SEO & AI Search Optimization Tips

The Ultimate Guide: How to Build a Website for Founders, Freelancers & Small Businesses

If you’re a founder, freelancer or small business owner, you’ve probably already created or thought about how to create a website.

Many people think creating a website is a complex task that requires advanced technical skills, development resources and lots of cash.

But this is simply not true.

I self-taught myself how to create a website back in 2006, and it was one hell of a learning experience that didn’t go as smoothly as I wanted.

However, after years of practice, I finally found the right tools and providers to make the process of creating a website much easier and more satisfying.

Unless you are trying to build a complex website with lots of custom design, you can create a website for the cost of a monthly cup of coffee.

In this guide, I will walk you through the step-by-step process I used over 100 times as a freelance web designer to create a self-hosted website from scratch.

The guide is comprehensive but easy to follow for anyone with a bit of technical knowledge. It will take around 20 minutes to read, but much longer if you’re reading whilst applying. Enjoy.

How long does it take to create a website?

Personally, I can create a self-hosted website and have it published within less than a day, depending on how many pages are required and how much content needs writing.

However, the first time I created a website for myself, it took me days and weeks of agonizing mistakes and costly errors that killed my enthusiasm.

Thankfully for you, with this guide, you should be able to create a simple website within 1-2 days or less, depending on your technical knowledge.

If that sounds too time-consuming, message me and I’ll create you a website within a day at an affordable rate.

If you’d rather get your hands dirty, then I appreciate your entrepreneurial spirit and hope you find this guide a valuable help on your journey.

Getting Started: The Steps to Create a Website

To give you an insight into the task at hand, below you will find an overview (with links) of the multiple steps required to create a self-hosted website.

You can click on any step to jump directly to that section in the guide.

1. Choosing & Buying a Domain Name
2. Choosing a Content Management System
3. Choosing a Web Hosting Company
4. Update the Domain Name Servers
5. Create a Hosting Account
6. Install an SSL Certificate
7. Enable HTTPS
8. Set up an Email Address
9. Set Up Re-Directs for the Default Email
10. Set Up Re-Direct for Unrouted Emails
11. Install WordPress
12. WordPress Admin Overview
13. Selecting a WordPress Theme
14. Install Plugins
15. Update WordPress Settings
16. Creating Posts and Pages
17. Creating a Menu
18. Conclusion

Choosing & Buying a Domain Name

Before you can start to create a website, you need to buy a domain name, and before you do that, you need to choose a good domain name for your website or business.

What is a Domain Name?

A domain name is a website address your customers will use to find your website, such as www.yourwebsite.com or similar.

Choosing a Domain Name

Choosing a good domain name is easy. However, choosing one that is available can be a difficult and frustrating task.

Selecting a good domain name for your website is critical, as your domain name is often one of the most prominent branding tools for your business.

The domain name for your website is used in your emails and advertisements and will hopefully show up when people search for your business in search engines like Google.

I know you’re probably in a rush to get your website up and running, but I highly recommend spending a decent amount of time choosing a domain name.

Choosing a poor domain name can have terrible consequences for your business, and changing it later down the line can be costly and time-consuming.

5 Tips for Choosing a Good Domain Name

There is no magic formula for choosing the perfect domain name, but there are some fundamental rules you should follow to ensure you don’t choose a bad one.

1. Choose the Right Domain Extension

A domain extension is what appears at the end of your domain name, such as .com or .co.uk.

Choosing a domain extension commonly known to your potential customers is another crucial step to ensuring a good user experience.

Unlike years gone by, you can now choose from over 500 top-level-domains (TLDs) ranging from .com to .xxx to .business and more.

According to GoDaddy, the most popular top-level-domains (TLDs) globally are:

• .com
• .net
• .org
• .co
• .us

However, if we put .com aside, which is by far the most recognised and popular domain name in the world, the next best option might be the domain extension that is relevant to your country.

For example, a co.uk or .uk address typically represents companies who are in the UK, and is more well known in the UK than any other alternative domain extension.

So, if you are a UK business doing most of your business in the UK then selecting a .co.uk or .uk domain is what I would recommend, assuming you cannot get hold of the .com domain you want.

However, if you are a tech company doing business internationally then you and your potential customers may be more familiar with the .io or .ai domain or similar.

That being said, be careful with choosing a domain extension that people have never heard of, as this can raise suspicion about if the site is legit and safe to visit.

For example, using a domain extension such as .xxx is obviously going to raise an eyebrow with most people, where as domains using .me are commonly not used for businesses.

So, basically, whatever your country or industry, pick a domain name extension that is familiar to your potential customers and relevant for your business.

2. Choose a Short Domain Name

Shorter domain names are often more catchy and easy for people to remember. They are also good for branding, especially when they show up in advertisements or in search results.

For example, if your business is called ‘Jim’s Plumbing & Heating’, it would be a tedious process for me to type in www.jimsplumbingandheating.com rather than something much shorter, such as jimsplumbing.com or similar.

You have to consider that each page on your website will have its own unique URL address so that you can link to specific pages.

That means when Jim adds a page called ‘Emergency Plumbing’, the URL might be: www.jimsplumbingandheating.com/emergency-plumbing/.

Not good.

When building a website, you should always have your users in mind.

A website with a positive user experience that is easy to navigate will consistently outperform others.

3. Include Your Brand Name

Ideally, your website address should be or include your brand name. This creates consistency for your brand and is again easy to remember for your customers.

If you cannot find an available domain name that exactly matches your brand name, you should consider if adding another word of some letters would work.

For example, if your company name was Zoolio and you were based in Denmark, but the .com and .dk domains were already taken, you could consider using the domain Zooliodk.com

Personally, I would always prefer to add another word or couple of letters and have a .com domain rather than choosing an unfamiliar domain extension.

4. Include Keywords

If you don’t really have a relevant or usable brand name, your next best option would be to choose a domain name that includes some relevant keywords.

What Are Keywords?

Keywords are the words that best describe your product, services or business, and what words a potential customer would use if they wanted to find you.

For example, if you’re a hairdresser in Manchester, the two main keywords for your business would be ‘Hairdresser’ and ‘Manchester’.

A keyword rich domain name for a hairdresser in Manchester might be something like hairdressermancher.com or manchesterhairdresser.com

Choosing a domain name which includes relevant keywords can be a good way of getting your website to appear in search results, but it’s not guaranteed.

If you’re a small business who serves local customers, the benefits of a keyword rich domain name that includes your location is certainly something to consider.

5. Always Do Your Research

Before decided on your domain name, I highly recommend you do a little research to see if there are any other very similar domains or brand names to your own.

For example, if you use another companies brand name as part of your domain name, you could end up in court and having the domain taken down.

It’s easy enough hiding a small local business called, Pepsi Clothing, but I can assure you if your website includes a brand name it will get flagged.

If you’re choosing your company name based on your domain name, you should also do the same research to make sure there are no other companies using the same name.

It’s not illegal to have the same name as another company, providing it is not a trademarked name or in the same country/industry. However, it could lead to confusion for customers trying to find your business when searching the internet.

Where to Buy Domain Names

There are literally thousands of domain name registrars where you can search for and buy available domains.

Ideally, you either want to make sure you buy your domain name from the company you are going to use for your website hosting, or from a reputable provider.

