Today, it’s not enough to have a nice-looking website. You need to build SEO into your web design to make sure it can compete in search engines from the get-go. Unfortunately, ignoring this step can cause bigger problems down the road, and more time and money fixing them.

In this article, I’ll cover 10 SEO-friendly web design rules to live by, including:

• Creating a process for SEO-friendly web design
• 1. Deciding on the Content Focus
  • Informational
  • Transactional
  • Both informational and transactional
• 2. Choosing keywords
• 3. Using header tags
• 4. Making page code clean
• 5. Organizing the assets
• 6. Naming files
• 7. Having a dynamic site
• 8. Creating a strong, SEO-friendly site navigation
• 9. Implementing a site search
• 10. Including media and optimizing it
• Bonus tip: Site redesigns
• Final thoughts
• FAQ: How can I incorporate SEO-friendly web design principles to ensure my website ranks higher in search engines?

Creating a Process for SEO-Friendly Web Design

For those who have ever been involved in a website design or redesign, I see you. I know how challenging it can be to get to the other side.

Every color, image, word, link and video are scrutinized like never before.

And because many of the people involved don’t have SEO expertise, it’s our job as SEO advocates to make sure some of the most important SEO-friendly web design rules are incorporated.

That is why creating a website design process that has SEO baked into it is key. The first step? Make sure SEO has a seat at the table in the very first design meeting.

The next step: Create documentation that summarizes what everyone needs to consider and how to do it so that anyone working on the site can see the big picture of how SEO fits in before they start working on their portion of the project.

This allows for plenty of discussion on the best way to do things before the process begins.

Read more: 5 Steps to SEO Project Management Bliss

1. Deciding on the Content Focus

First, you need to understand the site’s primary focus. This will influence how you organize your site and your keyword research.

The three major types are:

• Informational
• Transactional
• A mix of both

Informational

Any site with a primary goal of providing information is informational. This applies to everything from recipe sites and B2B websites to sites about hobbies or educational topics and everything in between.

Transactional

A site with a primary goal of enabling purchases is an e-commerce site, and those are transactional.

Both Informational and Transactional

Many sites mix informational and transactional content. For example, influencers who blog may have content reviewing products that they then link to. A clothing site may also have information on fashion and how to pick clothes.

2. Choosing Keywords

Keyword research is part of SEO-friendly design because it influences things like site navigation and how you organize your website’s content (more on that later).

Keywords help you focus on the topic on each webpage that will be featured on your site. If you’re starting from scratch, this is straightforward.

If you are redesigning an existing site, you can run a ranking monitor tool to help you discover what keywords are already running. This will tell you if a page already ranks for a particular keyword.

If so, you’d designate that page as the main page for that keyword.

You can remove other unrelated keywords from that page, ensuring the primary keyword is front and center. You can keep a few related keywords on the page as supporting phrases for the topic.

Once you have your keywords, make sure the main keywords (and supporting when relevant) show up in the:

• Title tag
• Meta descriptions
• Headings on the page
• Throughout the body of the page, the content

Read more: What Are Meta Tags?

3. Using Header Tags

Heading tags organize the content on a webpage. They help both search engines and website visitors get a better understanding of what the page is about.

That is because they act as a table of contents, guiding readers and crawlers through the sections and subsections of the content.

This helps search engines to quickly understand and index the content. In addition, using heading tags strategically can increase the likelihood of your content being featured in the search results (position zero).

When setting up heading tags, it’s important to maintain a clear hierarchy. Start with an H1 tag for your main topic and use H2, H3 and so on for sections and subsections.

Each tag should provide a clear and concise headline for the content it precedes, and it’s essential to include relevant keywords to enhance your SEO.

It’s important to know that SEO best practices around heading tags are based on years of experience and research; sometimes, these best practices contrast with what Google says.

For example, Google says this of heading tags:

If for nothing else than the user experience, using heading tags in the proper order is key.

However, we also know that every little bit counts in the competitive search results. If we can make our site the least imperfect compared to the competition, we do.

Read more: What Are Heading Tags?

4. Making Page Code Clean

The code serves as the building blocks for your website. It is what the search engines “read” to understand the site’s content.

The goal is to keep the code “clean” so that search engines can easily crawl, understand and index the content.

What does clean code look like? Using as little on-page markup as possible allows search engines to get to the page’s most important content immediately. It avoids things like “code bloat.”

Some ways you can achieve clean code include:

• Using an external CSS file to define the look of your website versus inline formatting has advantages, including the ability to have one source that controls the entire look of the website. You can also remove inline formatting in exchange for a CSS tag that dictates style elements, which reduces the code on the page. Less code means pages are smaller, and smaller pages load faster. Speed is an important user experience and ranking factor.
• Moving JavaScript code to an external JS file. Having a JS file means you have a single line of code on the page that calls the JS file versus having a ton of code on the page. Much like an external CSS file, a JS file reduces the size of a page.
• Removing extraneous tags on the page that may have been collected over the years, such as when copying and pasting content from another older webpage or when a page has a lot of history.

When you’re ready to clean up your code, you can use things like Notepad, HTML Tidy or Dirty Markup to streamline the process.

If you’re aiming for squeaky-clean code, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) develops web standards and guidelines that you can try to follow. But you’ll need to prioritize your efforts based on the resources it will take and its impact on SEO.

Remember that search engines do not require W3C compliance, but it’s not a bad idea because their standards often align with SEO.

5. Organizing the Assets

All of the steps leading up to this one are necessary before you can start organizing the assets on your site.

What does it mean to organize your website assets? This is about finding the assets you want to feature on your new site and discarding the ones you don’t.

Consider any marketing or sales materials you have on hand as an asset that may go on your new site.

Here are some things you will consider as you organize your assets:

• Images
• Videos
• Podcasts
• News coverage
• Blog articles
• Maps

Once you’ve taken stock, it’s time to organize. File all your assets into categories in a place that’s easily accessible to the web development team.

6. Naming Files

As you upload the files to the new site, make sure you follow best practices for naming them. Remember that search engines look at the file name to indicate what’s in the file.

Here, you want to make file names descriptive and simple, separating words with hyphens. What is the most concise way to describe the file, and can you include an important keyword?

If you’re uploading an image of a house, you might name it as single-family-ranch-home.jpg.

During this step, you’ll also want to consider how you will name assets like your page URLs.

Google talks about using descriptive URLs in its SEO Starter Guide:

How you name your files is a key part of SEO siloing, which I’ll cover in another section of this article.

7. Having a Dynamic Site

A dynamic site uses a good, SEO-friendly content management system and template.

Most sites built today will use a CMS. According to W3 Techs, only 31% of sites don’t use one. The bottom line is that you want the engine under the hood to be primed for SEO success.

You need to be able to make important SEO changes to the site with ease. And if you can’t do that with your current CMS, don’t even start designing a website without a new one.

Some of the things you want to look for include the ability to carry out on-page SEO and technical SEO. This includes things like:

• Customizing HTML templates
• Producing unique meta tags
• The ability to control heading tags
• Responsive themes for mobile
• Blogging capabilities
• The ability to customize URLs
• Managing internal links

… and more.

Of course, WordPress is the most popular content management system. You can choose from endless themes and thousands of plugins, many of them which make WordPress more SEO-friendly.

8. Creating a Strong, SEO-Friendly Site Navigation

One of the most important elements of your site is the navigation. How people and search engines move through your site is critical for both user experience and rankings.

If search engines can’t properly move through your site, they can’t properly index your content.

Most sites will have:

• Top navigation is the navigation elements at the top of the website, reserved for the most important pages.
• Footer navigation, which are the links at the bottom of the website, and contain key reference links (“about us,” etc.).

These are important decisions, and one of the most important is how you will categorize and organize the webpages (content) on the site, which will be the destination for the navigational links.

We refer to this as SEO siloing. SEO siloing is a technique used in search engine optimization that organizes a website’s content into hierarchically structured categories.

These categories group related webpages in a way that mirrors common search behaviors, moving from more generic topics to more specific topics.

By concentrating content around how people search during the entire customer journey, a website can:

• Create a great user experience by providing throughout and complete answers.
• Demonstrate its subject matter expertise, effectively fulfilling the “expertise” aspect of Google’s E-E-A-T criteria.

Read more:

• A Jam-Packed Guide on Internal Linking for SEO
• SEO Siloing: What, Why, How
• How SEO Supports the Customer Journey

9. Implementing a Site Search

Let people easily search for information on your website by including a site search feature.

These little search boxes, usually featured in the upper right corner of a site, allow people to type in a query and find specific information on your site.

There are other benefits, too. You can collect data from your site search on what people are looking for and use that information to fuel your website content strategy. Is there missing information you could be providing?

Make sure that your site search feature works well, though. If not, it could be the last thing people do on your site before they leave, frustrated.

10. Including Media and Optimizing It

An engaging site has media, specifically images and video. Either one of these presents another opportunity to be found in search.

Images should not just be uploaded to the site, they should be optimized. Optimized images on a webpage can rank in Google Search and Google Images.

Videos create another way for your audience to consume content. You have a couple of options for videos on your site:

• You can host videos on your own site.
• You can create and upload to YouTube, and embed them on your site.

Usually, the decision is case-specific and considers the context of the video content. In general, though, creating and hosting videos on YouTube gives your brand the benefit of:

1. Being found in the Google Search results for a query since Google favors YouTube videos in the results over other types of videos like those hosted on a website, and
2. Another opportunity to be found by people searching in the YouTube platform itself.

Read more:

• How to Improve Google Image Search Ranking
• A CMO’s Guide to YouTube SEO

Bonus Tip: Site Redesigns

As one final tip for this article, if you are redesigning a website, make sure you understand the ins and outs of a site migration for the best SEO outcome.

For more, read the SEO Website Migration Guide and watch the on-demand webinar Website Migration Dos and Don’ts to Avoid Disaster.

Final Thoughts

Embracing these 10 SEO-friendly web design tips sets a foundation for your website that prioritizes user experience and search engine visibility. Remember, SEO is not just an add-on but an integral part of the web design process that should be considered right from the planning stage.

Struggling to implement SEO-friendly techniques on your website? Our SEO experts can give you actionable advice to get you better search ranking, more qualified traffic and increased revenue. Schedule a free consultation with us today.

FAQ: How can I incorporate SEO-friendly web design principles to ensure my website ranks higher in search engines?

To get your website to rank high in search engines, you need to incorporate SEO-friendly web design practices.

Let’s go over some key foundational and advanced techniques to consider.

Mobile Optimization: Google prioritizes mobile-friendly sites in its algorithm, so make sure your website design adapts to fit the screen of various mobile devices.

Site Speed: Websites that load quickly usually rank higher because they provide a better user experience. When optimizing your site, use tools like Google’s PageSpeed Insights to locate and fix any speed issues.

Other techniques to improve site loading speed include optimizing your server settings, leveraging browser caching and implementing a content delivery network (CDN).

Clean, Structured Code: Code that is clean and well-structured helps search engine bots crawl your site quickly and efficiently. It also minimizes the chances of running into technical SEO problems. Use semantic HTML tags such as header tags (H1, H2, H3), to organize your content for better readability and SEO.

Image Optimization: When using images, you have to balance file size with image quality. Use correct image formats (.png, .jpg), and compress them to improve loading speed. Be sure to add alt tags to describe what the image is about — this significantly helps search engine crawlers.

Keywords: Strategically place keywords throughout your site. Don’t forget to include them in places like meta tags, title tags, headers and naturally throughout your content. Avoid overstuffing because it can lead to penalties. A well-written meta description can improve click-through rates and potentially increase ranking.

Internal linking distributes page authority across your site, so create a logical link structure that guides users and search engines through your content smoothly.

User Experience (UX): User experience should be a large focus as you design your site. Make your navigation clean and organized so users can get to your pages quickly. Design your site to be visually appealing to reduce bounce rates and increase the amount of time visitors spend on your site.

Content: Quality content remains an essential driver of how well your website ranks. Regularly audit your content and refresh as needed. Search engines reward sites with content that is current, informative and engaging. A content management system (CMS) that supports SEO tools can improve the optimization process.

Use SEO tools like Google Analytics 4, Search Console, or SEOToolSet® to track your SEO efforts. The data and insights from these tools will help you adjust your strategy as necessary.

