SEO strategies, technical insights, and discoverability best practices. From structured data to Core Web Vitals, practical guidance for organic search.
Last updated
Search engine optimization is how your content gets found. Not through tricks or shortcuts, but through solid technical foundations: clean markup, fast load times, structured data, and content that actually answers what people are searching for. The algorithms change, but the fundamentals don't. Get the foundations right and your pages earn visibility that lasts through every core update.
These posts cover on-page SEO, technical audits, meta tag strategy, internal linking, Core Web Vitals, and the overlap between search performance and good development practices. We write from experience building and scanning sites with eiSEO, where every recommendation comes from patterns we've seen across real pages. No theory for theory's sake, just actionable fixes tied to measurable outcomes. If you're trying to understand why a page isn't ranking or how to strengthen your site's discoverability, start here.
Written by Brent Passmore, Had A Farm
The weather is changing. Search is becoming answer. Links are becoming citations. And the content strategies that worked for two decades need to evolve, not be abandoned, but adapted for a new climate.
AI answer engines don't guess at content meaning. They read the structured data you provide. Schema markup is no longer just an SEO tactic. It's the label that teaches machines what your content actually is.
The best content doesn't choose between pleasing machines and serving people. It does both: clearly structured for algorithms, genuinely valuable for readers. Here's how to cultivate content that grows in both directions.
Search is evolving from ten blue links to AI-generated answers. Answer engine optimization is the practice of making your content the source those answers draw from. Here's how to plant where the machines look first.
Not every page on your site is helping you rank. Some are actively hurting: thin content, outdated posts, cannibalizing duplicates. Like any good gardener knows, strategic pruning promotes healthier growth.
Every second your page takes to load costs you visitors. Performance isn't a technical nicety. It's the difference between a harvest that makes it to market and one that rots in the field.
Google now indexes the mobile version of your site first. If your small-screen experience is an afterthought, your search presence is built on the afterthought too. The small plot is the one that matters most.
Content without internal links is a field without irrigation channels. The water's there (the value exists), but it can't flow to where it's needed. Build the system that connects your pages.
Google doesn't use meta descriptions for ranking, but users use them to decide whether to click. A well-written meta description is the produce label that convinces someone your harvest is worth taking home.
Your HTML tells browsers how content looks. Structured data tells search engines what content means. It's the almanac in your toolshed: organized, referenced, and built for machines that need facts, not aesthetics.
You wouldn't plant seeds in frozen ground. Core Web Vitals tell you whether your site's performance soil is warm enough for growth, and Google is paying attention to the thermometer.
The sitemap told Google where to go. The llms.txt file tells AI what it's reading. Here's how the emerging standard works and why your site should have one.
Technical SEO covers the infrastructure and code-level factors that affect how search engines crawl, index, and rank your pages. This includes site speed, mobile responsiveness, structured data markup, XML sitemaps, canonical tags, crawl budget management, and clean URL structures. Strong technical SEO ensures search engines can access and understand your content efficiently.
A thorough SEO audit should happen at least quarterly, with automated scanning running more frequently. Tools like eiSEO can scan your site on a regular schedule to catch new issues as content is added or templates change. Major site redesigns, CMS migrations, or large content updates should always trigger a fresh audit.
Core Web Vitals are three performance metrics Google uses as ranking signals. Largest Contentful Paint measures loading speed, Interaction to Next Paint measures responsiveness, and Cumulative Layout Shift measures visual stability. While not the strongest ranking factor, poor scores can hold back otherwise strong pages, especially in competitive search results.
Structured data does not directly boost rankings, but it helps search engines understand your content and can earn rich results like FAQ dropdowns, review stars, and product cards in search listings. These enhanced results increase click-through rates, which indirectly supports visibility and traffic growth.
SEO and accessibility share many of the same foundations. Semantic HTML, descriptive link text, proper heading hierarchy, image alt text, and clean page structure all benefit both search engine crawlers and assistive technology users. Investing in accessibility improvements almost always strengthens your SEO at the same time.