And trust me, I have learnt from experience not to buy your domain name or hosting from any company who don’t have flawless reviews.

Personally, I use Krystal.io to buy my domains because I use Google for my emails and other tools, and don’t need to worry about their systems going down.

Choosing a Content Management System (CMS)

Once you’ve finally decided on and purchased your domain name, you’re going to select a content management system (CMS).

What is a Content Management System (CMS)?

A content management system (CMS) is a software used to create a website and create and manage your content and user access to your website.

For this guide, I am going to show you how to create a website using WordPress, which is the world’s most popular content management system (CMS).

WordPress is perfect for beginners who want to create a simple website with some text, images, videos and other basics needed for most websites.

There are a range of other content management systems (CMS) available, such as Drupal, Joomla, Wix, Shopify, Squarespace and others, but I will try and make another guide covering these another day.

Unless you’re creating a heavy eCommerce website, WordPress is perfect.

Choosing a Web Hosting Company

Okay, now you’ve chosen and purchased a domain name and content management system (CMS), we’re getting closer to getting your website online.

But in order to get your website online, you need somewhere to host it.

What is Website Hosting?

Website hosting is a service that acts as a sort of online storage for your website so it can be made available on the internet.

When you buy website hosting, you’re basically renting storage space and paying to use the computer resources of the website hosting provider.

Website hosting and all of the different options, storage limits and servers can get rather complicated, so I will avoid boring you with the detail.

However, I want to make one thing very clear.

You must, at all costs, select a trusted, reputable web hosting provider.

Selecting a poor website hosting provider will potentially result in your website constantly crashing or being slow to load, which will harm your site in many ways.

When selecting a web host, don’t just look at the costs and don’t get bamboozled by the high levels of bandwidth or disc space included.

Make sure your web host offers awesome support.

Unless you are very technical (which I am not), you will be unable to fix any errors that occur on your website without a website host with a helpful support team.

You should also make sure your web host provides the following:

1. An SSL Certificate
2. cPanel Account
3. Email Account
4. Softaculous (for installing WordPress)

Ideally all of these will be included within your hosting package. If not, don’t pay over the odds or consider taking your business elsewhere.

Personally, I have been using Krystal, who are a UK web hosting company, for the past 5+ years and they have been absolutely flawless in delivery and support.

If you decide to go in the same direction, you can use the promotion code ‘DCWDIGITAL’ and you’ll get £10 off your first order, and I will get a little discount on my next bill too.

Everyone’s a winner 🙂

Update Your Domain Name Servers (DNS)

The final step before you can get your website hosted is to update the domain name server (DNS) via your domain name provider.

If you decide to use the same company for buying and hosting your domain name, you can skip this step as it will already be done.

What is a Domain Name Server (DNS)?

A domain name server (DNS) is an IP address that is used to identify your website address and it’s location on the internet.

Again, it’s all very technical and not crucial for you to know, but if you want to geek out then Google has about 245 million search results for you.

How to Add Custom Name Servers

If you decided to choose a separate domain name provider and website host, you will need to do the following:

1. Find out the name server address used by your domain name provider.
2. Switch your DNS settings with your website hosting provider to custom name servers and add the name servers provided by your domain name provider to the custom name server fields.
3. Hit the Save button and protect your sanity.

Important! You will likely get a message to let you know it can take up to 48 hours for DNS settings to be fully updated. In my experience, this is often not the case and it is usually done in minutes, but just be prepared for it taking longer.

If you struggle with this part, I recommend doing a quick Google search for how to update nameservers followed by the name of your domain name provider.

I have added a screenshot below for those of you who have decided to buy your domain name from Google Domains.

Create a Website Hosting Account

After taking a short coffee break for long enough to give your DNS settings time to update, you’re now ready to create your website hosting account.

With most providers, this will likely be done for you, but if not you will simply need to add a new account and create a username and password and the account will be created in a matter of seconds.

Once this is done, you should have access to cPanel which is included for free with pretty much all decent web hosting providers. If not, find another one.

What is cPanel?

cPanel is an online control panel used to administrate many technical elements of your website from your files, email accounts, software installations and more.

The following steps, right up until you complete the installation of WordPress are all completed within the cPanel interface.

Install an SSL Certificate

The first task I always cover within cPanel is to install an SSL certificate on my website, which is provided free by the company LetsEncrypt.

What is an SSL Certificate?

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a website and a web browser.

An SSL certificate gives your website a padlock that is displayed in your browser bar, reassuring visitors they’re safe on your site.

Internet users are more aware of site security these days, and Google are less likely to display non-secure websites in search results, so an SSL certificate is a must.

Simply navigate to and click the Lets Encrypt icon under the security section of cPanel, and click the ‘Issue’ link which is located under the issue a new certificate area.

The process of issuing the certificate should take 60 seconds or less, and then you can return back to the main cPanel tools area.

If the process of issuing the certificate fails, this may mean your DNS settings have not quite yet been updated. I recommend returning to your domain name provider control panel and double checking the custom name servers have been saved and you have activated the custom name servers.

Enable HTTPS

Now that you have issued your website with an SSL certificate, you can enable the usage of HTTPS on your website to show users it is secure.

What is HTTPS?

Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is a protocol that secures the communication and data transfer between a website browser and a website.

Basically, it protects your website visitors from potentially having their information stolen when visiting websites.

You should never provide information via forms etc to any website that does not use https and display the secure padlock icon.

To ensure your site always shows the https, you will need to force the re-direct.

This is done by clicking the domains icon under the domains section in cPanel and then turning the option to ‘Force HTTPS Redirect’ on.

What this will do is always re-direct your website visitors to the secure version of your site, without them having to manually type https:// at the beginning of your domain name.

Set Up an Email Address

Next step is setting up your email address, which is accessed via cPanel by clicking the Email Accounts icon in the Email section.

For the sake of simplicity, I am going to explain how to create an email account which can be used and managed from within cPanel.

Personally, I use Google for my email accounts, but this requires a Google Workspace account and quite a few technical changes via your domain name provider settings, which is for another guide on another day.

The process of creating a new email address is fairly self explanatory and is done by clicking create, and then choosing your address and password.

You will then be able to check your emails using the webmail tool included within your account, which is accessed from clicking ‘Check Email’ on the Email Accounts page.

From the webmail interface you can check and send emails or using the settings, you could sync the emails to another email interface.

Set Up Re-Directs for the Default Email Address

You may have noticed an existing email account was already created in your account, and this is the default address created with your hosting account.

This address isn’t typically one you should use, so what you want to do is create a re-direct which will send any emails that go to that address to the one you just created.

The re-direct is done by selecting the ‘Forwarders’ icons under the Email section of the cPanel tools page, and then clicking ‘Add Forwarder’.

Now what you need to do is provided the first part of the default email under the field at the top which says ‘Address to Forward’, and then adding your new email address in the field under the ‘Forward to Email Address’ text in the ‘Destination’ section.

And don’ forget to hit ‘Add Forwarder’ button to activate the forwarding.

Set Up Re-Directs for Unrouted Emails

Next up we want to set-up re-directs for unrouted emails to ensure we don’t miss any customer enquiries that are sent to an email address that does not exist.

For example, people commonly expect companies to have general email addresses such as sales@ or support@, so unless you create a re-direct for these unrouted email addresses, the customer will receive an automated ‘No such person at this address’ reply.