Step-by-Step Procedure:

1. Ensure your website template or design framework adjusts to display properly across all devices, desktop and mobile.
2. Compress image files, minimize heavy scripts, and consider using lazy loading for images.
3. Use semantic HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript code to keep it clean and easy for search engine crawlers to read.
4. Structure your content accordingly — apply H1 tags for titles, H2 for major sections and so on for better readability.
5. Compress images using tools like TinyPNG, use descriptive alt tags that incorporate relevant keywords and include image dimensions.
6. Strategically place primary/secondary keywords in title tags, meta descriptions, headers and throughout body content.
7. Write compelling meta descriptions of 150-160 characters. Meta descriptions must summarize the content succinctly and should include primary keywords.
8. Create a logical internal link hierarchy that improves user navigation and distributes page authority.
9. Design a website interface that is intuitive, clean and visually appealing. A beautifully designed site improves user engagement, usability and retention.
10. Look for ways to acquire high-quality backlinks through guest blogging, partnerships and influencer marketing.
11. Regularly audit your content and refresh as needed so that is relevant and valuable. Consider choosing a content management system with built-in SEO tools or plugins to streamline the optimization process.
12. Use schema markup to give search engines better clarity about what your site’s content is about.
13. Optimize URLs by making them short and descriptive. Include primary keywords when possible.
14. Set up XML sitemaps and submit them to search engines to improve crawling efficiency.
15. Secure your site by using an SSL certificate to ensure your website is secure. (Also known as HTTPS)
16. If you’re a local business, optimize your site for local SEO. Incorporate local keywords and create a Google My Business profile for better local search visibility.
17. Amplify your content on social media platforms to boost visibility and qualified traffic to your website.
18. Keep track of your site’s performance using tools like Google Analytics 4 or SEOToolSet. Adjust your strategy accordingly.
19. Audit your site regularly to find and fix broken links.
20. Utilize browser caching to improve site speed. This technique stores static files locally on user devices.
21. Implement a content delivery network to distribute your content globally, reduce server load and improve load times.
22. If you’re using a CMS, be sure to use latest version of the platform and your plugins.
23. Use SEO tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, or SEOToolset to identify and fix technical SEO issues.

Follow these strategies as you design your website to increase search ranking, visibility, performance and traffic.

The post 10 SEO-Friendly Web Design Rules To Live By appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

The search engine is often a starting point in the customer journey. In 2023, Klarna reported that 44% of shopping experiences start with a search engine. And BrightEdge research shows 53% of website traffic comes from organic search.

Getting your share of traffic from the search engines is possible with the right SEO strategies. But don’t expect overnight success; SEO takes commitment. And part of that commitment is undertaking technical SEO.

In this article:

Unfortunately, technical SEO is an often overlooked piece of the SEO puzzle.

If you look at Backlinko’s SEO Jobs Report, you’ll find only 23% of employers look for SEOs with technical skills.

At one point in a discussion on Reddit, Google’s Gary Illyes pointed out the fact that SEOs often focus on the wrong things and forget about technical SEO basics:

“i really wish SEOs went back to the basics (i.e. MAKE THAT DAMN SITE CRAWLABLE) instead of focusing on silly updates and made up terms by the rank trackers, and that they talked more with the developers of the website once done with the first part of this sentence.”

So where do we go from here? If sites are hyper-focused on some — but not all — the things that matter, will they compete?

In many cases, no. Google’s growing focus is on the user experience, and one of the major ways you create a good user experience is through how your site performs for visitors.

Google discusses how page experience can factor into ranking here:

“Google Search always seeks to show the most relevant content, even if the page experience is sub-par. But for many queries, there is lots of helpful content available. Having a great page experience can contribute to success in Search, in such cases.”

Technical analysis is a major part of how we help clients at Bruce Clay Inc. realize success. Take, for example, this case study where we used technical SEO as part of the larger strategy to help one client realize a 166% jump in website traffic.

Now that we’ve discussed why it’s important, let’s look closer at what technical SEO is and some best practices you absolutely need to succeed.

What Is Technical SEO?

Imagine you’re building a house. Before the fancy decor or the high-tech gadgets, you need a solid foundation and framework; that’s what technical SEO does.

Technical SEO is optimizing the technical aspects of a website to improve how it performs for both search engines and visitors.

Technical SEO tackles things like how fast the site is, how it renders on different screens, if it is secure, if it’s optimal for search engine crawlers and more.

When you zero in on the tech side of your website, you lay down a solid foundation for all things SEO.

Technical SEO vs. On-Page SEO

While technical SEO focuses on the “back end” of a website to improve performance, on-page SEO hones in on helping webpages be more relevant for a search.

In truth, they work hand-in-hand — everything you do to improve a page can make it more relevant for rankings.

You want each webpage to perform its best, so you layer a great-performing webpage (technical SEO) with things like quality, optimized content (on-page SEO).

To learn more, see Technical SEO vs. On-Page SEO.

Technical SEO: 5 Best Practices You Can’t Ignore

Now let’s explore the five technical SEO best practices you can’t ignore if you want to create a user-friendly and search engine-friendly site:

1. Site structure
2. Core web vitals
3. Mobile-friendliness
4. HTTPS
5. Optimizing a website for crawlers

1. Site Structure: Building a Relevant, Easy-to-Use Site

How your site’s content is organized and how your internal link structure is set up can make your site more authoritative, more relevant for search queries and offer a better user experience.

Google says this about site structure:

“When you’re setting up or redoing your site, it can be good to organize it in a logical way because it can help search engines and users understand how your pages relate to the rest of your site.”

You can use SEO siloing to organize website content based on how people search for it:

• Implement physical siloing by linking webpages through URL structures into directories.
• Use virtual siloing to create informational silos through contextual links and related webpages.

Google explains how organizing content in directories can be helpful:

“If you have more than a few thousand URLs on your site, how you organize your content may have effects on how Google crawls and indexes your site. Specifically, using directories (or folders) to group similar topics can help Google learn how often the URLs in individual directories change.

For example, consider the following URLs:

https://www.example.com/policies/return-policy.html
https://www.example.com/promotions/new-promos.html

The content in the policies directory seldomly changes, however the content in the promotions directory likely changes very often. Google can learn this information and crawl the different directories at different frequencies. To learn more about search-friendly site structures, check out our guide for ecommerce sites, for which a good URL structure is more important as they tend to be larger.”

Internal Linking Best Practices

Your site structure relies on internal links, whether it’s your main navigation, footer links, contextual links or related content links.

An internal link is a link that takes a user from one page on a website to another page on the same website.

Internal links are different from external links, which point to a page on another website from your website. Internal links are also different from inbound links, which point to a page on your website but come from another website.

Your internal links:

• Help users find content.
• Help search engines understand you’re a relevant site for your target keywords.
• Enable search engines to discover more pages.
• Passe link equity between webpages.

Here’s what Google has to say about links:

“Links are a great way to connect your users and search engines to other parts of your site, or relevant pages on other sites. In fact, the vast majority of the new pages Google finds every day are through links, making links a crucial resource you need to consider to help your pages be discovered by Google and potentially shown in search results.”

Internal linking best practices include:

• Auditing existing link structure. Regularly review your internal links using SEO tools like SEOToolSet, Screaming Frog, Ahrefs, Semrush or Google Search Console. Look for broken links, redirects, pages with no links and click-depth issues.
• Establishing click depth. Keep the number of clicks it takes to reach important pages from the homepage to a minimum, ideally no more than three. This makes it easier for both users and search engines to find and navigate your site’s key content.
• Only linking to important pages from the homepage. Only linking to important pages from the homepage helps distribute link equity and reinforce the importance of those pages to search engines.
• Using breadcrumb links. Breadcrumb links show users the path they took to reach the current page. They improve navigation and help users understand the structure of your site.
• Using anchor text wisely. Anchor text is the clickable text of a link. Use descriptive and relevant anchor text that provides users and search engines with context about the linked page’s content. Avoid generic phrases like “click here.”
• Using nofollow attributes as needed. Use the rel=”nofollow” attribute for links to pages like sponsored content, affiliate links or user-generated content. This tells search engines not to pass authority from your site to the linked page.
• Managing 404s. Monitor your site for 404 errors (page not found) and fix them by redirecting broken links to relevant pages. A custom 404 page can also help users navigate your site when they encounter a broken link.
• Managing internal links. Regularly review and update your internal linking strategy as your site grows and evolves. Add new internal links to relevant content, remove broken links and ensure your internal linking structure aligns with your SEO goals.

2. Core Web Vitals: Enhancing User Experience

Core web vitals (CWV) are a set of metrics that measure the load performance (how fast a page renders), interactivity (how quickly someone can interact with the page) and visual stability of a website (so there are no unexpected shifts).

CWVs are part of Google’s ranking algorithm, though how much weight they hold is up for debate.

Regardless of speculation, getting these right improves the site experience, which can definitely have an impact on how you perform in the search results and with your target audience.

Take, for example, all the data found on this page that shows the impact of web performance on user experience and business metrics.

As with many other ranking factors, think of CWV as that extra competitive edge. If all other sites are mostly equal, but one site is better at performing, which do you think will rank?

Google’s John Mueller stated on Reddit that CWV was more than just a “tie-breaker,” following up with some excellent advice:

“It is a ranking factor, and it’s more than a tie-breaker, but it also doesn’t replace relevance. Depending on the sites you work on, you might notice it more, or you might notice it less. As an SEO, a part of your role is to take all of the possible optimizations and figure out which ones are worth spending time on. Any SEO tool will spit out 10s or 100s of “recommendations”, most of those are going to be irrelevant to your site’s visibility in search. Finding the items that make sense to work on takes experience.

The other thing to keep in mind with core web vitals is that it’s more than a random ranking factor, it’s also something that affects your site’s usability after it ranks (when people actually visit). If you get more traffic (from other SEO efforts) and your conversion rate is low, that traffic is not going to be as useful as when you have a higher conversion rate (assuming UX/speed affects your conversion rate, which it usually does). CWV is a great way of recognizing and quantifying common user annoyances.”

3. A Mobile-Friendly Website: Performing on All Screens

Mobile traffic accounts for about half of the web traffic worldwide.

And because mobile traffic is growing and a mobile-friendly site is good for users, mobile friendliness is a ranking signal, and Google officially switched to mobile-first indexing.

There’s a lot that goes into having a solid mobile-friendly site. And there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. To ensure your site is mobile-friendly, follow these basic steps:

• Learn about mobile-friendly best practices. Review Google’s mobile-friendly guide and other resources to understand best practices. Consider consulting with an experienced SEO professional for guidance on making good choices.
• Test your site. Use tools like Google’s Lighthouse to uncover data on mobile-friendliness.
• Implement changes. Address the main issues uncovered in the testing phase to improve mobile friendliness. In terms of website configurations, responsive web design is often the easiest to create and maintain.

To learn more, including common mistakes to avoid, check out my article on mobile-friendly sites.

4. HTTPS: Enhanced Security for Peace of Mind

A vast majority of websites already deploy HTTPS (which stands for “hypertext transfer protocol secure”) – but if you’re in the 15% or so that currently doesn’t, it’s a non-negotiable.

HTTPS is a protocol that encrypts data sent between a user’s browser and your website, making it much harder for hackers to intercept sensitive information like passwords or credit card numbers.

But HTTPS isn’t just important for security; it’s also a ranking factor in Google’s algorithm. Back in 2014, Google announced that HTTPS would be used as a ranking signal, giving a small boost to sites that use the protocol.

Since then, Google has become more serious about HTTPS; in July 2018, Chrome began marking all HTTP sites as “not secure.” You can imagine what a warning sign like that could do for your traffic let alone conversions.

HTTPS is constantly evolving, and every new version can offer benefits like better security and performance. So if you want to improve your site’s security and traffic, and possibly give your rankings a boost, implementing HTTPS is a no-brainer.

If you need to migrate to HTTPS, follow the steps outlined by Google here, and check out my article on HTTPS for pitfalls to avoid.

5. Optimizing a Website for Crawlers: Enhanced Search Engine Experiences

Besides getting your content out there for the world to see, you’ve got room to tweak things a bit and make it easier for search engines to find and understand what you’re putting online.

This involves optimizing how search engine bots interact with your site, ensuring they can crawl and index your pages quickly and efficiently.

