Rob Pierre, Managing Director of Digital Marketing Agency Jellyfish, gives us his 10 top tips on how to optimise your website from scratch.
1. Optimising content
Relevant keywords with a healthy search volume should be included in existing and new website copy, particularly in headings. Long-tail keywords, which contain between two and five words and are specific, should be used in headings or subheadings, provided they fit naturally with the tone and flow of the copy.
2. Metadata
The metadata of a website is the background data that describes each page and it is essential that the page titles, meta descriptions, tags and headings contain keywords relevant to each page. The page title is the most important element of any page in relation to SEO, as this defines what any search engine perceives the page to be about.
3. URL canonicalisation
Duplicated content risks the search engines marking down the value of your content, therefore if you have the exact same content appear on more than one page or site, then it is absolutely necessary to utilise the canonicalisation tag. This will inform the search engines that one page is the master page, with the secondary page being a known duplicate of the parent. This avoids penalties for content duplication which can be extensive.
4. Optimisation of HTML tags
These include title tag, meta tags header tags (h1, h2, h3… tags) and image alt tags. Ensuring all the meta tags include relevant keywords is essential to both pages and images ranking well in Google. Keyword research should inform the selection of keywords used in tags, and regular research and refreshing is advised to ensure page’s keywords are always reflective of search volume.
5. Page authority redirection
301 redirects take the natural search page authority of old pages which have built up search relevance over many months/ years and point that authority to new pages. On go live it is essential that 301 redirects are put in place to retain SEO page authority. This process should be planned prior to go live and implemented in sync with the cutover of the old site to the new.
6. Formatting tags
When editing the html of a page, using the correct formatting tags is essential to structuring the page in an easy to read way and subsequently is preferable for SEO. Using paragraph tags ensures that paragraphs are displayed properly, for example:
7. Keyword density
The density of keywords is important. Google places high importance on the content of a page, as well as its metadata and title, so make sure that keywords occur regularly in the copy. That said, keyword stuffing is something Google has picked up on and companies face serious penalties for doing this, so maintain a balance based around exceptional subject content first and foremost.
8. Header tags
Header tags define the importance of a heading, from 1-6. Priority keywords should be used in the more prominent headings (H1) for example. Header tags should be used to organise a page and should reflect the priority of copy and keywords on the page.
9. Alt text
Alt text is generally added to images and should always mirror any text in the actual image itself so it can be read by search engines. Good alt text should be consistent across a website, succinct and include all relevant keywords.
10. Internal links
Placing links on keywords to other pages within your website is important for both search and navigation. For example, website copy such as “we also offer SEO services” would benefit from a link on SEO Services to the page featuring this service. Internal links help the user navigate the site easily, whilst Google spiders also class internal links as beneficial to SEO.
By Rob Pierre
Managing Director
Digital Marketing Agency
Jellyfish
http://www.jellyfish.co.uk/
