Google’s SEO Starter Guide (last updated 10 December 2025 as we read it) is long and covers a lot. Its section headings give a sensible order, and we have grouped them into ten steps. The grouping is ours. The advice behind each step is Google’s.
Best for: anyone launching a new site or blog.
The ten steps
A. Be found
- Understand how Search works. Google finds, analyses and serves pages. See how Google Search works.
- Help Google find your content. Links between pages and a sitemap. See XML sitemaps.
- Check Google sees what users see. Use the URL Inspection tool, and keep key content out of script-only rendering. See JavaScript SEO check.
B. Be organised 4. Use descriptive URLs and group related pages. Readable words, sensible folders. 5. Reduce duplicate content. See canonical URLs.
C. Be useful 6. Make the page interesting and useful. Expect your readers’ search terms, and avoid distracting ads. 7. Link to relevant resources. Send readers to sources and related pages.
D. Look good in results 8. Influence your title links and snippets. See title links and snippets. 9. Add images and video well. Place images near relevant text and add descriptive alt text. 10. Promote the site and keep learning. Google also lists things it believes you should not focus on.
What Google says about timing
The guide has a section on how long it takes to see impact in results. We did not find a promise of speed, and Google says elsewhere that it does not guarantee crawling, indexing or serving. Treat any promise of fast results with caution.
A worked example (made-up)
A new recipe blog has 12 posts, no sitemap, and the same title on every page. Under our order, step 2 (sitemap) and step 8 (titles) are the first fixes, and rewriting the recipes can wait.
What to do
- Score yourself from 1 to 10 on each step this week.
- Fix the lowest score in group A first, then B, C and D.
- Re-check after changes with the URL Inspection tool.
- Use our traffic drop routine if numbers fall later.