Some techniques to improve crawl efficiency include:

• Having an XML sitemap. Search engines use an XML sitemap to discover and index your pages. Sitemaps help improve the crawlability and visibility of your site. Read more: What is an XML Sitemap and How Do I Make One?
• Using the robots.txt file to control bot access. Robots.txt is a text file placed at the root of a website that tells search engine bots which pages not to crawl. This is known as the robots exclusion protocol. However, it does not guarantee that excluded URLs won’t be indexed, as search engine spiders can still find them through links from other pages or past indexing. Read more: What Is robots.txt?
• Implementing canonical tags to avoid duplicate content issues. The canonical link element helps solve duplicate content issues because it signals to search engines like Google which webpage is the original or best pick out of a group of pages that are duplicate or near duplicate. For more, see: How to Use the Canonical Link Element for Duplicate Content.
• Minimizing redirect chains and loops. Redirect chains occur when a URL redirects to another URL, which then redirects to a third URL and so on. This can slow down page loading times and confuse search engine bots. Redirect loops, on the other hand, happen when two or more URLs redirect to each other in a loop, causing crawlers to get stuck and preventing pages from being indexed properly.
• Monitoring and resolving crawl errors. Crawl errors occur when search engine bots encounter issues while crawling and indexing a website. Common crawl errors include 404 not found errors, 5xx server errors and DNS lookup failures. Monitor crawl errors regularly and resolve them quickly to ensure that search engines can index your site, and you can provide a better user experience for visitors.

Final Thoughts

Technical SEO is a critical aspect of any website’s optimization strategy. By incorporating technical SEO best practices into your overall SEO strategy, you can build a strong foundation for your website’s success in the search results and with users.

Our SEO experts can help you make sense of technical SEO. They can make recommendations on how to implement the right technical SEO best practices that will get the most results from your SEO campaign. Schedule a free 1:1 consultation with us today.

FAQ: How can I effectively implement technical SEO to enhance my website’s performance and rankings?

Technical SEO involves optimizing your website so that it loads fast, renders properly, provides a good user experience and more. It is a driving force in how well your website performs for users and search engines.

Here’s how you can effectively implement it to improve your website and search engine ranking.

Website architecture: An important part of technical SEO is making your website’s architecture organized and clean. When your website is well-structured, it makes it easier for search engines to crawl and helps users easily navigate it. Establish a clear hierarchy with clean URLs, and it’s a good idea to include an XML sitemap. The goal is to make your webpages easily reachable — the less clicks it takes for users to get to your webpages, the better.

Page speed: Page speed is a huge part of technical SEO, and it has become a major ranking factor for search engines. Fast-loading pages provide a better user experience and tend to rank higher on SERPs. You can improve your page speed loading times by optimizing images, browser caching and minimizing your JavaScript and CSS code. It’s a good idea to use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to get insights and recommendations to improve your site speed.

Mobile optimization: Another key aspect of technical SEO is mobile optimization. Google has moved to mobile-first indexing, which means that search engines prioritize the mobile versions of webpages for ranking. Optimizing your site to be mobile friendly improves user experience, page speed, and gives users the same experience across a wide variety of devices. You can test how well your site performs on mobile devices through the Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test.

HTTPS: HTTPS protocol makes your website secure and also helps to establish trust. Visitors want to know that any personal or payment information they provide will be kept safe. Sites using HTTPS are preferred over non-secure sites by search engines because they offer encrypted communication that protects data integrity and user information. Implementing SSL/TLS certificates is a straightforward process that adds another layer of security.

Duplicate content: Duplicate content is a very common problem that can harm website ranking. Canonical tags should be used to tell search engines what version of a webpage you prefer. And to consolidate duplicate pages, use 301 redirects. Google Search Console can help you identify and fix any duplicate content issues.

Structured data: Structured data is a very useful tool in technical SEO. It enhances the appearance of a search engine listing and adds rich information to help searchers make a decision, which can improve click-through rates (CTR). Implement schema markup to improve your site’s SERP appearance and give search engines more context/details about your webpage content.

These technical SEO tips will help improve your website performance and your search engine ranking.

Step-by-Step Procedure

1. Audit your site: Use SEO tools like Screaming Frog or SEOToolSet® to run a thorough site audit and find any technical issues.
2. Fix crawl errors: Use Google Search Console to find and fix any crawl errors, including 404 pages and server errors.
3. Optimize site architecture: Your website must have a logical structure with a clear hierarchy. Create an XML sitemap and submit it to search engines.
4. Improve page speed: Evaluate your site’s speed with tools like Google PageSpeed Insights. Optimize images by compressing image files and using the correct file format. Implement browser caching and reduce CSS/JavaScript code.
5. Mobile optimization: Give your website a responsive design so that it displays and performs as intended across mobile devices. Use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to check performance.
6. Implement HTTPS: Make your site secure with SSL/TLS certificates. Convert to HTTPS.
7. Manage duplicate content: Avoid duplicate content problems by using canonical tags and 301 redirects. The content on each of your pages must be unique and valuable to increase your chances of ranking.
8. Schema markup: Mark up your pages with schema markup to boost your SERP appearance. You can verify your markup with Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool.
9. Improve URL structure: Use clean, descriptive URLs that incorporate your target keywords. Do not use long, complex URLs.
10. Internal linking: Use logical internal links to improve user experience and crawlability.
11. Fix broken links: Regularly audit your site to find broken links and promptly fix them.
12. Optimize Robots.txt: Check your robots.txt file to make sure it guides search engine crawlers appropriately and does not inadvertently block important pages.
13. Regularly update content: Search engines reward sites with fresh, helpful content. Review your content regularly and update it as needed to keep its value and relevance.
14. Monitor backlinks: Use SEO tools like Ahrefs or SEOToolset to track your backlink profile and remove any links that may be harmful to your site.
15. Implement AMP: You may want to consider implementing Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) to further improve page loading speed.
16. Reduce server response time: Ensure a fast server response time by either optimizing your server settings or switching to a faster hosting provider.
17. Breadcrumb navigation: Use breadcrumb navigation to improve user experience and help search engine better understand your website structure.
18. Set up canonical URLs: Define canonical URLs to prevent duplicate content issues.
19. Use lazy loading: If you have any content like images or videos that are not essential, implement lazy loading to defer their loading. This will improve your page speed.
20. Implement pagination: If your website includes large lists of content, use proper pagination to improve efficiency.
21. Track technical SEO metrics: Regularly monitor your technical SEO performance with tools like Google Analytics and Search Console.
22. Update plugins and themes: Using WordPress or some other kind of CMS? Keep your plugins and themes updated to avoid security vulnerabilities.
23. Regularly audit your technical SEO: Perform SEO audits regularly to ensure all elements are optimized and identify issues that must be addressed.

The post 5 Technical SEO Best Practices You Can’t Ignore appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

Driving traffic to your website is one thing. Retaining that traffic is quite another. Your bounce rate is important because bounce rate tells you how much traffic going to your site does not leave quickly.

In other words, it is a measure of the traffic that you are retaining for any given webpage or marketing initiative.

In this article, I will cover common FAQs about bounce rate and what you can do to improve it.

• What is Bounce Rate?
• Why Is Bounce Rate Important to SEO?
• Bounce Rate vs. Exit Rate
• What Is a Good Bounce Rate?
• How to Improve Bounce Rate
• FAQ: What strategies can I implement to reduce the bounce rate and boost engagement on my webpages?

What Is Bounce Rate?

Bounce rate is a metric in web analytics tools that measures the percentage of people who leave a webpage / the website quickly if not immediately after visiting it. This exit usually happens within seconds and represents people who do not visit any other page on the site from there.

Google’s official definition of a bounce rate is as follows:

“A bounce is a single-page session on your site. In Analytics, a bounce is calculated specifically as a session that triggers only a single request to the Analytics server, such as when a user opens a single page on your site and then exits without triggering any other requests to the Analytics server during that session.

Bounce rate is single-page sessions divided by all sessions, or the percentage of all sessions on your site in which users viewed only a single page and triggered only a single request to the Analytics server.

These single-page sessions have a session duration of 0 seconds since there are no subsequent hits after the first one that would let Analytics calculate the length of the session.”

Some analytics tools may calculate bounce rate differently from one another, so it’s worth understanding how the analytics you are using defines and calculates your website’s bounce rate.

Why Is Bounce Rate Important to SEO?

If you have a higher-than-normal bounce rate on your site and its webpages, you are wasting opportunity and money.

As it relates to SEO in particular, SEO drives traffic to a website. What you are able to do with that traffic comes next. Bounce rate is an indicator that your website is either not providing a good user experience or not delivering on the intent of the search that brought a visitor there.

When your webpages and their content grab the visitor, give them what they want and then offer them more ways to engage with things they might like, you increase your chances of retaining that traffic and getting conversions.

To put bounce rate into perspective:

• If the bounce rate is 80 percent, that means you retain 20 percent of your traffic to a webpage.
• If the bounce rate is 70 percent, that means you retain 30 percent of your traffic to a webpage.
• A 10% reduction in bounce rate could mean a 50% increase in conversions, so minimizing bounce rate is critical.

Related: It’s Not the Job of SEO to Make a Pig Fly

Bounce Rate vs. Exit Rate

Exit rate calculates the percentage of people that left a particular webpage after visiting more than one page a website.

For example, if someone visits the website on Webpage A and leaves right away, that would be considered a bounce. But, if someone views Webpage A, then goes to Webpage B and leaves the website on Webpage B, the exit rate would measure the people who left on Webpage B.

Webpage A > Exit = Bounce rate measured on Webpage A
Webpage A > Webpage B > Exit = Exit rate measured on Webpage B

Of course, it is slightly more complicated than this, and you can get into the details of how Google Analytics calculates exit rate versus bounce rate by checking out their explanation here.

What Is a Good Bounce Rate?

Bounce rate can vary by industry, channel, type of webpage/content, device and more. Industry research can give us averages, but each website will be different.

For example, data from CXL gives the following insights on bounce rate by website type:

By industry:

And by channel/industry:

Rather than relying on industry data, though, get a benchmark of bounce rates on your website and then make incremental improvements to the pages to try and get the bounce rate lower.

In Google Analytics 4, you can drill down into the data to show bounce rate for different scenarios, which can be helpful for solving specific problems.

You’ll most likely need to customize each report to add the bounce rate metric. To do that, go to a report like Traffic Acquisition: Life cycle > Acquisition > Traffic Acquisition.

Click the “Customize report” icon in the upper right section.

Under Report Data, click Metrics. If you don’t see “Bounce rate” in the list, you can add it by scrolling down to the bottom of the list, clicking into the “Add metric” field and typing in “bounce rate.” Select the option, then click the blue Apply button to add it to your report.

To see the bounce rate per source/medium pair, click the Session primary…Channel Group dropdown just below the search bar and select Session source/medium.

You can also see the bounce rate in your Audience report: User > User attributes > Audiences

And you can check bounce rates for individual pages: Life cycle > Engagement > Pages and screens

How to Improve Bounce Rate

The best way to improve the bounce rate of any given webpage is to start figuring out the possible causes of a high bounce rate. Each webpage will have a different set of circumstances.

You will need to look at the whole picture, analyze how people are getting to the page and what they are getting when they land on it. Analytics tools can give you more data on the webpage as available to help rule out other problems, for example, speed issues.

Other than that, study the content and the layout of the webpage — is it delivering on the intent of the place where the visitor came from (i.e. an email campaign, the organic search results, paid search, etc.)?

Is it offering a good and easy user experience? Can people easily complete a task or find what they are looking for?

You should also go through an SEO checklist to make sure the webpage is properly optimized in a way that keeps people on the page.

Are bounces affecting your conversions? Our SEO experts can help solve the problem. Schedule a free consultation today.

FAQ: What strategies can I implement to reduce the bounce rate and boost engagement on my webpages?

High bounce rates can lead to low engagement and lost opportunities. To help you overcome this challenge, here are some strategies to help you retain visitors and encourage them to actively engage with your content.

Compelling and Relevant Content: To keep visitors engaged, provide high-quality content that captivates their interest. Ensure your content is relevant, informative and engaging to increase the chances of users staying longer on your webpages.

Visual Appeal: Utilize visually appealing elements such as eye-catching images, videos, infographics and well-designed layouts. This will enhance the user experience and make your content more enticing.