And we wouldn’t want people to think you’ve gone out of business, would we.

To re-direct unrouted emails, you need to click the icon for ‘Default Address’ under the Email section in cPanel, check the box for ‘Forward to Email Address’, add your email address and click ‘Change’.

All emails sent to a non-existent email address at your company will not be automatically forwarded to your chosen email address.

Install WordPress

Phewww, we’re finally ready to install WordPress and get you one step closer to creating a website and being visible online.

In fact, if you type the name of your website address into the search bar of your browser right now, you’ll see your site is actually already online, but not yet showing anything.

But, hopefully that’s all going to change within the next five to ten minutes after we have installed WordPress, so let’s get to it.

How to Install WordPress via cPanel

To install WordPress via cPanel, you need to scroll right down to the bottom of the main tools page to the section called ‘Softaculous Apps Installer’.

Clicking on the WordPress icon under the scripts section will then open up the Softaculous interface where you will see the prominent install button.

If you click on the link to access the drop-down menu, what we’re going to select is the ‘custom install’ option which gives us more choices for our installation.

From here, we now have seven sections to complete, which I will carefully walk you through.

Software Setup

The first step is to choose your installation URL, which dictates the exact address will be used to display your website.

For this, you want to select the https:// option which ensures you are using the secure domain, and I would recommend selecting the option that excludes the www.

Remember, we want to keep your domain URL as short as possible, and we have also setup re-directs, so even if someone types the www. at the beginning, they will be routed to your site.

The option to choose the domain should be selected by default and you should leave the directory field displayed at the end blank.

You will also see an option to choose the version of WordPress you want to install, which by default will be the most recent, which should be left as it is.

Site Settings

Under site settings, you will see the option to enter a site name and description, as well as options to enable multisite and disable WordPress cron.

All of these settings can be left unchanged, because you’ll be able to change the site name and description from within WordPress and the other options are advanced features I won’t be covering in this guide.

Admin Account

In the admin account section, you will create a username, password and admin email which will be used to login to your website.

Automated hackers will be attempting to access your website every single day, so choose a complex and secure username and password that isn’t easy to guess.

Be sure to save these somewhere safe as it can be frustrating to keep re-setting your password every time you want to make some changes to your website.

Choose Language

I don’t think you need much guidance on this option, other than maybe to let you know that you will have the option to create additional users to login to your WordPress admin area, but you will be able to select the language for each user, so choose whatever you prefer here.

Select Plugin(s)

Depending on your website host and settings, you may see a list of plugins in this section that can be automatically installed with your WordPress installation.

Plugins are something you can install at anytime, but if you see a checkbox for the following plugins like I do in my account, check them:

• Backups (Backuply)
• Limit Login Attempts (Loginizer)
• LiteSpeed Cache

You may also see an option to install the Classic Editor plugin, but unless you have used WordPress before and are familiar with the old one, leave it unchecked.

Advanced Options

There’s a range of options under the advanced options section, most of which we will leave unchanged apart from some auto upgrades and automated backups.

You will see the option to auto upgrade WordPress plugins and themes on the left side, and an option to enable the auto upgrade of WordPress on the right.

Quite a few web designers and developers advise against auto upgrades as they can crash your site if your theme or some of the widgets does not support the latest versions.

Personally, I always enable auto upgrades for plugins, themes and WordPress and then set my automated backups to once per month.

If you don’t update your plugins, themes or WordPress version, your site is at risk of crashing or being hacked, so I prefer to take my chances with the automated upgrades.

Providing you take regular backups, you’ll always be able to roll back your website and recover it to it’s original state, which isn’t as easy to do if you get hacked.

Select Theme

Okay, enough talk about hacking and on to the final step.

WordPress includes a whole range of free themes that you can install by default. If you decide not to select any, the default theme will be installed.

What is a Website Theme?

A website theme is a framework for the design of your website. It provides you with a template to work from when creating a website.

You can preview any theme by clicking on the thumbnail image and clicking the ‘Demo’ button to launch a live website demo using that theme.

But we can do this after installation, so let’s hit that lovely install button, and within 30 seconds or less, you will have published your website on the internet.

Logging in to WordPress

Once WordPress is installed, you will see a message with a link to your live website and a link to log in to your WordPress back-end admin area.

You will generally access your WordPress admin area by adding the /wp-admin/ at the end of your domain name.

For example, if your website address is scoobydoo.com, you will log in to WordPress at scoobydoo.com/wp-admin/.

The WordPress Admin Area

The WordPress admin area is perfectly designed for beginners, with a simple left navigation panel with clear labels and instructions.

From here, you can create, edit, administrate and customise pretty much anything related to your website, its themes and plugins.

Have a click around to get used to the navigation menu by simply clicking on the items, which will take you to that section and display additional sub-menu items.

For the final part of this guide, I am going to walk you through the important final steps you should take before starting to create content on your website.

Delete the Default Post

If you click on the ‘Posts’ tab in the left menu, you will notice there is already a default post that has been created, titled ‘Hello World’.

You should be aware that the second you installed WordPress and published your website on the internet, it became visible to search engines like Google.

I won’t go into detail, but if you have pages and posts published that are not optimised correctly and a search engine indexes them, they will be shown in search results.

That may not necessarily be the worst thing in the world. However, if you delete that page or post at a later date, it will then display as a 404 error, which is not good.

So, as you may have guessed, I am recommending you delete the post.

Delete or Edit the Test Page(s)

If you click on the ‘Pages’ tab on the left menu, you will also find two default test pages. One of these may be displayed on your homepage, depending on your theme.

The other is a privacy policy page, which you are required to have by law.

With the first page displayed on your homepage, I recommend deleting the text and any images and adding something like ‘website under construction’ or ‘coming soon’.

Open your website in a new tab or window and quickly check the homepage to make sure it is displaying that text after saving.

Selecting a WordPress Theme

Select the ‘Appearance’ tab in the left menu, and it will take you to the main themes area, where you should see two default WordPress themes.

You can only have one theme active at any time, and can switch themes by simply mousing over the inactive theme and clicking ‘Activate’.

If you’re happy with the default WordPress theme, you don’t need to do anything here.

If you want to choose one of the other WordPress themes, click on the option to ‘Add New Theme’, and you will be able to preview some of the many designs.

Choosing a suitable WordPress theme for your website can take time as there are many factors to consider, including your personal preferences.

The majority of the free WordPress themes are a bit bare in design and functionality, but if all you need is to build a simple website, you should find a suitable one.

You can also find a massive range of affordable WordPress themes at ThemeForest, but just be sure to go with a reputable developer who updates regularly.

If you buy a theme from an external marketplace, you will need to click on the option to ‘Add New’ at the top of the Themes page, where you can upload your theme.

6 Tips for Selecting a Suitable WordPress Theme

Regardless of which WordPress theme you choose, you should consider some, if not all, of the following factors to ensure it is a suitable one:

1. Your Audience

Consider the demographics and technical savviness of your audience.

You should always create a website that is user-friendly for all visitors, but you should give extra attention to this based on your audience.

For example, if your audience is young and tech-savvy, they expect a modern design with bright colours and are used to pop-ups and other gimmicks.

In contrast, flashy, gimmicky website themes will cause confusion and a poor user experience for an older, less tech-savvy audience.

