How Developers Can Make A Website SEO Friendly

Marcin KilarskiWebInnovation.ie

My Journey

What I Do

Search Engine Results Page (SERP)

SERP

What is CTR?

https://moz.com/blog/google-organic-click-through-rates-in-2014

SERP

What Impacts CTR?

Title

Meta description

Brand recognition

Domain

Rich snippets

URL

SERP

How do users see your page?

SERP

Title

The title tag is the first interaction that a new visitor have with your brand.

It should be compelling.

SERP

Title - Best Practices

● It should sound great● Each page should have a unique title● The important keywords should be in the beginning● It should have between 50 and 60 characters

https://moz.com/blog/title-tag-length-guidelines-2016-edition

SERP

Domain

For a new website choosing a good domain name is one of the most important decisions.

SERP

Keyword In Domain

http://www.searchmetrics.com/wp-content/uploads/Ranking-Factors-2015-Whitepaper-US.pdf

● Brandable names are easier to market● Shorter domains are easier to remember● .io, .ninja, etc. domain extensions might be a

good choice for a more tech savvy audience ● a less tech savvy audience would expect to

see a domain with a country extension or .com

SERP

Domain - Best Practices

https://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-your-domain-name-will-impact-seo-social-media-marketing/

SERP

Generic vs Country Specific Domain

Generic Top Level Domain (gTLD)E.g. example.com, example.io

● seen as international business● higher chance to rank in many countries● lower chance to rank well in one specific

country● lower CTR in any specific country

https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2010/03/working-with-multi-regional-websites.html

Country-code Top Level Domain (ccTLD)E.g. example.ie, example.co.uk

● seen as local business● lower chance to rank in many countries● higher chance to rank in one specific

country● higher CTR in a specific country

SERP

Domain Geo-Targeting

https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/i18n

You can set generic domain to target users in a specific country

with Search Console

SERP

URL

The URL lets users know which page of your website they will land on

when they click the link.

SERP

URL - Best Practices

Use words instead of special characters:and numbers:✔ example.ie/products✖ example.ie/?p=123

Use dashes instead of underscores:✔ example.ie/flower-delivery✖ example.ie/flower_delivery

Keep it close to the root domain:✔ example.ie/sample-post✖ example.ie/folder1/folder2/folder3/folder4/sample-post

SERP

URL - Best Practices

Keep it short:✔ example.ie/services✖ example.ie/Commercial-Locksmith-Service-

Belfast-Northern-Ireland

Avoid using dates:✔ example.ie/sample-post✖ example.ie/2016/09/14/sample-post

SERP

Dates in URLs

https://www.sistrix.com/blog/want-slowly-kill-content-google-simply-use-directory-structure-dates/

SERP

Meta Description

It’s a sales pitch for your content for humans.

SERP

Meta Description

● It’s not a ranking factor● Support title with related keywords● Google can override it● Use around 140-150 character● Include call to action● If not written, it’s auto-generated

????

https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/search-analytics

SERP

Checking CTR Of Your Pages

https://yoast.com/wordpress/plugins/seo/

SERP

Helpful Tool

Yoast SEO

SERP

Your Checklist

1. Page Title:a. Unique and compellingb. Under 60 characters c. Includes keyword

2. Domain Name:a. Short, unique and brandable b. Use a domain extension to match location and

audience3. URLs:

a. Readable, short and informative b. Use dashes and avoid dates

4. Meta description:a. Unique and enticingb. Under 150 characters c. Include a call to action

User Experience (UX)

UX

Banned Interstitials From Mobile

https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2016/08/helping-users-easily-access-content-on.html

Pop-ups

Pop-up overlays

Substantial above-the-fold ad banner

UX

Allowed Interstitials

https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2016/08/helping-users-easily-access-content-on.html

Cookie usage

Age verification

Above-the-fold layout banner

UX

Mobile-Friendly Pages

85% of pages in mobile search results are

mobile-friendly

https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2016/08/helping-users-easily-access-content-on.html

UX

Mobile-Friendly Pages

Test your website and fix all identified issues:● Mobile-Friendly Test Tool● Search Console - Mobile Usability● Google Analytics > Audience > Mobile >

Devices (look for high Bounce Rate)

UX

Page-Load Time

https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2010/04/using-site-speed-in-web-search-ranking.html

“40% of people abandon a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load.”

Kissmetrics

UX

Page-Load Time

Free Website Optimisation Tools:

● W3 Total Cache (caching)● Cloudways (CDN)● EWWW Image Optimizer (image

compression)● Rocket Lazy Load (image loading)● Plugin Organizer (optimising usage of

plugins)● Autoptimize (code minification and

concatenation)

Free Performance Testing Tools:

● PageSpeed Insights● Gtmetrix● WebPageTest

UX

Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)

https://www.ampproject.org/

They makes your content load almost instantly on mobile devices

UX

Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)

https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2016/09/what-is-amp.html

“Later this year, all types of sites that create AMP pages will have expanded exposure across the entire Google Mobile Search results page, like e-commerce, entertainment, travel,

recipe sites and many more.”

Google

UX

Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)

AMP label

UX

Ads

If most of the visible area on your site is occupied by advertisements, this might have a negative

effect on your ranking in search engines.

https://search.googleblog.com/2012/01/page-layout-algorithm-improvement.html

UX

Hidden Content

Search engines devalue a hidden portion of your content.

