The case for boring SEO

The SEO that works for small businesses is unfashionable, unsexy, and almost entirely about doing the obvious thing.

Most SEO advice on the internet is written for SEO agencies trying to sell SEO. It's full of words like 'topical authority' and 'entity SEO' and is mostly noise.

What actually works for a five-person business: fix your titles, write one good page per service you offer, get listed in the obvious local directories, and keep your site fast. That's it. That's the program.

The hard part isn't knowing what to do. It's doing it on a schedule. Boring SEO is the opposite of growth-hacked SEO — it's a year of small consistent edits, not a clever launch.

If your business is local, add one more thing: a single page per location, with a real address, real photos, and real reviews embedded. You'll outrank most of your competitors inside a quarter.