Streamlined Website Design: A cluttered and confusing website can lead to high bounce rates. Optimize your website’s design to ensure it is user-friendly, intuitive and easy to navigate. Simplify your menus and incorporate clear calls-to-action.

Faster Load Times: Slow-loading pages can frustrate visitors and cause them to leave. Optimize your website’s speed by compressing images, minimizing plugins and using caching techniques. This will create a seamless browsing experience for your users.

Mobile-Friendly Design: With the majority of internet users accessing content on mobile devices, it is essential to have a responsive website design. Ensure your webpages are mobile-friendly and provide a seamless experience across different devices.

Enhance Readability: Make your content easy to read by using clear headings, subheadings, bullet points and short paragraphs. Additionally, choose fonts and colors that are visually appealing and optimize text size for easy reading.

Internal Linking: Strategically add internal links within your content to guide users to related articles or pages on your website. This encourages them to explore more of your content, reducing bounce rates.

Engage with your Audience: Encourage comments, feedback and social media sharing to foster a sense of community and interaction. Respond promptly to comments and engage with your audience to build trust and encourage return visits.

These strategies will ensure users stay on your website, increasing the chances of converting them. Remember to monitor and analyze website metrics regularly to identify areas for improvement.

Step-by-Step Procedure:

1. Create compelling and relevant content that captivates your audience’s interest.
2. Utilize visually appealing elements like images, videos and infographics to enhance the user experience.
3. Simplify your website’s design, making it easy for users to navigate.
4. Optimize your website’s speed by compressing images, minimizing plugins and using caching techniques.
5. Ensure your webpages are mobile-friendly and responsive.
6. Use clear headings, subheadings, bullet points and short paragraphs for improved readability.
7. Strategically add internal links to guide users to related content.
8. Foster community engagement by encouraging comments, feedback and social media sharing.

The post What Is Bounce Rate? A Quick Primer appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

That’s what ecommerce SEO does for your online store. It sets up your products to be found easily by shoppers searching online.

But ecommerce sites face unique challenges versus their B2B counterparts. So you might be wondering if and how SEO works on an ecommerce site.

The good news is that SEO is for every website — it addresses the specific needs of an ecommerce site to help increase its visibility in the search results and boost conversions.

In this article, I’ll go over the basics of SEO ecommerce, why it’s important and how to get started. By implementing the ideas in this list, you can help ensure people don’t just find you, but they stick around long enough to shop.

What Is Ecommerce SEO?

Ecommerce search engine optimization is the process of optimizing an online store to improve its visibility and organic rankings in the search engine results pages.

This is in contrast with digital ads, for example, where you pay to play in the search engine results.

With ecommerce SEO, the focus is predominantly adapting the website strategy to the transactional (sales) intent of people’s search engine queries, and to an audience that’s ready to buy.

Ecommerce SEO techniques include a mix of on-page, technical and off-page optimizations.

Keep in mind that each website and business is unique, and that SEO is a complex process that involves hundreds of interdependent variables.

Therefore, SEO best practices do exist for ecommerce sites, and we also customize strategies for each individual ecommerce site.

Why Is Ecommerce SEO Important?

If you’re in the business of ecommerce, you are likely no stranger to paying for digital ads.

But what would happen if you turned your ads off tomorrow? The answer is you’d disappear from the search results, never to be seen again.

That is, unless you invested in SEO.

SEO helps you claim more real estate on the search engine results pages (SERPs). And it helps you drive longer term traffic to your website. (See: What Is a Whole-SERP Strategy?)

Ecommerce SEO Makes You Less Dependent on Ads

Without SEO:

1. Online stores may become virtually invisible on SERPs.
2. Ecommerce sites lose significant traffic to competitors.
3. Potential sales are left on the table and growth stagnates.

Don’t get me wrong, pay-per-click ads are almost a necessity in the ecommerce world. Ecommerce brands are expected to spend about $38 billion on digital ads by the end of 2024.

But imagine if you could build up your organic search traffic as well, so you weren’t *so* reliant on digital ads.

Ecommerce SEO Is More Than Product Descriptions

Also consider the different ways you could engage with your target audience when you’re not just driving them to product pages, but other helpful resources.

Remember: SEO is designed to support every stage in the customer journey.

Just see one article in Nordstrom’s content strategy, below:

Ecommerce SEO Is About the User Experience

Once people get to your ecommerce website, you want the experience to be as smooth as possible.

There are already enough hurdles to jump through to get a person to put an item in their cart, and then actually check out with that item. (Considering that shopping cart abandonment hovers at around 70%.)

A poor user experience can cost you conversions. Consider the ski brand Rossignol, which was able to realize a 94% year-on-year lift in conversions by making its site faster.

SEO works to not only draw traffic in, but guide you in how to structure your website for a better user experience.

How Do You Do Ecommerce SEO? 12 Steps

Ecommerce sites stand to benefit from some of the same tried-and-true SEO strategies that benefit any type of site.

But there are also some special SEO tactics reserved just for ecommerce sites.

While there are countless SEO strategies to apply to ecommerce websites, here are 12 to get right:

1. SEO siloing
2. Core web vitals
3. HTTPS
4. A mobile-friendly site
5. Long-tail keywords
6. Helpful, quality content
7. On-page SEO
8. Structured data
9. Handling duplicate content
10. Handling out-of-stock items
11. Google Merchant
12. Reviews

1. SEO Siloing

If you walked into a library and none of the books were categorized, finding the right information would be a disaster. Similarly, you want your site’s content neatly organized for visitors.

An ecommerce website needs to be organized in a manner that is easy for search engines to crawl and understand, and especially easy for users to find what they are looking for.

A user-centric structure goes beyond looks—it ensures every tap leads somewhere worthwhile.

Internal links guiding shoppers like friendly store clerks and clear calls-to-action make sure they don’t have to guess what to do next.

For more, read: What Is SEO Siloing? And see Google’s help file: Help Google understand your ecommerce website structure.

2. Core Web Vitals

Core web vitals (CWV) are a set of recommendations from Google on how to create a better website experience by optimizing key functions of the website – like a health checkup for websites.

CWV measures things like loading performance, ease of interactivity and visual stability during page load time. All of these impact the shopping experience.

We’re living in the age of instant gratification, and patience isn’t exactly our strongest virtue. A sluggish website can cause visitors to bounce faster than you can say “abandoned cart.”

For more, see: Core Web Vitals for SEO: An Overview.

3. HTTPS

It’s almost unheard of these days for an ecommerce site to not have implemented HTTPS, but it’s worth mentioning that it’s a ranking signal in Google’s algorithm.

For more, read: HTTPS for Users and Ranking.

4. A Mobile-Friendly Site

It’s estimated that about 58% of website traffic comes from mobile devices. And, of course, there’s Google’s mobile-first index to contend with.
The necessity of having mobile-friendly ecommerce platforms cannot be overstated. In short, you can’t ignore this important step.

For more, read: The Mobile-Friendly Site.

5. Long-Tail Keywords

Ecommerce is highly competitive, and in many cases, businesses are competing against giants like Amazon, Walmart, Target, etc.

Targeting long-tail keywords with quality, educational content can help businesses that may not have as many resources to compete against the competition.

Focusing on lower volume search terms may seem counterintuitive, but it’s about quality over quantity. These specific phrases can attract highly relevant traffic.
To weave this strategy into your content plan, think like your customer. If someone is looking for “handcrafted vegan leather women’s boots,” that shopper has passed window-shopping mode; they’re ready for action.

For more, see: How to Beat the Giants in the Search Results in 9 Simple Steps.

6. Quality, Helpful Content

Helping your target audience consider your products and guiding them to a decision is critical in ecommerce.

A lot goes into this, taking into consideration things like E-E-A-T, quality content and helpful content.

Writing unique product descriptions is a big factor here. Each product description must tell a story, while weaving in keywords naturally.

Imagine being able to describe a pair of sneakers so vividly that readers can almost feel them on their feet; that’s the level we’re aiming for.

This isn’t just about avoiding duplicate content, but about making every word count towards convincing potential customers they need this item.

7. On-Page SEO

Optimizing category, subcategory and product pages on your site is a foundational SEO tactic for ecommerce. There is a lot you can do here, including adding helpful, optimized content.

For example, title tags and meta descriptions may seem like small fry compared to other elements on your site but think again.

These snippets are essentially your “shop window display” in the SERPs. A solid title tag could mean the difference between someone scrolling past or stopping by.

For more, see: The Always Up-to-Date SEO Checklist and What Are Meta Tags? Why Are They Important? How Do You Do Them?

8. Structured Data

Structured data helps clarify to search engines what the page is about. This helps with relevance when they are determining a match to a query.

Plus, structured data creates rich results in the SERPs, which can attract more attention to your listing versus the competition.

For more, check out What Is Structured Data and Why Is It Important for SEO? And Google’s help file: Include structured data relevant to ecommerce.

9. Handling Duplicate Content

Ecommerce sites are notorious for duplicate content issues.

Whether it’s using generic product descriptions form the manufacturer, getting filter parameters added to URLs, faceted navigation, multiple categories and product pages, or something else, handling duplicate content should be a routine SEO task.

For more, read Is Duplicate Content Bad for Search Engine Rankings?

10. Handling Out-of-Stock Items

One important function of ecommerce SEO is handling out-of-date and out-of-stock products.

For items temporarily out of stock, keep the pages live but update them with information about restocking dates or alternative product recommendations; this way, you can retain page rankings and engage potential customers.

Permanently discontinued products require a different approach. Rather than leaving these pages to result in 404 errors — which can be detrimental for the user experience — put into place 301 redirects towards related products or categories that offer value to potential customers.

This enhances the shopping journey while safeguarding your site’s SEO performance.

Of course, sometimes 404s happen, so having a creative strategy for your 404 pages is also another way to enhance the shopping experience.

For more, see: How to Design a 404 Error Page That Saves a Sale.

11. Google Merchant Center

It’s not required, but uploading product data to Google Merchant Center may help with organic listings including rich results and Google Images.

See the Google help file: Share your product data with Google.

12. Product Reviews

Product reviews written by people with actual experience or knowledge of the product can help ecommerce websites drive more traffic and conversions.

Reviews show real experiences from real people, which can help convince others to buy.

For more, check out Google’s help file: Write high-quality reviews and be sure you understand Google’s product reviews system for ranking.

And also see our article: Is Sentiment an SEO Trust Signal?

Ecommerce sites face unique challenges, but implementing these SEO strategies will help product-focused businesses get more visibility in the search results, and more conversions on your site.

Need more traffic, visibility and conversions from your ecommerce site? Our SEO experts can help you implement strategies that will earn better results. Schedule a free consultation today.

FAQ: How can ecommerce SEO improve my online store’s visibility and organic ranking?

The success of your online stone starts with effective ecommerce SEO. Implement the following strategies to improve your visibility, traffic and ranking.

Understand customer intent: By recognizing the search intent of your potential customers, you can optimize your e-commerce site to provide the most relevant results based on their queries.

Keyword research: Conduct thorough keyword research to identify the most relevant and high-converting keywords for your e-commerce store. Include these keywords strategically in your product titles, descriptions and meta tags to improve organic ranking.

Optimize product descriptions: Well-written and optimized product descriptions not only provide valuable information to your customers but also help search engines understand the context of your products. This increases your chances of ranking higher.

On-page optimization: Ensure that your e-commerce website is search engine friendly by optimizing meta tags, URLs, heading tags and alt text for images. This helps search engines better understand your content, improving visibility and ranking.

User-friendly website structure: A well-structured website with intuitive navigation makes it easier for search engine crawlers to index your pages. Utilize internal linking to further optimize the flow of link equity throughout your site.

Mobile optimization: With the majority of online shoppers using mobile devices, having a mobile-friendly website is essential. Optimize your e-commerce store for mobile devices to improve user experience, boost visibility and boost organic ranking.

Site speed optimization: Website loading speed directly impacts user experience. Optimize your e-commerce store’s performance to ensure fast loading times and smooth browsing.

High-quality content: Creating informative, relevant, original and engaging content around your products or industry not only establishes you as an authority but also attracts organic traffic. Incorporate relevant keywords naturally into your content to optimize for search engines.

Integrate these ecommerce SEO best practices and see how they can improve visibility, traffic and organic ranking for your online store.

