HTML websites give you direct control over every on-page SEO element, which is both an advantage and a responsibility. Start with your title tags—each page needs a unique <title> between 50-60 characters that includes your target keyword near the beginning. Your meta description goes in <meta name="description" content="..."> and should be 150-160 characters, written to drive clicks from search results. Structure your content with proper heading hierarchy. One H1 per page containing your primary keyword, then H2s for main sections, H3s for subsections. Search engines use this structure to understand your content's organization. In pure HTML, you're manually writing <h1>, <h2>, etc., so maintain consistency across your site. Images need descriptive alt attributes: <img src="..." alt="specific description">. This helps both accessibility and image search rankings. Keep file names descriptive too—"red-nike-running-shoes.jpg" beats "IMG_0234.jpg". Internal linking is critical. Link related pages together using descriptive anchor text in your <a href> tags. Avoid "click here"—use keyword-rich phrases that tell users and search engines what they'll find. We typically aim for 2-4 contextual internal links per page in our portfolio sites. For technical elements, add structured data using JSON-LD in <script type="application/ld+json"> tags. Organization, Article, Product, and FAQ schemas are the most universally useful. Validate with Google's Rich Results Test. HTML sites often load faster than CMS platforms, but you still need to optimize. Compress images before upload, minify CSS and JavaScript files, enable browser caching through .htaccess rules, and consider a CDN for static assets. We've seen HTML sites rank well purely because they load in under 1 second while competing WordPress sites struggle at 3-4 seconds. The main challenge: scaling updates across multiple pages. When you change your navigation or footer, you're editing every HTML file manually unless you're using includes or a static site generator. Plan your structure carefully upfront.