2. Your Website Objective

You should think carefully about the objective of your website when selecting a theme. Will it be a text or image-rich website designed to attract lots of visitors to multiple pages and sign up for a newsletter?

Or will it be a simple website designed to convert visitors into paying customers or complete a request for a demo page, etc.?

Whatever the objective, you need to ensure your theme is designed for that purpose to avoid the potential of changing themes later down the line.

3. Mobile Friendly

It is crucial that your WordPress theme is mobile-friendly and works across all screen sizes and devices.

If you search for WordPress themes that have a responsive design, this will usually mean they are mobile-friendly.

However, you should always check any demo themes on multiple devices and have employees, family or friends do the same and give you feedback.

4. Compatibility

There’s nothing more frustrating than finding out the theme you just spent hours selecting isn’t compatible with your plugins, WordPress version, etc.

I always recommend installing and testing a theme where possible. Many themes are free, and many others usually allow you to install a demo theme version.

Pay attention to what version(s) of WordPress the theme works with and activate it with all of the main plugins you want to use on your site.

5. Developer Credibility & Theme Support

It is always important to do some due diligence on the developer of any WordPress theme you are considering.

Most platforms will provide some sort of reviews or ratings for theme developers. I recommend going for a developer with high ratings based on thousands of reviews.

I also recommend researching how much support documentation is provided by the developer or their community of users. This will come in handy when you have questions about theme usage and customisations.

Selecting one of the most popular WordPress themes will also mean you have more options if you need to hire a freelancer to do custom design work.

6. Your Personal Preference

I purposely put this bottom of the list because your personal preference for the design of your WordPress theme is important, but not as important as most of the above.

It’s essential that you like your own website and don’t think it’s ugly. After all, it is your baby.

Just don’t make the mistake of many others who create a website for their startup, and design it to your own preference more than your audience’s.

It’s easy to be blinkered when you create a website, so always get non-bias feedback from others who are unafraid of hurting your feelings.

My WordPress Theme

For my websites, I use various themes built on the Genesis Framework, which sadly are no longer available to purchase as standalone themes.

Delete Unused Themes

Out-of-date themes can make your site vulnerable to hackers, so I recommend you delete any unused themes once you have installed and activated your selected theme.

Warning! The last time I deleted all themes from my website, it crashed, which I why I recommend deleting them after you have activated your selected theme.

Installing Plugins

Select the ‘Plugins’ tab in the left menu, and it will take you to the ‘installed plugins’ area, where you can see the plugins already installed on your website.

What is a Website Plugin?

A website plugin is a software that adds additional functionality to your website without the need for any technical knowledge.

Popular plugins include forms, social sharing buttons, contact forms, cache tools, e-commerce carts, and many more.

As usual, you will already see a few default plugins installed as part of your WordPress installation, some of which you did not select.

Remember that unused and outdated plugins not only take space and resources, but they can expose you to hackers, so feel free to delete the following two plugins if they are installed:

1. Hello Dolly
2. Akismet Anti-Spam

Akismet will only be useful when you start getting traffic to your website if you create a lot of blog content, and Hello Dolly is a random plugin nobody uses.

You can always re-install plugins for free at any time, but when you are starting out, the fewer, the better.

How to Install WordPress Plugins

From the installed plugins area, you can either select the ‘Add New’ option from the left menu or using the button at the top of the page.

You can use the search box to the right to search for plugins by keyword, author or tag.

Once you have found the plugin you were looking for, simply hit the install button, wait ten seconds and then hit the activate button.

6 Recommended WordPress Plugins

I have ten plugins installed on my website, but not every site is the same, and you likely won’t need that many in the beginning.

Personally, I would recommend the following six plugins for new websites:

1. Cookie Notice & Compliance for GDPR / CCPA by Hu-manity.co

This plugin allows you to inform website visitors that your site uses cookies and helps you comply with GDPR, CCPA and other data privacy laws.

2. LiteSpeed Cache by LiteSpeed Technologies

This plugin helps keep your website loading fast for users by applying page caching and various other site optimisation features.

3. Loginizer by Softaculous

Loginizer protects your website from bruteforce attacks by blocking attempted logins for the IP after it reaches the maximum retries allowed. Trust me – you need this one.

4. Wordfence Security by Wordfence

This plugin is another crucial tool for protecting you against hackers, viruses and other malware that can destroy your website.

5. Yoast SEO by Team Yoast

Oh, Team Yoast, where would we be without you ❤

Yoast is the absolute ultimate plugin for helping you write great website content that is optimised for search engines and ensures a great reader experience.

6. Contact Form by WPForms

This plugin will enable you to build simple contact forms across your website.

Personally, I use and highly recommend GravityForms, which is a paid contact form software that gives you a lot more options and flexibility.

Remember to always check the reviews, number of installations and date of the last release of any website plugins before installing them.

Update WordPress Settings

Clicking on the ‘Settings’ tab on the left menu will take you to the general settings page and open up a sub-menu of additional options in the left menu.

In this section of the guide, I am going to briefly walk you through each page and skim over the options and tell you what I change when creating a new website.

General Settings

On the general settings page, you can update the title and tagline you want to be displayed on your website.

As different themes display these fields in different ways, I can’t guide you too much on this setting.

The four other settings I always update to match my primary website location and preferences are the following:

1. Site Language
2. Time Zone
3. Date Format
4. Time Format

Reading Settings

If you select the ‘Reading’ tab in the left menu, this will give you the option to select which pages are displayed by default on your homepage and posts (blog) page.

For now, you don’t have many, but you can return here to amend these settings once you’ve got some pages and posts published.

At the bottom of this page, you will see a ‘Search engine visibility’ setting with a checkbox to discourage search engines from indexing your site.

I highly recommend NOT checking this box.

I remember reading lots of articles from people recommending you always check this box, so search engines don’t crawl your website and index your site until it is completely done.

So long as you have followed my guide and recommendations for deleting the default blog post and adding some ‘under-construction’ text on your homepage, you don’t need to worry about search engines indexing your website.

You want Google and other search engines to crawl and index your site as soon as possible for search engine optimisation (SEO) purposes.

If you check the box and block search engines from finding your website, it can cause huge delays to your site getting indexed after you deactivate it again.

Discussion Settings

The ‘Discussion’ tab in the left menu will take you to the discussion settings, where you can edit the settings related to your blog posts and comments.

There are over 15 settings in the discussion section, most of which are self-explanatory so I won’t run over all of them.

If you are going to have comments active on your website, you should be prepared for potentially getting a lot of comments from ‘link builders’.

What Are Link Builders?

Link builders are people who are paid to generate links from websites to other websites, which can improve the ratings of the websites they link to.

I will create a guide about Link Building when I get time, but it’s basically part of an SEO strategy that can have a huge impact on how much your website shows in search results.

Anyway, you don’t want your comments filled with random comments from link builders, so I make sure to check the following discussion settings for posts:

• Comment author must fill out name and email
• Email me whenever anyone posts a comment
• Email me whenever a comment is held for moderation
• Comments must be manually approved
• Comment author must have a previously approved comment

I also hold a comment in the queue if it contains two or more links.

It is crucial you protect your website from publishing links to potentially dangerous sites because search engines will completely remove you from search results.