Step-by-Step Procedure:

1. Understand your target audience and their search intent.
2. Conduct keyword research to identify relevant keywords for optimization.
3. Optimize product descriptions with targeted keywords.
4. Implement on-page optimization techniques.
5. Ensure a user-friendly website structure and intuitive navigation.
6. Optimize your e-commerce store for mobile devices.
7. Optimize website speed and performance.
8. Create high-quality and informative content.
9. Incorporate keywords naturally into your content.
10. Monitor your website’s performance using analytics tools.
11. Stay current with algorithm changes and adapt your strategies accordingly.
12. Continuously refine and improve your e-commerce SEO strategies.

The post What Is Ecommerce SEO? appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

Successful websites are optimized for both users and search engines. SEO is what brings people to your site, but user experience (UX) is what helps people stay on your site longer, resulting in better ROI. You need both.

Today, we’re going to look at the UX side of this process and how you can take charge of your website’s UX experience.

• Does UX really matter?
• Site speed
• Mobile Optimization
• Content Impact 
• Navigational elements
• Visual stability 
• FAQ: How can I merge SEO and user experience to create a search-friendly, user-centric website? 

Does UX Really Matter?

Absolutely. Google and other prominent search engines use UX as a signal of how popular and interesting a website is for visitors. The longer a person stays on your site, the more likely search engines are to rank your site higher in its search results.

Part of the length of time someone spends on your site is related to the value your site offers from a content and information perspective. The other part is related to how easy they find your site to navigate, how quickly it loads and how appealing it is visually.

For more on improving your user experience, see: 3 Steps to a Better User Experience on Your Site

Site Speed

“I feel the need, the need for speed.” This famous Top Gun quote is particularly applicable for websites that want to boost site rankings and conversions.

Site speed is one of, if not the most important aspect of user experience. If your site loads slowly, people will bail. Who wants to spend extra time waiting for a site to load when there are millions of other sites available on the search page?

When a site takes too long to load, prospective visitors backtrack and head to another site. Because this is the first introduction to your site, you need it to be a good one and a quick one.

You can test your site speed PageSpeed Insights to see where your site falls on speed and other performance metrics like core web vitals.

For more on the importance of website speed, read: How Fast Should My Webpage Be and Why Should I Care?

Mobile Optimization

Most of us use our phones to search the web, order products and services, respond to e-mails, message friends and family, spend time scrolling through social media and so on and so on. The point is that phones are used as often, if not more, than laptops or desktop computers.

Having a seamless experience across devices for visitors is critical. This is where mobile optimization comes into the picture.

Making sure that your website is mobile-responsive is crucial to boosting your SEO. You can achieve this in multiple ways, including:

• Employing responsive design: This automatically adapts your site’s layout to suit various screen sizes.
• Implementing separate mobile URLs: These URLs are tailored specifically for mobile devices, optimizing the experience for mobile users.
• Use Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP): Creating AMP versions of your web pages helps them load faster on mobile devices, enhancing user experience and potentially improving your search engine rankings.

For more on mobile optimization, read:

• Page Experience Matters: The Mobile-Friendly Site
• SEO Guide: Mobile SEO and UX Optimization

Content Impact

Once you have the user’s attention on your site, you want to captivate them with clear, succinct, and valuable content. Users want to quickly find content that resonates with them based on their search query.

To enhance your UX, you want to be smart about how you choose to structure and prioritize your content.

Start with the most critical information at the forefront of the page, followed by supplementary details and culminating with background information. This is the best way to ensure an efficient and rewarding user experience. Make sure that the content is useful, desirable, findable, accessible and credible.

For more on creating quality content, see:

• What is Content Optimization?
• SEO Content Rules To Live By
• What Makes a Webpage Quality?

Navigational Elements

Poor website navigation is a red flag for search engines. The functionality of your menus and headers hold substantial sway over user interactions on your site —  they must provide simplicity and clarity. Otherwise, visitors may find themselves frustrated and leave your site.

When visitors quickly decide to leave your site, your bounce rate rises. A bounce rate is a metric that indicates the percentage of visitors that leave your site after a single-page visit.

A high bounce rate tells Google and other search engines that your site isn’t relevant to the user’s queries and should move further down the ranking list for that query. Secondly, they can dent your click-through rate (CTR), denoting the proportion of people clicking your site’s link from search results.

A low CTR implies to search engines that your page fails to deliver sought-after information.

To optimize menus and headers for superior SEO performance, prioritizing simplicity and user-friendliness is paramount. Moreover, ensuring intuitive navigation pathways and clear labeling will significantly enhance user experience and positively impact SEO metrics.

For more on site navigation and architecture, see:

• SEO Siloing: What, Why, How.
• [E-book] SEO Siloing: How To Create a Relevant Website for Search Engines and Website Visitors

Visual Stability

Maintaining visual consistency is an important part of design and establishing brand recognition. This holds true not only for the website but also for both branding and marketing materials.

Achieving visual consistency can pose challenges but demands attention to both the broader framework and finer details. The layout should remain straightforward yet adaptable to specific elements.

Strategic use of color, typography, and imagery contributes to a unified look that resonates with your audience. Abiding by these principles empowers the creation of enduringly attractive and consistent designs.

Remember, SEO and UX aren’t standalone concepts—they intersect and complement each other. Prioritizing the user while optimizing for search engines is what ultimately leads to a better-performing website.

Time to update your UX and SEO? We can help you create a search-friendly, user-centric website. Schedule a free consultation.

FAQ: How can I merge SEO and user experience to create a search-friendly, user-centric website?

Creating a website that excels in both SEO and user experience is a dynamic endeavor, merging technical finesse with user-centric design. Here’s how to seamlessly blend these elements to craft an exceptional online presence.

Understanding SEO and User Experience
To merge SEO and user experience effectively, comprehend how each aspect functions independently and in unison. SEO enhances visibility, while UX optimizes user interaction and satisfaction.

Keyword Integration with User Intent
Align keywords with user intent to create content that’s not only search engine-friendly but also resonates with your audience. Focus on buyer intent search terms to attract relevant traffic.

Site Architecture and Navigation
Craft a logical site structure that enables easy navigation. Intuitive menus and clear pathways contribute to a user-friendly experience, reducing bounce rates.

Mobile Optimization for Enhanced UX
Given the prevalence of mobile browsing, prioritize mobile responsiveness. Ensure your site looks and functions seamlessly across various devices.

Content Quality and Readability
Engaging, informative content is pivotal. Structure your content logically, optimizing readability and delivering value to visitors.

Speed Optimization for SEO and UX
Site speed matters. Optimize loading times for better SEO rankings and an enhanced user experience.

Visual Appeal and Branding
Consistent design elements contribute to brand recognition. Maintain visual coherence across your website for a lasting impression.

User Feedback and Iterative Improvement

Regularly gather user feedback and data to refine your website continually. Incorporate suggestions to enhance both SEO performance and user experience.

Step-by-Step Guide: Merging SEO and User Experience for an Exceptional Website

1. Understanding the SEO-UX Relationship: Grasp the core concepts of SEO and user experience.
2. Keyword Research with User Intent: Align keywords with user queries for optimized content.
3. Developing Site Architecture: Create a user-friendly site structure and navigation flow.
4. Prioritize Mobile Optimization: Ensure seamless functionality across devices.
5. Content Creation Strategies: Craft engaging and informative content.
6. Optimizing Site Speed: Enhance loading times for better rankings and user satisfaction.
7. Consistent Visual Branding: Maintain a unified design for brand recognition.
8. Continuous Improvement: Gather user feedback and data for iterative enhancements.

Creating a search-friendly, user-centric website involves balancing SEO tactics and user-centric design. By prioritizing both aspects, your website can rank higher while providing a seamless experience for visitors.

The post SEO and UX: A Beginner’s Guide to Creating Search-Friendly, User-Centric Websites appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

Understanding the challenges, preferences, motivations and behaviors of a target audience is the key to a successful SEO campaign.

In this article, we’ll discuss how businesses can tailor an SEO strategy to their audience and optimize their return on investment.

• Audience research is key
• Keyword optimization with audience intent
• Content creation aligned with audience needs
• User experience and technical SEO 
• FAQ: How does keyword optimization contribute to audience-focused SEO?

Audience Research is Key

The first step in understanding your audience is to create detailed customer personas that encompass demographics, preferences, pain points and online behavior.

Gather valuable information through keyword research, social media insights and by using tools like Google Analytics. Armed with this knowledge, you can begin to tailor your messaging, keywords and content directly towards them.

A recent study looking at consumer purchasing habits by CX Network found that 63% of consumers think they are being sold things they don’t need. So why does this matter to you?

Businesses have an opportunity to increase their conversion rate when they do audience research, but most businesses skip this vital step or perform it once every five years.

If you keep up-to-date information on your audience and create clear customer avatars, you can make sure that your marketing content addresses your customer’s pain points clearly. Consumer confidence in your brand will go up — and so will your sales.

Keyword Optimization with Audience Intent

Once you have a grasp of your audience’s preferences, it’s time to focus on keyword optimization.

Instead of solely relying on high-volume keywords, prioritize those that align with your audience’s search intent. Understand the ‘why’ behind their searches. Are they seeking information, looking to make a purchase, or trying to solve a problem?

Develop content around these keywords that addresses the underlying intent to provide real value to your audience.

During this process, it’s also wise to look at your competitors. When do they show up in search queries? What types of searches do customers use when they end up on your competitor’s site?

Understanding when they appear in search results and the specific search queries that lead customers to their websites can provide valuable insights for enhancing your own SEO strategy.

Leverage this competitor data to make informed decisions that will optimize your online visibility and capture a larger share of your target audience.

Content Creation Aligned with Audience Needs

Producing content that aligns with your audience’s needs fosters trust and strengthens your brand connection between them. When your audience finds you helpful, they are more likely to engage with your brand in the form of likes, shares and comments.

Generate articles, blog posts, videos, or infographics that answer their questions and concerns. Regularly monitor, update and refresh your content to keep it current and engaging. This will position your business as an authority in your niche, earning trust and loyalty from your audience.

Search engines will reward you with better rankings, too.

User Experience and Technical SEO

A technically sound website that provides a seamless experience improves SEO rankings and ensures your audience will come back.

Optimize your website so that it is mobile-responsive, loads quickly and is easy for users to find what they are looking for.

Invest in technical SEO to optimize site structure, meta tags and image tags. A fast, user-friendly website will make your audience — and search engines — happy.

A successful SEO strategy starts by understanding your audience’s preferences, behaviors and intent. Following the tips we just outlined will drive organic traffic and convert your visitors into loyal customers.

We can help you figure out how to structure a successful SEO strategy. Reach out to us for a free consultation.

FAQ: How does keyword optimization contribute to audience-focused SEO?

The significance of keyword optimization cannot be overstated. The core essence lies in understanding the nuances of audience behavior and preferences in the online landscape.

Keyword optimization acts as the gateway to seamlessly connect user intent with content relevance, ensuring a harmonious synergy between what the audience seeks and what businesses offer.

Audience research helps businesses gain profound insights into the language and queries used by their target demographic. These insights form the backbone of keyword selection, allowing for the incorporation of highly relevant and resonant terms into content.

This deliberate choice of keywords positions content to organically attract the intended audience, steering traffic towards websites and platforms catering directly to their needs.

Keyword optimization evolves beyond mere word matching — it involves comprehending the context and intent behind the audience’s search queries.

This strategic approach crafts content that not only aligns with specific keywords but also addresses the underlying motives behind the audience’s searches.

It’s about providing solutions, answers and valuable information that precisely cater to their queries, thereby fostering a stronger connection and trust between the audience and the brand.

An insightful tip for effective keyword optimization in audience-focused SEO is the continual refinement of keyword strategies.

Regularly monitoring keyword performance, trends and shifts in audience behavior helps in staying adaptive and responsive.

Adapting keywords to reflect changes in audience preferences ensures that content remains relevant and impactful amidst the dynamic digital landscape.

An effective audience-focused SEO strategy unfolds by transitioning seamlessly between audience research, keyword selection and content creation. Each component works together to form an engaging framework that not only resonates with but also retains your target audience, propelling your businesses toward long-term digital growth and success.

