Optimising Your Existing Website for Google
Nov 17, 2015
As you probably already know, there are a huge number of factors which influence your search engine ranking, some of which are easier to manage than others. When you launch a website, it should be built and set up with SEO in mind, and you should have the ability to check and change your written content regularly, to keep it fresh and up-to-date.
Here we have outlined some key elements of a website’s content which can be tweaked yourself to improve your search engine ranking.
Behind The Scenes
Meta tags
Title Tags
This is a unique title to concisely describe your page and should include your most important keywords, which will be highlighted in bold in relevant search results.
The best way of doing this is in the following format:
Company Name | Nature of Business | Location
This should be between 10 and 70 characters long, so it displays fully in a search.
This can also be seen when right-clicking on a webpage and selecting “View Page Source”:
Title Tag Checklist:
- Is your company name in each page title?
- Is your location in each page title?
- Is each title tag under 70 characters?
- Is each title tag unique?
Meta Description
Each page of a website should have a unique Meta Description. This provides a concise description of the page’s website content and this should be informative, from a user perspective, and also contain your keywords. It should not exceed 160 characters, to make sure it shows up on a Google search result in its entirety.
Meta Description Checklist:
- Does the Meta Description for each page contain your important keywords?
- Is your Meta Description under 150 characters?
- Is the Meta Description unique for each page?
Alt Tags
Every single image on your website should have an Alt Tag. This is a brief description of an image to help search engines to understand an image. They are also used in devices to help the visually impaired.
Alt Tags Checklist:
- Do all of your images have Alt Tags?
- Do your image Alt Tags contain your important keywords?
HTML Tags
When a website is built, the text should be structured into HTML headings. The hierarchy of the written content on your website should be structured from <H1> to <H6>. The top level, <H1>, will be your page titles and will contain the most important keywords, for example the location.
Depending on your content management system, it shouldn’t be too difficult to manage this. Once again, if you right-click on your webpage and select “View Page Source”, you will be able to see this:
HTML Tags Checklist:
- Does your website use H1 Tags?
- Do you have H1 Tags on each page?
- Are all your H1 Tags unique?
Visible Content On Your Webpage
Keyword Consistency
The more frequently a word appears in the written content of your website, the more important it must be (Google will assume!). Although you must be careful not to clutter your content with your keywords in a very obvious way, it is possible to incorporate the keywords subtly into your text.
For example:
Keyword Consistency Checklist:
- Does each page of your website consist of unique content?
- Have you incorporated important keywords into the text, such as location?
Incorporating Links into your Written Content
In-Page Links
In-page links are links which direct a web visitor to another page on your website, as opposed to another site altogether. Although it’s good for SEO to have a number of these on your website, the number shouldn’t exceed 200. In-page links split the value of each page throughout the website but having too many can dilute this information too much.
Outbound Links
As well as building links to internal pages on your website, it’s good practise to add a select few outbound links to other websites in your industry. This will assist search engines in understanding your content and what you do as a company. For example, if you mention "Foals" on your website, and add a link to a music venue, such as Margate Winter Gardens, then Google will know that your website is about the band as opposed to baby horses!
Backlinks
Backlinks are links on other people’s website which lead directly to yours. Google rewards websites which have a number of backlinks, as they will see your site as being popular and therefore trustworthy. If there are other businesses you work closely with, or have a good relationship with, then why not see if they’d consider adding a link to your website on theirs?
Don’t forget, buying back-links is a bad idea, so it’s best to go about this the honest way.
Links Checklist:
- Are there some in-page links on your website?
- Do you have some relevant outbound links on the website?
- Have you built some back-links on other companies’ websites?
We are offering free website evaluations and consultations to anyone who feels they would benefit from a little bit of guidance.
For more information about how we can help you, why not get in touch with us today!
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