SEO Technical SEO 5 min read

The SEO Fundamentals Every Business Gets Wrong

Underdog Digital

After auditing over 200 websites, we’ve seen the same mistakes over and over. Not edge cases. Not advanced technical issues. The basics.

Here’s what most businesses—and their agencies—consistently get wrong.

What You’ll Learn

Technical SEO

The foundation everything else sits on. If your technical SEO is broken, nothing else matters.

  • Crawlability: Can Google actually find your pages? You’d be surprised how many sites accidentally block their most important content.
  • Site speed: Not just for user experience. Core Web Vitals directly impact rankings. Most sites fail at least one metric.
  • Indexation: Pages that aren’t indexed don’t rank. Period. We regularly find 30-50% of pages on client sites aren’t being indexed.

Content Strategy

Not “write more blog posts.” Real content strategy.

  • Search intent matching: Every page should target a specific keyword AND match what users actually want when they search for it.
  • Content depth: Thin pages don’t rank. But long content for its own sake doesn’t either. It’s about comprehensively answering the search query.
  • Internal linking: The most underrated SEO lever. A proper internal linking architecture can move rankings faster than building external links.

The most misunderstood part of SEO.

  • Quality over quantity: One link from a DR50+ relevant site is worth more than 100 directory links.
  • Natural profiles: If all your links come from the same type of source, Google notices.
  • Competitor analysis: Your competitors’ backlink profiles are a roadmap. Use them.

Local SEO

If you serve a geographic area, this is non-negotiable.

  • Google Business Profile: Fully optimised and regularly updated.
  • Local citations: Consistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone) across all directories.
  • Local content: Pages that target location-specific keywords.

Getting Started

The first step is always the same: audit what you have. You can’t fix what you don’t understand.

That’s exactly why we built the Damage Report. A comprehensive audit that shows you exactly where your site stands and what needs fixing.

Next Steps

Stop guessing. Get the data.

Request your free Damage Report →

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