Step-by-Step Procedure

1. Understand Audience Behavior: Conduct thorough audience research to comprehend their preferences, pain points and online behavior.
2. Identify Relevant Keywords: Use insights from research to identify keywords aligned with audience queries and interests.
3. Keyword Analysis: Analyze keyword performance, trends and competition to select optimal keywords.
4. Create Targeted Content: Develop content that seamlessly incorporates chosen keywords while addressing audience needs.
5. Monitor and Refine: Continuously monitor keyword performance and audience behavior, adapting strategies accordingly to maintain relevance and resonance.

The post How Can Businesses Develop an Effective SEO Strategy Based on Their Target Audience? appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

Keyword research is a fundamental aspect of any successful SEO strategy. As it constantly changes, simply compiling keywords will not guarantee success in search engine marketing.

To truly excel, you need to dig deeper and comprehend the search intent behind those keywords.

In this article:

• Understanding the Main Types of Search Intent
• Creating Content That Matches User Expectations
• Enhancing User Experience and Reducing Bounce Rates
• Utilizing Long-Tail Keywords Effectively
• Monitoring and Adapting to Changing Trends
• FAQ: What are the key steps and considerations involved in aligning your content strategy with search intent?

Understanding the Main Types of Search Intent

Search intent can be categorized into four primary types: informational, navigational, commercial and transactional.

Informational intent is when a user seeks knowledge, navigational intent is directed towards finding a specific website or page, commercial intent is directed at a desire to purchase something (service or product), and transactional intent indicates an intention to purchase or take an action. Recognizing which type aligns with your content is critical in selecting the right keywords.

Ensuring that your content corresponds with the search intent behind your target audience’s chosen keywords is a pivotal strategy for reducing bounce rates. It’s essential to select the appropriate page type for each keyword based on the specific intent that the keyword reflects.

For instance, if a user seeks information, avoid directing them to a product page. Conversely, if a searcher employs a high-purchase-intent keyword, it’s counterproductive to present them with an article about your brand’s mission.

Creating Content That Matches User Expectations

Once you’ve identified the search intent, tailor your content accordingly. For example, if the intent is informational, then creating in-depth guides, articles, or tutorials will resonate with users. On the other hand, transactional intent calls for clear and persuasive product pages or calls to action.

Construct your content framework by considering the specific search intent and analyzing the results. This blueprint should encompass a captivating headline, an engaging introduction, a well-defined main body and a powerful conclusion.

The headline’s purpose is to captivate user attention and pique their curiosity while aligning with their search intent. Meanwhile, the introduction must effectively engage readers, outlining what they can expect to gain from your content.

In the main body, you must deliver on the promises, addressing the users’ inquiries or providing solutions to their issues. Lastly, summarize the key takeaways from your content and incorporate a compelling call to action to guide users toward the desired next steps.

Enhancing User Experience and Reducing Bounce Rates

Understanding search intent helps you optimize your website’s user experience. When users find content that aligns with their intent, they are more likely to engage and stay on your site longer. Reduced bounce rates signal to search engines that your content is valuable and relevant, positively impacting your ranking.

Reducing bounce rates across various website page types, such as product pages, collection pages and blogs, hinges on aligning your content with your customers’ search intent. Achieving this necessitates a comprehensive grasp of your customer’s purchasing journey and identifying the queries they must answer to inform their buying choices.

Search intent represents the primary objective of a consumer when utilizing a search engine. Google’s AI-driven algorithm constantly enhances its ability to discern and address the underlying question, “What is the searcher truly seeking?” for each unique search query. Consequently, Google now provides increasingly precise and relevant results that align with the searcher’s needs.

In the context of product-related queries, Google can distinguish between informational and transactional intent, distinguishing whether the user is seeking information or aiming to make a purchase. Simply presenting limited product information on an e-commerce product page falls short of satisfying the user’s search query for informational keywords.

Utilizing Long-Tail Keywords Effectively

Long-tail keywords are often associated with specific search intent. Incorporating these into your keyword research strategy can help you target a more niche audience and provide content that directly addresses their needs.

Long-tail keywords often exhibit reduced search volume, face less competition and come with lower CPCs than single-word search queries.

The increased likelihood of conversion with long-tail keywords arises from their inherent specificity, making it easier to discern the precise intent behind a user’s search. This stands in contrast to single-word queries with high monthly search volume, which can be more challenging to decipher due to their potentially diverse purposes.

Consequently, accurately pinpointing a long-tail keyword for a marketing landing page is a more straightforward task. This specificity aligns with the user’s search intent, resulting in more effective targeting.

From an SEO perspective, optimizing your content for longer, more detailed search phrases helps establish a website’s authority. The potential to rank for more competitive keywords with higher search volumes is greater, ultimately increasing traffic.

Monitoring and Adapting to Changing Trends

Search intent is not static. As trends and user behaviors evolve, so do search intent patterns. Regularly monitor and adapt your keyword strategy to reflect these changes to keep your content relevant and maintain your SEO performance.

Understanding search intent goes beyond simply identifying keywords — it involves diving into the minds of your audience and tailoring your content to meet user requirements. Keep this in mind as you develop your SEO strategies.

Our SEO experts can help you understand the search intent behind your desired keywords. Contact us for a free consultation, and let’s talk about how we can create SEO content that works for your brand. 

FAQ: What are the key steps and considerations involved in aligning your content strategy with search intent?

Aligning your content strategy with search intent is crucial for successful SEO and content marketing. To do this effectively, start by identifying the primary keyword or topic of your content and determine the type of search intent it serves (informational, navigational, or transactional). Then, create content that matches the identified intent – like comprehensive guides for informational queries or clear calls to action for transactional ones.

Prioritize user experience and incorporate relevant long-tail keywords into your strategy. Stay updated on changing search intent patterns, analyze your content’s performance in SERPs, conduct competitor analysis, and collaborate with your content team while utilizing SEO tools and analytics to ensure your content remains competitive and aligned with user expectations.

Step-by-Step Procedure:

1. Start by identifying the primary keyword or topic of your content.
2. Research and analyze the main types of search intent: informational, navigational, commercial and transactional.
3. Determine which type of search intent aligns with your content.
4. Craft your content to match the identified search intent.
5. If the intent is informational, create comprehensive guides or articles; for transactional intent, focus on clear calls to action or product pages.
6. Optimize your website’s user experience to reduce bounce rates by aligning content with user expectations.
7. Incorporate long-tail keywords associated with specific search intent into your keyword strategy.
8. Monitor trends and user behavior regularly to stay updated on changing search intent patterns.
9. Adapt your keyword strategy accordingly to ensure your content remains relevant.
10. Continuously analyze the performance of your content in search engine results pages (SERPs).
11. Adjust your keyword strategy based on the performance data to improve rankings and user engagement.
12. Conduct competitor analysis to stay competitive in your niche.
13. Stay informed about industry trends and algorithm updates that may impact search intent.
14. Collaborate with your content team to ensure a unified approach to understanding and addressing search intent.
15. Utilize SEO tools and analytics to track keyword performance and user behavior.
16. Test and refine your content based on user feedback and data-driven insights.
17. Keep your keyword research and search intent analysis up-to-date to maintain a successful SEO strategy.
18. Share your findings and insights with your team or clients to ensure alignment on keyword research and content strategies.
19. Continuously learn and adapt to the evolving search intent and SEO landscape.
20. Regularly review and revise your keyword research and content strategies to remain competitive and meet user needs effectively.

The post How Does Understanding Search Intent Impact Keyword Research? appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

SEO is a fast-moving industry that is always evolving. One Google announcement, a current event or a change in the competitive landscape can alter how you go about your SEO strategy in an instant.

But, we do have best practices that stand the test of time. The way we go about doing those best practices might evolve, but they are still rooted in the fundamentals of good SEO. And, when following these best practices, you can better weather any storms that may come your way.

Here are seven SEO best practices you can’t ignore if you want to compete in the organic search results.

1. Create the Right Type of Content
2. Meet or Beat the Top-Ranked Content
3. Create a Good User Experience
4. Optimize Your Images
5. Silo Your Website
6. Focus on Link Earning Not Link Building
7. Manage Duplicate Content

FAQ: How does duplicate content impact search rankings and what types of duplicate content should be managed? 

1. Create the Right Type of Content

Every search query/keyword has a different intent behind it — what the search engine user is trying to do. Google knows this and serves up different types of content to meet those needs.

There will always be the blue links, which lead to webpages. But often, there are other types of content as well, like video, images and much more. This is what we call engagement objects – SERP features that engage and ultimately make money for Google.

An engagement object is a SERP feature shown on a search engine results page (SERP) that falls outside of the traditional organic search results (i.e., the blue links).

Searchmetrics keeps track of the most common SERP features that show up throughout the year with its SERP Features Monitor.

So, how do you create and optimize the right type of content to match the search query? Through what we call a whole-SERP SEO strategy.

A whole-SERP SEO strategy analyzes the features that show up most in the search results for target keywords and then optimizes for them.

The first step is to take the keywords you want to rank for, then analyze the content in the search results that is showing up for them. Is it mostly blue links? Are there videos? Images? What else?

This will help you set the content strategy for the type of content you are going to create. A whole-SERP SEO strategy gives you a roadmap for the type of content you need in your SEO program.

This strategy can also help combat the phenomenon of “zero clicks.” A zero-click search result happens when Google is able to answer a search query or facilitate an action right within the search results page.

2. Meet or Beat the Top-Ranked Content

Knowing what type of content to create is the first step. How you create and optimize the content for search engines and users is the next step.

SEO is a game of being the least imperfect. I say least imperfect because no one is going to optimize a piece of content precisely to Google’s algorithms. So, all content in the search results is imperfect when it comes to optimizing.

That said, the goal is to be least imperfect compared to your competition. All SEO programs should work to beat the competition, not the algorithm.

Here, you want to understand what makes the top-ranked content for your keyword tick. Start analyzing the top results for each keyword. Of course, you could do this manually, but SEO tools are going to save you a lot of time and effort here.

For example, you could use an SEO tool like our Multi-Page Information tool (free version) and see the on-page SEO factors of multiple competitors.

Or, if you are using a WordPress site, you can use our WordPress SEO plugin to get real-time data on the top-ranked pages for your keywords.

That means customized SEO data for your content versus following best practices that are typically generic.

It also means knowing how many words to include in your meta tags and your body content, plus the readability score — all based on the top-ranked content.

These types of tools will help you understand how to optimize the content you are creating. But you should also look closer at the nature of the top-ranked content as well before you start writing.

Google values experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) as outlined in its Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines. A component of E-E-A-T is to have shared attributes in the information you are sharing with the top-ranked or highest-quality webpages on the topic.

In other words, Google says in its Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines:

Very high quality MC should be highly satisfying for people visiting the page. Very high quality MC shows evidence of a high level of effort, originality, talent, or skill. For informational pages, very high quality MC must be accurate, clearly communicated, and consistent with well-established expert consensus when it exists. Very high quality MC represents some of the most outstanding content on a topic or type that’s available online. The standards for Highest quality MC may be very different depending on the purpose, topic, and type of website.

I discussed what this means practically in The Complete Guide to the Basics of Google’s E-E-A-T.

For instance, say you have content that states that blueberries can cure cancer. Even if you feel you have the authority to make this claim, when competing against YMYL content, you will not be considered an expert for a query about cancer because the claim is not supported elsewhere.

And don’t forget: Once you have created a great piece of content, don’t skimp on the headline. A good headline can get you more clicks and drive more traffic than a lackluster one.

Much of the advice and tools I’ve discussed so far apply to getting data for and optimizing standard web pages (the blue links). If you are up against videos, for example, you will also need to examine them closely and think about your YouTube SEO efforts.

3. Create a Good User Experience

Once a person reaches your website from the organic search results, will they have a good experience?

You should care about user experience because you want to make sure you get the most out of the traffic that you send to your website. If all those efforts lead to a bad webpage and the user quickly leaves, then you have wasted your time and money.

Google wants to make sure websites are providing a good user experience, too. So Google has developed ranking signals to ensure only the websites that provide the best experience will compete on Page 1 of the search results.

One thing that Google may look at is when a large percentage of users from the search results go to your webpage and then immediately click back to the search results. This could be an indication of a poor user experience and may impact your future rankings.

