Where website SEO begins

A beautiful, fast website does not automatically mean anyone will find it. You can invest in design, copy and development, then wait months for customers because Yandex and Google do not really understand what your pages are about or who should see them. This is where SEO begins: helping search engines find your website, understand its structure and gradually build trust in it. In this series, we will work through each step, from <title> and headings to technical settings and link authority, without promises of reaching the top in a week or complicated definitions.

As a website developer, I need to know the basic rules of SEO. And not just in theory: I have tested many of them on my own website, sometimes successfully and sometimes creating the very CHAOS I then had to clean up. That experience became the basis for this three-part series:

• What SEO is and how it helps a website attract customers
• Technical SEO: how to audit and configure your website
• Website link authority: building authority for SEO and AI search

What SEO means in plain English

If you ask Google or Yandex AI search what SEO is, the answer will be correct but not particularly clear to a beginner: “search engine optimisation”, “a set of measures”, “ranking”, “organic results”. Everything seems to have been explained, but what you actually need to do with your website is still a mystery.

In plain English, SEO is work on a website that helps search engines find its pages, understand their content and show them to the right people.

I often see H2 and H3 headings used simply as a place for another SEO keyword. I have done it myself. There is a heading and a keyword, but hardly any connection to the previous section or the overall page structure. The result is a collection of disconnected phrases: harder for a person to read and harder for a search engine to understand what the page is about and which sections really matter.

How SEO headings and page structure work

Let us use a simple example. Imagine that each page on a website is a separate BOOK.

A book has a title in the library catalogue, a title on its cover, chapters and subchapters. A web page works in much the same way: each element has its own place and purpose.

What is a page's <title>?

<title> is the BOOK's name in the library catalogue. Even before opening the page, a search engine uses it to work out what the page is about and which queries it might answer.

A person usually sees <title>:

• in the browser tab;
• in search results;
• when bookmarking a page;
• sometimes when sharing a link on social media or in messaging apps.

For example, a landing page development service could use this <title>:

“Complete Landing Page Development | RM Systems”

A search engine may change the title shown in its results if it decides another version better matches the user's query. That does not mean you can leave <title> empty. It remains one of the main signals used to identify the topic of a page.

What is an H1 heading?

H1 is the BOOK's title on the cover. It is the main heading a person sees after opening the page.

For example:

Complete landing page development

<title> and H1 can be similar because they describe the same page. They do not have to repeat each other word for word.

<title> helps present the page in search, while H1 should immediately tell visitors where they are and what they will find here.

One main H1 heading is usually enough for a page. Using several H1 headings without a clear reason can make the structure less obvious to both readers and search engines.

What are H2 headings for?

H2 headings are the main chapters of our BOOK. They divide a page into substantial sections and show which questions each section covers.

For example, a page about landing page development might include:

• What landing page development includes;
• The stages of creating a website;
• How much development costs;
• Launch timelines;
• Answers to frequently asked questions.

Each H2 should develop the overall topic of the page and address a particular reader need.

Do not use an H2 just because a phrase contains a suitable SEO keyword. First consider why the reader needs this section and how it connects to the preceding text.

What are H3 headings for?

H3 headings are subchapters within a larger H2 chapter. They are useful when a section is long and covers several separate questions.

For example:

• H2: Landing page development stages
• H3: Analysing the task and audience
• H3: Planning the structure
• H3: Design and development
• H3: Testing and launch

All these H3 headings belong to the same H2 section and help explain its topic step by step.

When do you need H4, H5 and H6?

If an H3 subsection is also long, you can divide it further with H4 headings.

H5 and H6 are deeper levels of structure. Ordinary service pages and short articles rarely need them. They are more common in documentation, detailed instructions, research and complex catalogues.

The main point is to avoid choosing headings simply for their font size or appearance. Bold text, lists and other elements can provide ordinary emphasis.

Headings should show the structure of the material:

• H1: the main topic of the page;
• H2: major sections;
• H3: subsections within H2 sections;
• H4–H6: further levels where they are actually needed.

Do not mark everything as H2 in the hope of improving search rankings. Do not jump straight from H2 to H5 just because the font size looks right, either. The more chaotic the structure, the harder it is for a person to read the page and for a search engine to understand its topics and important sections. This can negatively affect the page's position in search results.

How to connect pages into a coherent website structure

We have worked out the structure of a single BOOK. But a website usually contains a whole collection: the home page, catalogue, services, articles, contact information and other sections.

These pages should connect to one another in meaningful ways. For example, a website development page can mention CRM integration and link to a separate page about that service. A person can follow the link for details, and a search engine can see the relationship between the two topics.

Links between pages on the same website are called internal links. They help search engine crawlers discover pages, understand the website's structure and identify related sections.

You do not need to add a link to every paragraph just for SEO. A link should feel natural and actually help the reader explore the topic further.

The result should resemble a well-organised library: each page has its own topic, its place in the overall structure and connections to other material.

That is the foundation of SEO: clear <title> elements, a logical heading hierarchy, useful content and connected pages. Technical mistakes can still undermine a well-planned structure. In the next article, we will look at auditing a website, making it accessible to crawlers and avoiding the CHAOS I once presented to Yandex and Google.