Did you get the message that Google is rolling out a helpful content update? If so, you know how difficult it has been to rank on Google while meeting searcher intent. As a result, Google crawlers are updated to find websites that are completely built to satisfy the end-user experience. That said, what better way to rank than by following SEO best practices?
Here are 8 SEO practices to follow before creating a website development.
Site structure
In simple terms, we can refer to site structure as the way visitors view your content or the pattern by which you organize your site content. Why do search engine crawlers bother with your structure so much? Well, these bots are trained to satisfy visitors. On unformatted or poorly structured web pages, the user may have difficulty finding the information they were looking for. So with the right structure, you can help search engines identify what your website is about and index it properly.
Site navigation
Website development company owners sometimes forget how important navigation is to SEO. Suppose a new visitor lands on your website. Now, if your navigation doesn't suit them, they will immediately hit the back button and move to your competitor's website. This will lead to an increase in bounce rates. To avoid such situations, make sure you use clean codes for clear navigation on your site.
URL structure
Often referred to as a permalink, the URL plays a small but significant role in SEO rankings. Not everyone realizes the wonders SEO-friendly URLs can do for your website's visibility. Not only will Google rank your website, it will also make it clear enough to visitors what they are getting into. So how can you create an SEO-friendly URL? Keep it short and simple with primary keywords. And it is done!
On-page Elements
On-page elements mainly include the page meta description, heading tags, and heading. These are indeed some of the factors that affect your rating the most. Let's go over the basics of these three factors. In general, your title should be around 5-60 characters with power words and numbers. Likewise, a meta description of 130-165 characters with keywords is considered good enough. Finally, your heading tags must be formatted hierarchically according to your content structure. You can also follow white label website development techniques to get better rankings.
Image optimization
Now that you've started a website yourself and you've visited a few websites, you know how images can engage users. According to statistics, an article with an image engages users 94% more than an article without users. With such an impact on the searcher's intent, there was no way Google could ignore this factor when ranking. So how does a search engine know if an image is relevant to the content? Simple, it looks for the file name the image is stored in and loops through the image's alt tag. Therefore, to get the attention of search engines, make sure that you optimize your images well.
Responsive design
Responsiveweb design service is the process of creating a website so that all of its text, structure, and images look the same on any device, regardless of screen size. As of 2019, Google mostly prefers responsive websites for ranking. This means that how your website looks on different devices determines how well your website will rank. According to the survey, mobile searches can account for up to 72% of all searches in some businesses.
Website speed
While things like improved aesthetics, increased functionality, and more content are essential to your website, the uncomfortable truth is that website performance comes first. According to a survey conducted by Gomez.com, 50% of online visitors do not wait more than 2 seconds for a page to display its content. If the site takes longer than three seconds, users will leave your site. The numbers are even worse. About 79% of them will not even return to your website and 44% avoid recommending it to their friends. Page speed also affects search engine results.
Continuous analysis and problem-solving
Even if you follow best practices from the start, SEO is not foolproof. Regular analysis of your methods and results can lead you to a better ranking of your site. It's hard to see the patterns at first, but you get used to them. Creating an SEO performance dashboard is the easiest method to stay on top of your SEO data.
Conclusion
Here ends the tour of some of the most important SEO practices. By keeping this in mind, you can create a website that beats your competition and gets traffic organically.