Then you have the page experience algorithm update, which hit in 2021 and combines pre-existing ranking signals such as:

• Mobile-friendliness
• HTTPS (secure websites)
• Non-intrusive interstitials

… with new rankings signals that include what Google calls “core web vitals.” Core web vitals look at things like:

• Page load performance
• Responsiveness
• Visual stability

There is much to do in this area to optimize a website for user experience. You can download our e-book: Google’s Page Experience Update: A Complete Guide, to learn more about how to get your website up to speed.

4. Optimize Your Images

You need to optimize all your content assets so that they have the opportunity to rank. That includes images.

Visual search and Google Images have been a focal point for Google for some time. More and more images are showing up in response to search queries. seoClarity reports that in 2021, more than 55% of keywords result in image results.

Google wants to rank great images, but it also wants to ensure those images are within the context of great content, too. I wrote about this in an earlier article on how to improve image search ranking:

We’ve all had the experience of finding an image and clicking through to a not-so-great webpage. To prevent this, the Google Images algorithm now considers not only the image but also the website where it’s embedded.

Images attached to great content can now do better in Google Images. Specifically, the image-ranking algorithm weighs these factors (besides the image itself):

Authority: The authority of the webpage itself is now a signal for ranking an image.

Context: The ranking algorithm takes into account the context of the search. Google uses the example of an image search for “DIY shelving.” Results should return images within sites related to DIY projects … so the searcher can find other helpful information beyond just a picture.

Freshness: Google prioritizes fresher content. So ranking images will likely come from a site (a site in general, but we believe the actual webpage in question) that’s been updated recently. This is probably a minor signal.

Position on page: Top-ranked images will likely be central to the webpage they’re part of. For example, a product page for a particular shoe should rank above a category page for shoes.

Of course, there are all sorts of optimization techniques you can do to improve image ranking. Read more here for 17 important ways you can optimize your images for search, which includes:

1. Tracking image traffic
2. Creating high-quality, original content
3. Using relevant images
4. Having a proper file format
5. Optimizing your images
6. Always creating Alt text
7. Making use of the image title
8. Creating an image caption
9. Using a descriptive file name
10. Implementing structured data
11. Considering image placement on the page
12. Analyzing the content around the image
13. Being careful with embedded text
14. Creating page metadata
15. Ensuring fast load time
16. Making sure images are accessible
17. Creating an image sitemap

5. Silo Your Website

Creating and optimizing quality content is really important. But just as important is how you organize all the content on your website.

Google has indicated more than once that it not only looks at the quality of a webpage but also the site as a whole when ranking content.

In its Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide, Google says:

Although Google’s search results are provided at a page level, Google also likes to have a sense of what role a page plays in the bigger picture of the site.

In its Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines, Google says it looks at the website as a whole to determine if the website is an authority on topics.

So what does this mean? When someone searches for something on Google, one of the ways that the search engine can determine the most relevant webpage for a search is to analyze not only the webpage but also the overall website.

Google may be looking to see if a website has enough supporting content for the keywords/search terms on the website overall. Enough, clearly organized, information-rich content helps create relevance for a search.

We call this SEO siloing. SEO siloing is a way to organize your website content based on the way people search for your site’s topics. Its goal is to make a site relevant for a search query so that it has a better chance of ranking.

The goal of SEO siloing is to build a library of content around primary and long-tail keywords on your website and then connect them via your internal linking structure.

Google advocates for what SEO siloing does. In its Search Engine Starter Guide, Google says:

Make it as easy as possible for users to go from general content to the more specific content they want on your site. Add navigation pages when it makes sense and effectively work these into your internal link structure. Make sure all of the pages on your site are reachable through links, and that they don’t require an internal “search” functionality to be found. Link to related pages, where appropriate, to allow users to discover similar content.

There is a lot that goes into SEO siloing, and I recommend reading these articles:

• 5 Times When SEO Siloing Can Make or Break Your Search Engine Rankings
• A Jam-Packed Guide on Internal Linking for SEO

6. Focus on Link Earning Not Link Building

Link building is not a numbers game anymore. Search engines want to see that a website has quality, relevant links.

Google’s John Mueller confirmed this in a video, stating that:

“We try to understand what is relevant for a website, how much should we weigh these individual links, and the total number of links doesn’t matter at all. Because you could go off and create millions of links across millions of websites if you wanted to, and we could just ignore them all.”

You can view that video clip here:

We have seen client websites with fewer but more quality inbound links outperform their competition. So, what does “link earning” look like?

• Avoiding all those known spammy link-building tactics, mass email requests for links, purchasing links, participating in link farms, etc.
• Understanding the “gray areas” of what could be considered link spam, such as paid guest posting.
• Creating quality content that earns relevant links.
• Getting creative with how you earn links and being diligent about how you maintain them.

You can learn more about how to create a good link-earning SEO program in our e-book, “The New Link Building Manifesto: How To Earn Links That Count.” In it, you’ll find a roadmap for earning quality, relevant links, including 50 ways to earn links safely and effectively.

7. Manage Duplicate Content

Duplicate content can impact your rankings. And, depending on what type of duplicate content you have on your website, it can even trigger a manual action by Google if it’s considered spam.

There are two types of duplicate content:

1. Duplicate content involving webpages on your site only
2. Duplicate content involving webpages on your site and other sites

When you have duplicate content involving your website and other sites, Google may flag this as spam (for example, if your site is scraping or copying content from another).

The good news is that most websites are only dealing with non-spammy duplicate content on their own websites. This is when you have content (two or more webpages) that is the same or similar.

This can impact your rankings. When Google is presented with two of your webpages that appear to be too similar, the search engine will choose the page it believes is the most relevant and filter the other page or pages out of the results.

Google’s Mueller explains in a video:

“With that kind of duplicate content it’s not so much that there’s a negative score associated with it. It’s more that, if we find exactly the same information on multiple pages on the web, and someone searches specifically for that piece of information, then we’ll try to find the best matching page.

So if you have the same content on multiple pages then we won’t show all of these pages. We’ll try to pick one of them and show that. So it’s not that there’s any negative signal associated with that. In a lot of cases that’s kind of normal that you have some amount of shared content across some of the pages.”

You can watch that video clip here:

So, what to do? We’ve found that the most common types of duplicate content are the following:

• Two site versions
• Separate mobile site
• Trailing slashes on URLs
• CMS problems
• Meta information duplication
• Similar content
• Boilerplate content
• Parameterized pages
• Product descriptions
• Content syndication

And of those common types, we tend to see duplicate meta information as a top culprit. So, it’s important to always create unique meta tags.

If you’re on a WordPress site, you can use our WordPress SEO plugin to help monitor and detect duplicate content issues in your meta tags.

For more on how to address the common types of duplicate content on your website, see Understanding Duplicate Content and How to Avoid It.

Closing Thoughts

These SEO best practices are not the end of your SEO work, but they are the beginning of creating a winning SEO strategy that will respond to any curve ball that comes your way.

Schedule a free 1:1 consultation to learn more about how you can boost your SEO profile and maximize your visibility online. 

FAQ: How does duplicate content impact search rankings, and what types of duplicate content should be managed?

Duplicate content has long been a cause for website owners and digital marketing professionals who worry that duplicated material could negatively affect search rankings. Search engines struggle to provide users with relevant and original information that meets user search queries if duplicates appear within results pages.

When search engines encounter duplicate content, they face a dilemma. Search engines must determine which version is more relevant and worthy of being given priority in ranking. They may punish pages that contain duplicate content by downranking them or penalizing their rankings accordingly. This can adversely affect website visibility and organic traffic, making it crucial for webmasters to address duplicate content issues.

Website owners should be aware of and manage several types of duplicate content. The first type is identical content found on multiple pages within the same website. This can occur when a website generates multiple URLs for the same content, leading to duplicate versions. Search engines might struggle to decide which URL to prioritize, potentially diluting the page’s ranking potential.

Another type of duplicate content is syndicated or copied content from other websites. While syndication can be a legitimate practice, ensuring that the content is properly attributed and adds value to the website is essential. Otherwise, search engines may consider it duplicate and penalize the website for duplicate content.

Product descriptions and e-commerce websites often face challenges with duplicate content. Similar products may have identical or nearly identical descriptions, leading to duplicate content issues. It is advisable to provide unique, compelling descriptions for each product to avoid these problems and improve search rankings.

Finally, duplicate content can also arise from printer-friendly versions, mobile versions, or session IDs appended to URLs. These variations in URLs can confuse search engines and result in duplicated content. Implementing canonical tags and managing URL parameters can help resolve these issues and ensure search engines understand the preferred version of the content.

To manage duplicate content effectively, website owners should take proactive steps. Conducting regular content audits to identify and address duplicate content is essential. Utilizing tools such as site crawlers and duplicate content checkers can aid in this process by scanning the website for duplicate instances and providing recommendations for improvement.

Once identified, duplicate content issues can be resolved through various means. One approach is consolidating duplicate pages by redirecting or consolidating the content under a single URL. Implementing 301 redirects or rel=canonical tags can help guide search engines to the preferred version of the content and consolidate ranking signals.

For e-commerce websites, ensuring unique product descriptions and optimizing metadata can go a long way in avoiding duplicate content penalties. Additionally, monitoring syndicated content and implementing proper attribution can help maintain a healthy balance between original and duplicate content.

Regularly monitoring website performance, traffic patterns and search engine rankings is crucial for detecting any potential duplicate content issues. Prompt action and continuous improvement will help maintain strong search rankings and enhance the overall user experience.

Duplicate content can significantly impact search rankings by confusing search engines and diluting ranking potential. Various types of duplicate content, such as identical pages within a website, syndicated content and product descriptions, should be managed effectively.

Step-by-Step Procedure:

1. Conduct a comprehensive content audit to identify instances of duplicate content on your website.
2. Use site crawlers or duplicate content checkers to scan the website and identify duplicate content.
3. Prioritize resolving duplicate content issues on the website’s pages before addressing external sources.
4. For identical content found on multiple pages within the same website, determine the primary URL and implement 301 redirects from the secondary URLs.
5. Ensure that all syndicated or copied content from other websites is properly attributed and adds value to your website.
6. Review product descriptions on e-commerce websites and make them unique and compelling for each product.
7. Regularly monitor the website for printer-friendly versions, mobile versions, or session IDs appended to URLs, and implement canonical tags to indicate the preferred version of the content.
8. Manage URL parameters to eliminate duplicate content issues caused by session IDs or tracking parameters.
9. Utilize tools such as site crawlers and duplicate content checkers to scan the website for new instances of duplicate content periodically.
10. Review the recommendations provided by the tools and implement necessary changes to address duplicate content.
11. Consolidate duplicate pages by redirecting or consolidating the content under a single URL.
12. Implement 301 redirects from duplicate pages to the preferred version to guide search engines and consolidate ranking signals.
13. Ensure that each product on e-commerce websites has a unique description and optimized metadata.
14. Monitor syndicated content and verify that proper attribution is in place to differentiate it from duplicate content.
15. Continuously monitor website performance, traffic patterns and search engine rankings to identify any new duplicate content issues.
16. Take prompt action to resolve duplicate content problems as they arise.
17. Regularly review and update your content strategy to avoid unintentional creation of duplicate content.
18. Provide a seamless user experience by eliminating duplicate content, which can confuse and frustrate visitors.
19. Stay updated with search engine guidelines and best practices to address duplicate content effectively.
20. Continuously improve your website’s content and ensure it remains unique, relevant and valuable to users.

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The bucket list is all the things you want to do before you die. I argue that every website needs a bucket list, too. This list prioritizes all the things that need to happen before the site becomes so irrelevant it “dies” in the search results.

There is a lot I could say here. To keep it short and sweet, though, I have categorized the SEO “bucket list” into three main buckets:

1. Get a strong foundation 
2. Create an SEO-friendly architecture
3. Write quality content 
4. FAQ: How can SEO Siloing improve my website’s subject and website authority?

1. Get a Strong Foundation

Search engines want to rank websites that provide a good user experience. That means: Get the technical stuff right.

This includes:

• An SEO-friendly content management system
• SEO-friendly web design (HTML Living Standard code and W3C compliance, for instance)
• A mobile-friendly website
• A fast website
• A modern design
• User-friendly webpages
• Technical SEO best practices

This list may seem small, but getting everything right in each of those bullet points is a huge undertaking. When you do get it right, though, your site can better compete in the search results.