Permalink Settings

The ‘Permalinks’ tab in the left menu will take you to the Permalink Settings page, where you can edit the default link structure for your posts and pages.

What is a Permalink?

A permalink is a permanent link that points to a specific post or page on your website.

For example, if your website address was bobthebuilder.com and you created a new page called for tools, your permalink might be bobthebuilder.com/tools/.

Permalinks are designed to improve the user-friendliness of the links on your website, so they make sense to users and search engines.

I recommend using either the post name or custom structure option on this page, which will create much clearer permalinks that make sense.

You can always override the default permalink when creating a new post or page by changing the field called the ‘Slug’.

Warning! I highly recommend changing your permalink settings before creating any posts and pages to avoid having to clean up a big mess afterwards.

Creating Posts and Pages for Your Website

To create a new page for your website, select the ‘Pages’ tab from the left menu, and either click the ‘Add New’ button at the top of the page or in the sub-menu.

The first few pages I recommend creating for your website would be the following:

1. Homepage
2. About Page
3. Contact Page
4. Thank You Page
5. Privacy Policy

The process of how to create a page is again very well designed by WordPress and self-explanatory, so jump in and give it a try.

You can also create new posts for your blog using the same process as creating pages from the ‘Posts’ tab in the left menu.

Creating a Menu for Your Website

Once you have created a few pages for your website, you will want to create a main menu that will be displayed across the website.

To create a menu, select the ‘Appearance’ tab in the left menu and then select the ‘Menus’ tab that will appear in the sub-menu.

From here, you click ‘create a new menu’, give it a name and click the ‘Create Menu’ button at the bottom right of the page.

You add posts or pages to the menu using the ‘Add menu items’ area by checking the box next to the pages or posts you want to add and clicking ‘Add to Menu’.

Once this is done, click the ‘Save Menu’ button at the bottom right of the page.

And That’s How to Create a Website

Congratulations, you are now officially a freelance website designer.

There are a ton of other settings to tweak in WordPress and your plugins, but you don’t need to worry about these for now.

I recommend you continue creating some pages and posts, and play around with the look and feel of your WordPress theme.

It will take a little while to get used to playing around with WordPress, but you’ll be a super-user in no time and will get more comfortable by the day.

Conclusion

Learning how to create a website by yourself isn’t as complicated as you may have first thought. However, if you want to make that website a success, you will need to put in many hours of work.

If all you need is a simple, low-maintenance website that you can show to potential customers, following this guide will get you precisely that.

Learning how to create a website is the beginning of the journey for those who need to drive visitors to your website, but at least you’ve got off to a solid start.

In the coming weeks, I will be publishing more ultimate guides covering sales, marketing, copywriting, SEO and more, so stay tuned.

And don’t forget, if you don’t have time to create a website for your startup, you can always hire me as your freelance website designer for an affordable price.

Got Questions About How to Create a Website?

I hope you enjoyed this ultimate guide on how to create a website. Please use the contact form to share your feedback and ask questions.

One of the most challenging tasks as an AI search consultant is working with clients who have recently migrated their websites without a real plan.

More often than not, I end up recommending the client work with a bigger SEO agency who has the resources to fix the mess.

Obviously that comes at a premium, but there’s often no way around it.

Moving a B2B SaaS website to a new domain can feel like moving your entire office to a new building.

It’s exciting because it’s a fresh start, but if you don’t tell traditional search engines like Google and Bing where to find you, your SaaS brand risks becoming invisible.

For founders and marketing teams at competitive B2B SaaS companies, your website is your storefront and your lead machine.

Losing search visibility during migration can mean losing valuable inbound leads and pipeline momentum.

And to top it off, it can take weeks or even months to get it back.

In this post, I’ll walk you through exactly how to move your website to a new domain step-by-step without confusing Google or hurting your AI search traffic.

No fancy SEO jargon, just simple, clear steps you can follow, even if you’re not a tech whiz.

Why Migrating Website Content Matters for B2B SaaS Marketers

Your content isn’t just words on your site. It drives traffic, educates prospects, and builds trust.

When you move to a new website, preserving this SEO value is crucial.

Imagine Google and Bing like massive libraries full of books, which are your pages and blog posts.

If you suddenly move your books to a new shelf without updating the librarians, those books might go missing from their catalogs.

Now, add AI search engines to the picture, which rely on those catalogs to recommend and surface content, and you have a problem.

If your books (pages and posts) aren’t properly cataloged, AI tools won’t find them, meaning your potential customers won’t discover your SaaS brand.

In competitive B2B SaaS markets, “disappearing” from search results not only costs you visits but can severely hurt your brand’s presence among savvy buyers who increasingly use AI-powered search assistants to discover solutions.

So, how do you make sure you keep your spot in search rankings and AI results?

Let’s walk through it.

Step 1: Define Your Website Migration Goals Clearly

Start by answering:

• What do you want from the new site? More leads? Better user experience? Easier content updates?
• What are your success metrics? Traffic, conversion rates, rankings?

Setting clear goals is like choosing your destination before a road trip; it guides every next step.

Step 2: Export and Audit Your Current Website Content

Use tools like Google Analytics and Search Console to identify:

• Your top-performing pages (the “heavy hitters” bringing in traffic and conversions)
• Backlinked pages that carry SEO authority
• Any low-value or outdated content that could be trimmed

Export everything into a spreadsheet: URLs, titles, metas, H1s, canonicals, schema, hreflang, image alts, PDFs, and internal links. This is your source of truth.

This inventory ensures your key content gets special attention during the move and you avoid leaving anything important behind.

Step 3: Map URLs and Plan Redirects (Mandatory)

URL structure is SEO “real estate.”

Keeping URLs identical is like keeping the same house address. If you must change URLs, implement 301 redirects from old URLs to new.

This tells search engines the content has moved permanently, preserving your SEO equity.

In the first phase, it’s important to create a detailed redirect map before migration to catch every URL.

Each individual piece of content needs to be re-directed one-by-one.

I know, it’s a tedious process for heavy sites, but it’s a must.

If you do want to kill off some old content, don’t just delete them. Set-up a re-direct to the most relevant new page on your new site.

Step 4: Prepare Your New Site (On Staging)

Before moving into your new home and migrating content:

• Mirror the content structure where possible.
• Use self-referencing canonicals on new pages.
• Update internal links to the new URLs (no links back to the old domain).
• Generate clean XML sitemaps for the new URLs.
• Install tracking (GA4, tag manager, pixels).
• Test speed and Core Web Vitals.
• Keep staging blocked from indexing until go-live.

Step 5: Launch-Day Sequence (Do It in This Order)

• Unblock the new site (remove password/noindex/robots disallow).
• Activate 301/308 redirects for every old URL to its new match.
• Submit new sitemaps in Google Search Console.
• File Change of Address in Google Search Console (old → new).
• Do the Site Move in Bing Webmaster Tools.
• Keep a temporary old-URLs sitemap for a few weeks to confirm Google is crawling the redirects.

That’s the safe handover.

You’re now telling search engines the move is permanent and where everything lives.

Step 6: Test and Monitor Immediately After Migration

After launch:

• Crawl the old domain and confirm every URL returns 301/308 – 200 on the new page.
• Fix any chains, loops or stray 404s.
• Watch Index Coverage, Crawl Stats, and errors in Google Search Console.
• Check canonicals point to the new URLs.
• Compare traffic and rankings against your pre-migration baseline.
• Keep a daily eye on your top pages for two weeks.

