler can’t read it.

Speed and mobile. Most traffic comes from phones, and Google ranks based on the mobile version too. Measure yourself in PageSpeed Insights and fix the worst offenders: large unoptimized images and unnecessary scripts.
Indexability. Check that you’re not accidentally blocking the page in your robots.txt file or with a noindex tag. It sounds silly, but it’s one of the most common reasons a site never shows up.
Sitemap and Search Console. Generate a sitemap.xml (a decent CMS does it for you) and register the site in Google Search Console. There you’ll see what people actually find you for and where Google is having trouble with your site. This is free, and everyone should have it.

Local SEO: the single most important thing for businesses with an address

If you have a shop, a workshop, or you serve a specific region, this is what actually brings you customers.

Google Business Profile. A free business listing. Fill in every last field: category, opening hours, phone, photos, description. Be consistent with your name, address, and phone across your whole site and any directories. Actively collect reviews and reply to them.
Local keywords. “Plumber in downtown Brno” beats a generic “plumber.” Clearly state your address on the site and the area you cover.

Realistic expectations

SEO isn’t a campaign, it’s maintenance. On a new domain, expect roughly 4 to 6 months before the results even start to move, and in competitive fields easily a year. A local profile takes hold faster, sometimes within weeks.

Stick to the basics, write for people, and be patient. Everything else that promises a shortcut is usually a way to get your site penalized. That ends up costing far more time and money than doing honest work from the start.