Keep your important content visible.

UX

Comments

Google gives the lowest Quality Page score to pages with spammy comments or forums

discussion. They are easy to recognize and may include Ads, download, or other links.

http://static.googleusercontent.com/media/www.google.com/en//insidesearch/howsearchworks/assets/searchqualityevaluatorguidelines.pdf#page=39

UX

Images

All images should have be described in an "alt" attribute and should have distinct

filename to help visually impaired people and the search engines understand how they

support the rest of the content on the page.

https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/www.google.com/de//webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdf#page=18

Alt tag: A handcrafted jade bracelet with large turquoise beads and a gold pendant charm.File name: handcrafted-turquoise-jade-bracelet.jpg

UX

Your Checklist

1. Avoid pop-ups, especially on mobile versions of a website.

2. Double check that a website works well on all important mobile devices

3. Make the page load as fast as possible4. Create AMP pages5. Avoid putting too many ads on your page6. Avoid hiding content behind tabs and accordions7. Spammy comments needs to be removed from all

pages8. All images should be described in the alt attribute

and have distinct file name

Technical

TECHNICAL

Internal Links

Internal links pass reputation between pages.

They also help users find relevant content on your website.

They help the search engines:● understand relationships between your pages● discover the new pages● identify important pages● understand the structure of your site

TECHNICAL

Duplicate Content

There is no a duplicate content penalty.

However, the duplicate content dilutes ranking ability of your pages.

TECHNICAL

Duplicate Content

Page with duplicate content Page without duplicate content

TECHNICAL

Duplicate content

Full Duplication● WWW vs. non-WWW● HTTP vs. HTTPS● Printer friendly page

Partial Duplication● Across site● Boulder plate● Comments pagination

Cross site● Full duplication● Partial duplication

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxCAVmXfVyI

TECHNICAL

Duplicate Content

Quality content that ranks well

Quality content that ranks poorly

Thin pages

Duplicate pages

TECHNICAL

Crawling budget

https://moz.com/blog/diagrams-for-solving-crawl-priority-indexation-issues

TECHNICAL

Crawling budget

Number of pages that will be crawled and indexed depends on:

● Authority of your website● Page-load● Valid/Invalid HTML● Duplicate content● Redirect chains

TECHNICAL

Redirects chains

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQCrRwTjkO8

Google may stop following your link after 4-5 redirects in a row

301 301 301 301

Removal + Redirect rel=canonical

canonical

TECHNICAL

Solutions Fully Duplicate Content Issue:

301

TECHNICAL

Redirects

Redirect 301 (permanent) - it tells search engines that “this is the new page for good”

Redirect 302 (temporarily) - “this page is just for now. Soon, I will have a new page”

TECHNICAL

Redirects

https://www.seroundtable.com/google-3xx-redirect-no-loss-22439.html

TECHNICAL

Redirects

However, tests have shown that converting 302 to 301 and 301 to 200

still improves pages’ ranking.

Rand Fishkin, Nicholas Chimonas

Redirect to a not relevant page Redirect to a relevant page

redirect

TECHNICAL

Redirects to relevant pages

redirect

TECHNICAL

Sitemap for robots

● It helps search engines quickly discover new pages

● It helps notify search engines of updated pages

● It helps with including your product images in image search results

TECHNICAL

Submit your sitemap

https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/sitemap-list

TECHNICAL

Sitemap for humans

Sitemap• Home

• Services

• Web Design• Web Development• Website Maintenance• Graphic Design• Pay-Per-Click Campaigns• Search Engine Optimisation

• Clients

• Clientele• Testimonials• Feedback

• Jobs

• Contact Us

• Request a Quote• Contact Info

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi5DGOu1uA0

• Portfolio • Web Design• Web Solutions• Ecommerce• Web Applications• Search Campaigns• Display Campaigns• YouTube Campaigns• Facebook Campaigns• SEO• Logos• Business Cards• Flyers and Brochures

It provides an alternative means for visitors to your web site to find what

they're looking for.

TECHNICAL

Crawlable files (JavaScript and CSS)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9BWbruCiDc

To effectively crawl your pages and fully understand what’s on them, Google needs to be able to crawl all the files that build them up. Don’t block your JavaScript and CSS files from search engines.

TECHNICAL

Crawlable files (JS and CSS)

https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/roboted

TECHNICAL

Fetch and render your important pages

https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/googlebot-fetch

1. Fetch and render page

2. View the rendered page

TECHNICAL

Fetch and render your important pages

4. After fixing all issues, re-submit page to be indexed

3. Check does Google see all content on your page

TECHNICAL

HTTPS

● Defend users against man-in-the-middle attacks

● The green lock icon in the browser bar increases trust in your website

https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2014/08/https-as-ranking-signal.html

TECHNICAL

Your Checklist

1. Remove and redirect or add rel=canonical to fully duplicate content.

2. Avoid using redirect chains that are longer than 3 redirects.

3. Whenever you can replace 302 redirect with 301, and 301 redirect with a normal link.

4. Add a sitemap for robots5. Add a sitemap for humans6. Make sure that all JavaScript and CSS files are crawlable

by the search engines7. Apply HTTPS to your website

Thank You

Marcin KilarskiWebInnovation.ie

Twitter: @marcinkilarski Email: marcin@webinnovation.ie WordPress Slack: @marcin