Monitoring is your “settling in” period—catching and fixing issues fast helps preserve search visibility.

Step 7: Protect Entity Signals & AI SearchYou’re not just moving pages. You’re moving your brand entity.

• Keep Organisation schema consistent. Use the same logo if you can.
• Keep your “About” and author bios consistent.
• Update SameAs links and major profiles: LinkedIn, Crunchbase, G2, GitHub, docs, help centre, partner pages.
• Update links in ads, email footers, social bios, app store listings, and marketplaces.
• Maintain cornerstone content as-is until things stabilise. Optimise later.

These confirmations help both classic search and AI systems trust the move.

Step 8: Keep Redirects in Place

Keep domain-move redirects for at least 12 months.

• Keep ownership of the old domain. Don’t let anyone else grab it.
• For content you’re killing on purpose, either redirect to the closest relevant page or return 410 with a helpful UX.

Bonus Step: Optimize Content During Migration

If time allows, use this migration as an opportunity to refresh content to better serve your audience and improve SEO.

Use the migration to fix obvious issues.

• Thin pages – improve or merge.
• Missing metas – add them.
• Slow templates – speed them up.

But avoid a rebrand + redesign + replatform + domain change on the same day.

Keep changes gradual and don’t overhaul everything at once or you risk losing ranking signals.

Website Migration Launch-Day Checklist

• New site unblocked (no noindex, robots open).
• 301/308 redirects live and tested (no chains, no homepage dumps).
• New XML sitemaps submitted in GSC.
• Change of Address filed in GSC (old → new).
• Site Move completed in Bing.
• Canonicals self-referencing on new URLs.
• All internal links updated to new domain.
• Crawl test clean (Screaming Frog/Sitebulb).
• Server ready for a crawl surge.
• Ads, email footers, social bios, docs, and key backlinks updated.

Common Website Migration Traps to Avoid

• Indexing staging by accident.
• “Index new first, redirect later.” Don’t do this. It splits signals.
• 302s instead of 301/308 for a permanent move.
• Redirect chains and loops.
• Redirecting everything to the homepage.
• Leaving internal links pointing to the old domain.
• Forgetting to update canonicals.
• Pulling redirects after a few weeks. Keep them.

Conclusion

Going through the process of how to migrate your SaaS website for the first time can be a daunting task.

But with careful planning, patience and attention-to-detail, the move can be achieved without too much stress and without killing your search visibility.

And once you’e done, remind your team who’s buying the drinks on Friday.

Need a little help with migrating your website?

If you’re feeling a little overwhelmed by the technical side of this migration, that’s totally understandable.

This is part of the AI search consultancy work I offer, so get in touch if you’d like me to help guide you through your migration and protect search visibility.

To rank your SaaS website in ChatGPT results, write clear, factual content that answers real buyer questions and is easy for AI to crawl and summarise.

That’s the straight answer.

But any honest AI search consultant will tell you, if you want to know how to actually make that happen, it’s going to require time, patience and a rigid strategy.

In this article, I’ll show you understand why that works, what ChatGPT is really looking for, and how to apply it to your own site

You’ll learn how it crawls your content, how it decides what to use, and how to make sure your SaaS product doesn’t get left out of the answers buyers see first.

No hacks. No jargon. Just the new rules of visibility in an AI-first world.

What Does It Mean to ‘Rank’ in ChatGPT?

When most people think about ranking, they think about Google. Climbing the SERPs. Fighting for that top spot. Earning clicks.

But ChatGPT doesn’t work like that.

ChatGPT doesn’t show a list of websites. It shows an answer.

And unless your company or content is part of that answer, you’re invisible.

So what does it mean to “rank” in ChatGPT?

It means your content is used, cited, or mentioned in the response.

Either directly (with a link or reference), or indirectly where your product or messaging is summarised, even if the user never sees the source.

And to make that happen, ChatGPT needs two things:

1. It needs to be able to find and crawl your content
2. It needs to trust your content enough to use it in an answer

This is no longer about keywords.

It’s about clarity, authority, and context.

If ChatGPT understands what your SaaS product does, who it’s for, and when to recommend it, you have a shot at showing up in those conversations.

If not, you’re out of the picture. No matter how good your product is.

How ChatGPT Finds, Reads, and Ranks Content

ChatGPT doesn’t just guess what to say.

It pulls from the content it’s been trained on, and from what it can crawl right now.

Since September 2023, OpenAI has been using a crawler called GPTBot to scan live websites and feed that information into ChatGPT’s responses.

That means your website is being read, broken down, summarised, and scored – not by a human, not by Google, but by a language model looking for clear, trustworthy content it can reuse confidently.

Here’s how the process works in simple terms:

1. Crawling

GPTBot visits your site just like Googlebot does.

But unlike Google, it’s not building an index of links. It’s looking for digestible, well-structured content it can use to answer real questions.

If your content is gated, buried in scripts, or vague, it skips you.

2. Understanding

ChatGPT doesn’t “search” your site. It reads it.

And if it doesn’t understand what your product does, who it helps, and when to recommend it, you won’t be included.

Your content needs to be written in plain English (or whatever language you use).

No marketing fluff. No jargon. No feature lists pretending to be benefits.

3. Summarising & Citing

If your content passes the test, it can be summarised and reused in answers.

Sometimes with a visible citation (like a source link), sometimes without, especially in ChatGPT’s default mode.

But either way, it’s your words, brand, and positioning that show up. Or don’t.

ChatGPT doesn’t rank websites. It ranks answers.

And to be part of that answer, your content needs to be crystal clear, crawlable, and credible enough to be trusted by the model.

Before You Do Anything Else, Get the Basics Right

Before you start rewriting headlines or chasing citations, there’s one simple truth you can’t ignore:

If your website is slow, messy, or hard to crawl, ChatGPT won’t use it.

Just like Google, ChatGPT relies on technical SEO fundamentals to access and understand your content.

If it can’t load the page, find the structure, or read the text properly, you’re invisible before you’ve even started.

Here’s what you need to get right before anything else:

Speed

Your site needs to load fast, on both mobile and desktop.

Large images, bloated code, and third-party scripts slow things down and kill crawlability.

Structure

Use clean, semantic HTML.

That means proper <h1> to <h3> headings, paragraph tags, bulleted lists, and internal links that make sense.

If your content isn’t structured clearly, AI can’t break it down or summarise it properly and will likely skip your content.

Clarity

Avoid pop-ups, overlays, and animations that block the content.

ChatGPT doesn’t click “accept cookies” or wait for a modal to close. It just moves on.

In plain English, that means don’t block the page from loading or being read with annoying full screen pop-ups.

They are poor for searchbots, and annoying for humans.

Mobile-Friendly

If your site doesn’t work well on mobile, it’s probably broken for GPTBot too.

Responsive design isn’t optional – and it hasn’t been for many years.

No Gated Content

Yes, you heard me – no gated content.

Don’t hide your most important product information behind demos, PDFs, or login walls.

If the content isn’t public, it won’t be read by humans or machines.

These basics don’t just help with ChatGPT, they help with Google, buyers, conversions… everything.

