Insights
The fundamentals of ranking on Google in 2026: choosing searches you can win, pages that answer them, local SEO, technical health and AI search.
By Gareth Day, founder
It is the question we hear more than any other. Search has changed a great deal, with AI Overviews at the top of many results and more people asking AI assistants for recommendations, but the fundamentals of ranking have not. Google wants to show the most useful, trustworthy answer to each search. Your job is to be that answer.
1. Choose searches you can actually win
Ranking for "web design" nationally is out of reach for a small business. Ranking for the specific service you offer, in the towns you genuinely serve, is not. Start with the searches your best customers type: the service, the problem they have, and the place.
Look at each one and ask:
- What does the person searching want? Information, a price, a local firm to call?
- Who ranks now? If the first page is all national directories, a local page with real proof can often beat them.
- Is it worth it? A search with modest volume from people ready to buy is worth more than a popular one from people browsing.
2. Give each search its own page
One page per service, and one page per town you genuinely work in, each answering its search better than anyone else. Avoid near-identical pages with the town name swapped. Google recognises them, and they rarely rank.
3. Write like someone who has done the work
Google looks for experience, expertise and trustworthiness. Show it:
- Real projects, with your own photographs.
- Specific details only someone in your trade would know.
- Clear facts: what you do, where, how much it costs where you can say, and how to get in touch.
- Reviews from real customers, on your Google Business Profile and on the site.
4. Get the basics on every page right
- A title that says what the page is about, with the main search near the start.
- A meta description that gives people a reason to click.
- One main heading that matches the page's purpose.
- Descriptive alt text on images.
- Internal links from related pages, using words that describe where they go. A page nothing links to struggles to rank.
5. Keep the site technically healthy
Google has to be able to find, load and understand your pages. Make sure the site is fast, works properly on a phone, uses HTTPS and is free of broken links. Google Search Console, which is free, shows any pages Google cannot index and why.
6. Win local search
For most local businesses, the map results matter as much as the site. Complete your Google Business Profile, choose the right category, add real photos and ask happy customers for reviews. Keep your name, phone number and website identical everywhere they appear online.
7. Be ready for AI search
AI Overviews and assistants such as ChatGPT build their answers from websites they can read and trust. The same things that help you rank help you get cited: clear structure, plain facts, real expertise and a site that loads properly.
8. Earn links, carefully
Links from other genuine websites, such as local organisations, suppliers and press, still help. Bought links and link schemes can do real harm. If your site has picked up spammy links over the years, they can be reviewed and disavowed.
9. Measure, then be patient
SEO is steady work. Track your important searches each month and watch the movement. Changes can take weeks to show, and competitive searches take longer.
Want it done for you?
This is exactly what our SEO plans cover, every month. See how it worked for Marsh & Hall, now first for "local decorators near me", and how we build websites designed to rank from day one.
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