SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Basics for Web Developers
One of the most complicated but most important aspects of web design is search engine optimization, or SEO for short. Regardless of how much time and effort you put into perfecting your website, if it ranks poorly in search engines, chances are it will fail. Although the finer points of SEO should be left to a professional, there are many things the average web developer can do to improve their ranking on sites like Google or Yahoo. This is what we recommend…
Acquire quality backlinks – Many experts will tell you that backlinks are one of the most crucial elements of SEO for maintaining a strong long-term ranking. Search engines interpret any website that links to yours as a “vote” for your web page in assessing its importance. When approaching other companies for link exchanges, try to target sites with similar or complementary content to yours. Getting links with similar topics will carry more weight than just random links.
Proper keyword selection: It’s important to research beforehand what keywords or phrases people are most likely to use when searching the web for you. Online resources like Google AdWords will help you determine which keywords are most popular and searched for in relation to your business. Also pay attention to the websites of your competitors (those that rank high in search engines) and try to incorporate the keywords that they consider most valuable.
Write quality content – One of the first rules of SEO is “content is king”, which means that the written part of your website plays a critical role in its search engine success. Make sure all of your copy is professionally written and error-free, while also including your most important keywords and phrases. However, don’t overuse keywords, keep them to a reasonable amount (5-15% recommended) or risk penalties for “spam” or unethical SEO practices.
Use ALT tags for all your images – Alt tags are descriptive tags used to name any graphic or image found on your website. Search engines can’t read images, so they rely on ALT tags to decipher their meaning. Be sure to use ALT tags for all graphics on your web page and include your main keywords where appropriate. Remember that ALT tags are sometimes visible in your browser, so be sure to use names that accurately reflect the image in question.
Update your website frequently: It may sound simple, but making a conscious effort to update your website regularly will keep it active in search engines so it doesn’t go down due to inactivity. Search engines are always looking for new content and frequently monitor how often changes or updates have been made to your site. Try to update your website at least once a week and even more if your schedule allows.
Include keywords in your title tags – Your title tags are the first place search engines look when they navigate to each page of your website. Make sure all titles contain your most important keywords or phrases, as you think users will look for them in a web search. Also, do not give all the pages of your website the same name. Each should have its own unique description based on the most important content on that particular page.
Give each page of your website an SEO-friendly name – The file name you choose for each page of your website is just as important as the title itself. For example, if your home cleaning website has a category called “services”, you might want to name the page home-cleaning-services.html instead of simply services.html. Give each page a file name that tries to include your most important keywords related to that particular page.
Heading Tags – Search engines specifically look for heading tags when they scroll through your website, believing that headings contain more important information than regular text. Don’t just bold your headings, go the extra mile and use the proper heading tags in your HTML code. As is the rule, have your main keywords and phrases written in your headers whenever possible.
Domain Name Selection – Choosing the right domain name is one of the easiest yet most overlooked ways to get listed quickly in search engines. It’s more efficient to choose a domain that includes not only your business name, but also the product or service you offer. For example, a library called Benjamins will get better results using [http://www.benjaminsbookstore.com] instead of just http://www.benjamins.com. Make sure your domain name clearly illustrates who you are and what you do to get the best results.