Need help getting your technical SEO in order?
Request a 👉 free consultation and I’ll help you figure out where to start.

5 Steps to Make Your SaaS Website Rank in ChatGPT

Once your site is technically sound, it’s time to focus on what really matters: content clarity, context, and credibility.

Here are five things you need to get right if you want your SaaS website to start showing up in ChatGPT results.

1. Write Clear, Factual Content That Answers Questions

ChatGPT’s job is to answer questions, so your content needs to do the same.

Forget vague positioning, fluffy copy, or overused marketing buzzwords.

Write like you’re briefing a researcher. Simple, clear, and straight to the point.

Include:

• What your product does
• Who it’s for
• What problem it solves
• How it works
• Why someone should choose it

You don’t need fancy words. You need clarity.

2. Structure Every Page Like a Source, Not a Sales Pitch

ChatGPT prefers well-structured, informative content, not landing pages trying to close a deal.

Think like Wikipedia, not a funnel.

Use:

• Descriptive headings
• Short paragraphs
• Bulleted lists
• Clear definitions
• Internal links

And give each page a clear purpose. One page = one topic.

3. Build Topical Authority Around Your Category

ChatGPT pulls answers from brands it sees as credible.

That credibility comes from how often (and how deeply) you talk about your area of expertise.

So if you’re a SaaS CRM for startups, your site should include:

• Articles on startup sales workflows
• Content on CRM best practices
• FAQs about implementation, integrations, and use cases

The more your site signals “we’re the experts in this space,” the more likely you’ll be used in responses.

4. Get Mentioned (Not Just Linked) Across the Web

ChatGPT often relies on mentions, not just backlinks.

That means getting your brand or product name featured in trusted third-party content.

• Guest posts
• Roundups
• Interviews
• Case studies
• Comparison articles

The more places your brand is seen in context, the more confidently ChatGPT can reference you, even if it doesn’t show the source.

5. Optimise for AI-Specific Queries and Comparison Language

People don’t talk to ChatGPT like they talk to Google.

They ask for recommendations, comparisons, and shortcuts.

So create pages and content that reflect that behaviour.

Examples:

• “Best CRM for remote SaaS teams”
• “Top AI tools for small businesses”
• “[Product] vs [Competitor]”
• “How to choose the right [category] for [industry]”

Now – yes, this type of content can feel awkward to write.

Nobody wants to look like they’ve slapped themselves at the top of a “best tools” list just to boost their ego.

But here’s the truth: this is the language your buyers are using when they ask ChatGPT for help.

If you don’t create this content, someone else will, and they’ll be the one showing up in the answer instead of you.

Write it honestly. Compare yourself fairly.

And don’t be afraid to make the case for your own product, because if you don’t, you risk letting someone else control the narrative.

What Not to Do

There’s a lot of bad advice floating around about how to rank in AI tools like ChatGPT.

And while most of it won’t help you, some of it can actively hurt your chances of ever being seen.

Here’s what to avoid:

– Don’t force keywords everywhere

ChatGPT doesn’t need you to repeat “best SaaS CRM” fifteen times.

In fact, it’ll ignore you if your content feels artificial or manipulative.

– Don’t write generic traffic-bait

A blog titled “10 Productivity Tips for Remote Teams” isn’t helping anyone, and it’s not helping your product rank either.

Stick to topics where your expertise and product actually belong.

– Don’t hide your best content

ChatGPT can’t click through demos, PDFs, or gated whitepapers.

If your key product details are hidden, they won’t make it into AI answers.

Make your most useful content fully public, easy to crawl, and easy to understand.

– Don’t rely on templated landing pages

If your website reads like a thousand others, ChatGPT has no reason to pick you.

The model chooses content it trusts, and that usually means original, well-written, and clearly structured content.

– Don’t ignore your own brand language

If your homepage doesn’t clearly explain what your product does, who it’s for, and why it matters, don’t expect AI to figure it out for you.

ChatGPT only works with what you feed it.

Avoiding these mistakes doesn’t guarantee visibility, but making them pretty much guarantees invisibility.

Final Thoughts

Ranking in ChatGPT isn’t about gaming a system.

There’s no magic trick, and no secret formula.

It’s about clarity. It’s about trust.

And it’s about making your content so useful, structured, and specific that AI tools can’t help but include you when buyers come looking.

This shift is already happening.

B2B buyers are skipping Google, skipping sales reps, and going straight to ChatGPT to find and compare solutions.

If your SaaS product isn’t showing up in those answers, you won’t be in the conversation.

Start fixing that now.

And if you’re not sure where to begin, or you’d like some help improving your visibility in ChatGPT, feel free to read more about my AI search consultant services.

I’m always happy to talk.

Do you need help with getting your website ranking on ChatGPT?
Request a 👉 free consultation and I’ll help you figure out where to start.

FAQs: How to Rank Your SaaS Website in ChatGPT

To rank your SaaS website in Perplexity, publish clear, factual content that answers specific user questions and is easy for AI to understand and cite.

That’s the simple answer.

But any honest AI search consultant will tell you, if you want to actually make that happen, it’s going to require time, patience and a rigid strategy.

To rank your SaaS website on Perplexity, you need to stop thinking like a traditional SEO and start thinking like an AI.

Buyers are already using Perplexity to research, shortlist, and even decide on vendors, long before they land on your homepage.

If your company doesn’t show up when they ask a question about your category, you’ve already lost the deal.

This article shows you how to earn visibility in Perplexity’s results by creating the right kind of content, and structuring your website for maximum AI compatibility.

No hacks. No jargon.

Just the new rules of visibility in an AI-first world.

Why Perplexity Matters for SaaS Visibility

Perplexity is quickly becoming the research tool of choice for tech-savvy decision-makers.

It gives users instant, sourced answers to complex questions, pulling from a wide range of websites and citing those sources right there in the result.

And unlike Google search, it doesn’t just serve links. It curates answers.

For SaaS brands, that changes the game.

You’re no longer competing to be clicked. You’re competing to be quoted.

If your site can answer the right question, in the right way, Perplexity might include you in the result, often with a direct link to your page and your brand front and centre.

That’s visibility in a high-trust, low-noise environment. And for SaaS companies trying to stand out in crowded categories, that’s gold.

How Perplexity Finds and Ranks Answers

Perplexity works more like an AI research assistant than a search engine.

When a user asks a question, Perplexity runs a real-time search across the web, scans the top-ranking and high-authority sources, and uses a large language model to write a concise answer.

Then it cites the sources it pulled from with clickable links.

If your content is included in those sources, and your site clearly answers the question, you’ve got a shot at being featured.

But this isn’t just about SEO rankings. Perplexity favours:

• Clear, factual content over waffle or marketing fluff
• Answers that match real queries word-for-word
• Pages with proper structure, schema, and crawlability
• Trusted sources and citations, if you’ve been linked to elsewhere, even better

It doesn’t rely on one fixed index. It fetches content on the fly, which means if your site isn’t technically sound or easy to access, you won’t show up. Even if your content is spot on.

What Kind of Content Perplexity Prefers

If you want to rank in Perplexity, you need to stop writing like it’s Google and start writing like you’re answering real questions.

Unlike ChatGPT, Perplexity doesn’t just generate answers from memory. It shows its sources, pulls quotes, and links back to the pages it trusts most.

