How Do You Do SEO? Run the Six-Step Card
You do SEO by clearing whatever blocks crawling and indexing, then publishing one page per question that answers it better than the current results, then earning a few relevant links, then measuring and repeating. Six steps, about 90 days to a first clear signal. The order matters more than the effort, and most of the work is unglamorous: titles, internal links, page speed, rewrites, and a list that one person actually owns.
No ranking promises. A card, a cadence and a named owner for every task.
How do you do SEO in six steps?
You do SEO in six steps: audit what blocks indexing, fix the technical floor, map one query to one page, rewrite that page to answer the query, earn a few relevant links, then measure monthly and re-prioritise. Every step has one fixed output, so progress stays visible even in weeks when rankings barely move.
Why cards beat strategies
Why most SEO plans stall in week three
Strategy is cheap. A card that says what to do on Tuesday is not.
Almost every stalled plan fails for the same three reasons. Nobody owns the ticket, the work is invisible to everyone outside the marketing team, and the plan is treated as a project with an end date instead of a loop with a cadence. The fix is boring: one owner, one acceptance standard, one date.
The second problem is sequencing. Teams rewrite blog posts while the site still hands out soft 404s and keeps product pages out of the index. A search engine cannot rank a page it cannot crawl, so content work done before indexing work is effort paid twice.
A third problem is measurement. Position tracking feels like progress, but a page that climbs from 14 to 9 while earning nothing is not a result. Track clicks on pages that carry commercial intent, then ask which task moved them.
The card
Six steps, each with a time box and one output
Times assume one person working part time on a site under 500 URLs. Larger sites stretch the ranges; the order does not change.
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Audit what already blocks the crawler
Start with what Google already sees, not with a keyword tool. Search Console shows which URLs are excluded and why; a crawl of your own site shows redirect chains, duplicate titles and pages no internal link reaches. Put every defect in one list ranked by the revenue its template carries, and keep that list as the only input for the next two steps. We use the same structure as our published SEO Audit Checklist.
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Fix the technical floor before touching copy
Work the list top down: restore indexability on money pages, collapse redirect chains to a single hop, cut render-blocking assets on the templates that convert, and add real internal links from high-authority pages to pages that need them. Do not batch this into a redesign. Small, reversible fixes ship this week and can be measured next week.
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Map one query to one page
Two URLs competing for the same query is the most common self-inflicted wound in SEO. Build a sheet with one row per target query, one URL, one primary heading, and the proof the page will show. If two pages overlap, merge them and redirect. If a query has no page, write the row anyway and mark it as a gap, because gaps are your content plan.
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Rewrite the page so the answer arrives first
Open with the direct answer in the first paragraph, then earn the right to keep explaining. Add the numbers, screenshots, process detail or specification a buyer needs to trust the claim. Cut the introduction that restates the heading. This is craft work and it takes longer than people expect, which is why teams hand it to writers who understand the category. Our SEO Content Writing Services exist for exactly this step.
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Earn links that send qualified traffic
One relevant link from a trade body, supplier directory or industry publication beats fifty directories nobody reads. Build a list of twenty pages that already link to your competitors, then write something worth linking to: a spec table, a cost model, a teardown. Send ten specific pitches a week, follow up once, and stop. Relevance and a real reader on the other end are the only filters that matter.
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Measure monthly and re-prioritise the card
Once a month, pull clicks and impressions by page, not by keyword. Compare each page against the task that touched it. Keep what moved, retire what did not, and rewrite the next card from the result. This is the step teams skip when they are busy, and it is the step that turns activity into a system.
Cadence
The weekly rhythm that keeps the card moving
Five short blocks beat one heroic Saturday. Slots are fixed, so the work survives a busy week.
| Day | Focus | Time | Output |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Review the query and URL sheet, pick one page to move this week | 60 min | One chosen page |
| Tuesday | Technical fixes: indexing, redirects, speed, internal links | 90 min | Tickets closed |
| Wednesday | Rewrite the chosen page and resubmit it for indexing | 120 min | Page updated |
| Thursday | Outreach: ten specific pitches, one follow-up on old ones | 45 min | Fresh prospect list |
| Friday | Numbers: clicks, impressions, form fills, next week's card | 30 min | One-page report |
Weekends are off. Panic edits on a Saturday are how sites collect half-finished experiments nobody remembers to review.
Expectations
What 90 days actually looks like
Not a promise of position one. A realistic read of what changes and when, based on how indexing and evaluation rounds usually behave.
Days 1 to 30
- Crawl and indexing defects closed
- Titles and headings aligned to queries
- Impressions rise before clicks do
- Reporting exists and is read by someone
Days 31 to 60
- Rewritten pages get re-crawled
- Average position moves on long-tail queries
- First relevant links go live
- Cannibal pages merged and redirected
Days 61 to 90
- Clicks on commercial pages become visible
- Enquiry quality can be compared month to month
- Next quarter's card is written from data
- You know which templates deserve budget
Blockers
Five things that eat the timeline
Each one is cheap to prevent and expensive to recover from. Check your card against this list before week one.
Done for you
If you would rather not run the card yourself
We run this exact sequence for B2B sites, export manufacturers and independent stores. That means one audit, one priority list, one owner on our side, and a weekly note that says what changed and what it produced. No dashboard you have to interpret alone, and no contract built on a ranking promise nobody can keep.
Most engagements start with a two-week audit, because guessing is more expensive than measuring. From there we take the technical fixes, the rewrites and the outreach in the order the card sets out, and you keep the documentation when the engagement ends.
Want the card run for your site?
Send your domain and the two pages that matter most. We will reply with the first three fixes, in order.
Questions
How do you do SEO, answered plainly
How long before SEO shows results?
Indexing fixes often show up as impressions within two to four weeks. Clicks on commercial pages usually take 60 to 90 days, and competitive categories take longer because evaluation needs repeated crawl cycles.
Do I need to publish something new every week?
No. Improving an existing page that already earns impressions usually beats publishing a new one. Publish when you have a query with no page and a real answer to give it.
How many keywords should one page target?
One primary query and its close variants. If you find yourself writing sections for three unrelated intents, you need three pages, not three headings.
What should I do first with no budget?
Fix indexability, then rewrite your highest-impression page. Both are free apart from time, and both compound. Paid tools can wait until the free work is done.
How do I know a task is finished?
Every step on the card has one output. If the output does not exist, the task is not done, no matter how many hours went into it.
Can I do SEO without building links?
You can, especially in narrow B2B categories where few pages compete. But links still act as a trust signal, so a handful of relevant placements is worth the effort once the page itself is solid.