That means your content isn’t just part of the background noise. It’s either the source being cited or it’s invisible.

Here’s what Perplexity looks for:

• Direct answers. Don’t build up to it. Lead with the answer so it can be quoted or summarised instantly.
• Factual content. Avoid opinions and filler. It wants useful, verifiable information it can back up with a link.
• Simple structure. Use bullet points, subheadings, and short paragraphs. Perplexity isn’t skimming for tone, it’s scanning for substance.
• External proof. Reference other credible sites and aim to get your pages linked and cited across the web.

If you’re writing fluffy, brand-heavy content, you’ll lose. But if you write like a clear-thinking expert solving real problems, you’ll win.

How Perplexity Ranks and Displays Sources

Perplexity doesn’t just answer the question. It shows you exactly where the answer came from.

This is one of the biggest differences from ChatGPT.

Instead of writing a long response and hoping the user trusts it, Perplexity gives you real citations – often five or more, and pulls content directly from the sites it deems most relevant and trustworthy.

That means visibility in Perplexity isn’t about gaming an algorithm. It’s about earning a spot on the answer shelf.

A few key things to know:

• It uses real-time web search, not just a trained model.
• It cites actual URLs, often with quoted text from your page.
• It updates its citations regularly, so you can lose or gain rankings fast.
• It prioritises clarity and credibility, not brand name or domain authority alone.

In short, Perplexity is like the research assistant you always wanted. It does the hard work of gathering answers, but only quotes the sources it trusts.

So if your page isn’t ranking, it’s not about being “optimised.” It’s because it doesn’t answer the question clearly enough to earn a citation.

First Things First, Get the SEO Fundamentals Right

Before you start rewriting headlines or chasing citations, there’s one simple truth you can’t ignore:

If your website is slow, messy, or hard to crawl, Perplexity won’t use it.

Just like Google, Perplexity relies on technical SEO fundamentals to access and understand your content.

If it can’t load the page, find the structure, or read the text properly, you’re invisible before you’ve even started.

Here’s what you need to get right before anything else:

Speed

Your site needs to load fast, on both mobile and desktop.

Large images, bloated code, and third-party scripts slow things down and kill crawlability.

Structure

Use clean, semantic HTML.

That means proper <h1> to <h3> headings, paragraph tags, bulleted lists, and internal links that make sense.

If your content isn’t structured clearly, AI can’t break it down or summarise it properly and will likely skip your content.

Clarity

Avoid pop-ups, overlays, and animations that block the content.

Perplexity doesn’t click “accept cookies” or wait for a modal to close. It just moves on.

In plain English, that means don’t block the page from loading or being read with annoying full screen pop-ups.

They are poor for searchbots, and annoying for humans.

Mobile-Friendly

If your site doesn’t work well on mobile, it’s probably broken for PerplexityBot too.

Responsive design isn’t optional – and it hasn’t been for many years.

No Gated Content

Yes, you heard me – no gated content.

Don’t hide your most important product information behind demos, PDFs, or login walls.

If the content isn’t public, it won’t be read by humans or machines.

These basics don’t just help with Perplexity, they help with Google, buyers, conversions… everything.

Need help getting your technical SEO in order?
Request a 👉 free consultation and I’ll help you figure out where to start.

5 Ways to Optimise Your Content for Perplexity

Perplexity is different from traditional search engines. It doesn’t just list results. It pulls in full answers and cites real sources.

To earn one of those citations, your content needs to be better, faster, and clearer than everything else out there.

Here’s how to do that.

1. Lead with the answer

Start your page or section with the clearest, most relevant answer to the question you’re targeting.

Don’t warm up. Don’t set the scene. Just answer.

Perplexity scrapes the top of your content for direct quotes, so make those first lines count.

2. Use a clean structure

Break your content into clear sections using H2s and H3s. Use bullet points or numbered lists where it makes sense.

The easier it is to scan, the more likely Perplexity will understand it.

This also makes it easier for users, which helps reduce bounce and increase trust.

3. Write in plain language

Perplexity doesn’t respond well to clever writing or fluffy intros.

It’s trained to favour clear, helpful answers – the kind a human would want in a hurry.

Use short sentences. Stick to the facts. And write like your reader is in a rush.

4. Add real citations

Link out to reputable sources where needed.

This boosts credibility and helps Perplexity see your page as well-informed.

Citations aren’t just for humans anymore. Machines use them to judge your trustworthiness.

5. Keep your pages updated

Perplexity checks for freshness.

Pages that are regularly updated tend to appear more often, especially if new competitors enter the space.

If your content is evergreen, great, just keep it polished and accurate.

Why Proper Author and Source Attribution Matters

Perplexity doesn’t just pull information. It cites it.

That means your name, your business, and your content need to show up in a way the machine can trust and trace.

Add author details

Make sure every article includes a byline. Add the author’s full name and a short bio that clearly states their expertise.

If possible, link the name to a dedicated author page with more detail. This gives Perplexity more context and credibility to work with.

Use schema

Apply the right schema so AI tools can process who wrote the content and what it’s about. Use Article and Person schema at a minimum.

If you’re using WordPress with Yoast, this is handled for you – just make sure the info is correct.

Make your brand visible

AI engines favour transparent, real businesses. Your site should clearly display your brand name, logo, and contact details, especially in the footer.

It’s about building trust signals. The more real and reputable you look, the more likely you are to be cited.

What Not to Do

If you’re trying to rank in Perplexity, here’s what won’t work, and what could get you ignored completely.

Hiding key information behind forms

Perplexity doesn’t fill out lead forms or download PDFs.

If your pricing, product info, or features are locked away, it won’t get seen or cited.

Publishing without a real author

Content posted under “Admin” or a faceless brand? Perplexity won’t trust it. Always publish under a real name with a clear bio and credentials.

Ignoring author and article schema

If you skip structured data, you’re asking to be invisible. Use the correct schema to help Perplexity understand who wrote what, and why it matters.

Stuffing keywords unnaturally

The goal is clarity and relevance, not density.

Over-optimising with exact-match keywords in every line will confuse the AI, not help it.

Writing for clicks instead of clarity

This isn’t Google in 2015. Perplexity values answers, not clickbait.

Long-winded intros, waffle, or SEO filler won’t help you here.

Forgetting to update old content

Outdated content gets skipped.

If your blog post still says “AI tools in 2022,” you’re telling Perplexity you’re not worth referencing.

Thinking backlinks are all that matter

This isn’t traditional SEO.

Backlinks help, but what matters more is how clear, credible, and crawlable your content is.

Avoiding these mistakes doesn’t guarantee visibility, but making them pretty much guarantees invisibility.

Final Thoughts

Ranking in Perplexity isn’t about outsmarting an algorithm. It’s about being genuinely helpful, trustworthy, and easy to reference.

The companies getting cited aren’t trying to game the system. They’re just putting out great content that answers real questions in a clear and credible way.

That’s the playbook now.

No hacks, no jargon – just smart, strategic content that earns its place in AI answers.

And if you’re not sure where to begin, or you’d like some help improving your visibility in Perplexity, feel free to read more about my AI search consultant services.

I’m always happy to talk.

Do you need help with getting your website ranking on Perplexity?
Request a 👉 free consultation and I’ll help you figure out where to start.

FAQs: How to Rank Your SaaS Website in Perplexity