2. Create an SEO-Friendly Architecture

How you organize the content on a website matters to both search engines and website visitors. This includes the navigation and internal linking of webpages.

SEO-friendly site architecture is created through SEO siloing. Siloing creates content categories/directories on a site based on the keywords you’ve selected through keyword research.

This SEO strategy helps to build subject and website authority and clearly tells the search engines what the content is about. In other words: It can make your website more relevant for a search.

For more on this, read:

• SEO Siloing: What, Why, How
• 5 Times When SEO Siloing Can Make or Break Your Rankings

3. Write Quality Content

If you haven’t seen Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines, then it’s time to do some reading on how important it is that you get the “quality content” piece right.

Of course, those guidelines are not the end all be all, but they are useful to understand how Google thinks about quality. Ultimately, you have to decide what is quality content for your website, and Google agrees.

Giving your website visitors useful information written by experts on the matter is the goal. How you go about doing that is up to you.

In general, though, you will need things like:

• A webpage with a clear purpose that delivers on that purpose.
• Content that is created with a good amount of expertise on the subject matter.
• Information that is well-written and useful.
• An optimized webpage in keeping with SEO best practices.

Content is one of the most important ranking factors, and quality content can often trump other ranking signals all else equal.

For more on this, read:

• What Makes a Webpage Quality?
• The Complete Guide to the Basics of Google’s E-E-A-T
• What Are Meta Tags?
• The Always-Up-to-Date SEO Checklist

This SEO bucket list helps ensure that your website is relevant for search queries and useful to your target audience. Don’t wait until your website dies before you prioritize doing all the important things that will keep your business alive online.

FAQ: How can SEO siloing improve my website’s subject and website authority?

SEO siloing is a powerful website structuring technique that significantly influences how search engines perceive and rank your website. By organizing your content into distinct categories or “silos” based on relevant keywords, you can create a logical and hierarchical structure that enhances your website’s subject relevance and authority.

When implementing SEO siloing, start by conducting comprehensive keyword research to identify primary topics related to your website’s niche. Group these keywords into relevant clusters, each representing a specific content category. For example, if you own a gardening website, you might have silos for “Vegetable Gardening,” “Flower Gardening,” and “Gardening Tools.”

Within each silo, create in-depth and valuable content that covers various aspects of the topic. Ensure that the content is interlinked through contextual internal links, guiding visitors and search engine crawlers to related articles within the same silo. This internal linking strategy reinforces the subject relevance and authority of each silo.

It is vital to keep each silo focused on its primary topic without mixing unrelated content. By doing so, you enhance the clarity and expertise of your website, establishing yourself as a trustworthy resource within your niche. Search engines recognize the organization and topical focus which can lead to improved rankings for your targeted keywords.

Another benefit of siloing is that it allows you to demonstrate expertise on specific subjects. When your content consistently delves deep into a particular topic, it signals to search engines that your website is a valuable and authoritative source on that subject. This can lead to higher rankings for related search queries and increased organic traffic.

Siloing enhances user experience by making it easier for visitors to navigate your website. The logical organization and clear interlinking guide users to relevant information, reducing bounce rates and increasing engagement. This positive user experience signals search engines that your website provides valuable content, contributing to improved rankings.

To make the most of siloing, regularly update and expand the content within each silo. As your website’s authority on specific subjects grows, you can explore broader or more specialized topics, further solidifying your website’s position as a go-to resource in your industry.

SEO Bucket List: How To Effectively SEO Silo Your Site

1. Perform comprehensive keyword research to identify primary topics and keywords related to your website’s niche.
2. Group similar keywords into content categories or silos, each representing a specific subject area.
3. Create high-quality and valuable content within each silo, covering various aspects of the topic.
4. Ensure contextual internal linking between articles within the same silo to reinforce subject relevance and authority.
5. Keep each silo focused on its primary topic and avoid mixing unrelated content to maintain clarity and expertise.
6. Regularly update and expand the content within each silo to demonstrate ongoing expertise and relevance.
7. Implement SEO best practices, including proper URL structures, meta tags and optimized headings within each silo.
8. Monitor and analyze the performance of each silo using web analytics tools to identify areas for improvement.
9. Engage in off-page SEO activities such as building quality backlinks and guest posting to further boost website authority.
10. Conduct competitor analysis to identify gaps and opportunities within your niche and adjust your siloing strategy accordingly.
11. Optimize website speed and performance to enhance user experience and reduce bounce rates.
12. Use responsive web design to ensure an optimal user experience across devices.
13. Audit your website regularly for broken links, duplicate content and any technical issues that could impede its SEO performance.
14. Monitor search engine algorithm updates and adjust your siloing strategy accordingly to stay competitive.
15. Pay attention to topics relevant to your audience and modify your content strategy using data-driven insights.
16. Utilize user-generated content like testimonials and reviews to establish trust among your target market.
17. Foster a community around your website by engaging with your audience through comments and discussions.
18. Stay up-to-date with the latest SEO trends and industry developments to maintain a competitive edge in your niche.

The post The SEO Bucket List: 3 Things To Do Before Your Site Dies appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

SEO is about so much more than just optimizing a website. It’s about reaching your target audience online when you can help them. It’s about seizing opportunities for more branding, visibility and revenue.

So if you’re unsure how SEO can help your business beyond keywords, title tags and anchor text, read on …

5 Reasons You Need SEO

1. Organic Search Drives the Majority of Traffic and Revenue for Many Industries

Forrester research found that 71% of people turned to search engines for discovery, and 74% used them for consideration/purchase.

That is likely why research from BrightEdge (2019) shows that the organic search channel made up 53% of traffic to websites on average across industries. For B2B companies, organic search generates two times more revenue than any other channel.

That was 2019. And we know that a lot has changed since then, too. Gartner pointed out in 2020 that brands needed to shift from certain activities like advertising and invest more in digital and organic marketing due to the pandemic.

And in fact, they have. By February 2021, CMOs said their digital spending grew 14.3% relative to the preceding 12 months.

So what does this mean to you?

You want your company to be on Page 1 of the search results to capture your share of the traffic going to Google each day that is looking to discover and consider what you have to offer.

2. SEO Supports the Customer Journey

When your prospect goes through the process of awareness, consideration and decision-making about what you have to offer, SEO is there every step of the way.

How? Let’s look at some of the SEO activities that support the customer journey in organic search:

SEO Activities in Awareness Phase

• Keyword research so you can understand what queries your target audience uses when they use search engines to learn more about what you have to offer.
• Competitor research so you can see what your competitors on Page 1 of the search results are doing right and how you can do better.
• Search engine results page research so you can understand what type of content is showing up for your target queries. (Blue links? Videos? Images?)
• An optimized website using SEO technical best practices so that you actually have a chance to show up for the queries you want.

SEO Activities in Consideration Phase

• Optimized search engine listings so that your webpage description stands out among the rest.
• High-quality, optimized content that supports the questions that your prospects have along the way.

SEO Activities in Decision-Making Phase

• Tools and resources on your website that helps your prospects make decisions like landing pages and customer reviews.

See our in-depth article on this topic for more on how SEO supports the customer journey.

3. SEO Creates a Good User Experience Which Impacts Your Website’s Ability to Rank

Enticing people to click through from the search results is one thing. Getting them to stay on your website is another.

Google’s “page experience” ranking algorithm update went live in 2021. This ranking algorithm looks at factors that would impact a webpage experience like:

• Page load performance
• Responsiveness
• Visual stability
• Mobile-friendliness
• HTTPS
• No intrusive interstitials

Not being able to meet these needs may impact your website’s ability to rank over time. The good news is that SEO can help!

4. SEO Supports Public Relations and News Visibility

If you have news you want to get out, SEO can enhance the process.

For example, when distributing news via a press release, you can implement SEO best practices. That way, you won’t get into any situations where your news releases look like spam.

Press releases can contribute to your business’s and website’s experience, expertise, authority and trust (E-E-A-T) — quality metrics from Google. You can learn more about this in my guide on the basics of E-E-A-T.

And if you’re a news publisher, there is a lot to consider with getting your articles into Google News. This is another area where SEO can help.

For more, read:

• Why Press Releases Still Matter to SEO and How to Write a Press Release That Entices Media 

5. You Can Measure the Value of SEO

In the past, SEO has got a bad rap regarding measurement.

That is because traditionally, companies have been able to track things like digital ad investments, which is more straightforward.

Most of the time, measuring the value of SEO means changing the mindset around it. Here, you want to ask simple questions like:

• Does your target audience use search engines? (See point No. 1 in this article – the answer is “yes.”)
• Is your competition investing in SEO, and are they ranking for the terms your prospects are using in the search engines? Again, the answer is yes here. There will always be companies that show up for important queries to your business.
• What would happen if you did decide to stop advertising? Would your organic presence be able to make up for the loss in visibility?

You can explore these questions in more detail, including how much you should invest and what results you can expect to see in my article on SEO myth-busting and measuring the value of SEO.

3 Reasons You Need an SEO Expert to Help

1. To Prioritize Your SEO

Simply checking the boxes off an SEO checklist can only get you so far.

To succeed with SEO, it is important to do a website SEO audit so that an expert can prioritize tasks based on problems you should fix right away, what can move the needle the fastest and what the long-term objectives are.

2. Because It’s a Big Job

The time involved to diagnose a website and create a proper SEO strategy – not to mention the time invested in pivoting as search engines change – is a big job.

Remember, SEO is not a “one time” or “sometimes” thing. It’s a long-term strategy that should last for as long as your website is alive. And that means you reap the benefits for years to come.

Plus, when you hire an SEO expert, you not only get the experience that comes with years of performing SEO, but you also get the benefit of that expert’s continuing education as they stay up-to-date with news and trends that impact your SEO.

3. Because Not Hiring an Expert Can Cost You

How long will you wait to try to beat your competition online?

If you don’t hire the expertise needed to do it, your competition will have invested that much more time and energy into their SEO efforts than you.

That means missed opportunities and potential revenue for as long as you put SEO on the backburner or as long as you hire cheap SEO help.

SEO Is Essential in the Online Marketplace

Your prospects will continue to turn to search engines to learn more about what you have to offer.

But will you be there? Or will it be your competition?

Investing in SEO is a smart strategy that will help you reap the rewards of organic search traffic for years to come. We can help — schedule a FREE 1:1 consultation today.

FAQ: How can SEO benefit my business beyond keywords?

SEO is not limited to just incorporating keywords on your website; it is a comprehensive approach that can transform your business’s online performance and unlock a host of benefits that extend far beyond mere keywords.

SEO can be an extremely effective means of increasing organic website traffic. By optimizing your website to attain higher search engine result pages (SERPs), searchers will be drawn directly to it when actively searching. This targeted traffic holds immense value as it comprises potential customers genuinely interested in what you offer.

SEO encompasses an array of techniques that support the customer journey from the awareness phase, where keyword research and competitor analysis lay the foundation, to the consideration phase, where optimized content addresses user queries, and finally, the decision-making phase, where landing pages and customer reviews facilitate conversions. Embracing SEO across this journey ensures a seamless and engaging experience for your prospects.

Beyond keyword optimization, user experience plays a vital role in SEO success. Google’s algorithm rewards websites that provide visitors with a positive, informative, and hassle-free experience. Factors such as page load speed, mobile-friendliness, and visual stability contribute significantly to a good user experience, leading to higher rankings on SERPs and improved chances of retaining visitors on your site.

Embracing SEO also enhances your business’s credibility and authority. Your website consistently appears in top search results, building trust among your target audience. Additionally, SEO integrates well with public relations efforts as optimized press releases can garner more visibility, showcasing your business as an authoritative source in your industry.

Measuring the value of SEO is crucial to understanding its impact on your business. Through insightful analysis, you can determine your SEO strategies’ effectiveness, identify improvement areas and make data-driven decisions to optimize your online presence continually.

How SEO Transcends Keywords for Business Success: Step-by-Step

1. Conduct in-depth keyword research to identify high-value, relevant terms that align with your business objectives.
2. Analyze competitor websites to gain insights into successful SEO strategies and refine your approach.
3. Implement on-page optimization techniques, including title tags, meta descriptions and header tags, to improve your website’s visibility in search results.
4. Create high-quality, valuable content that addresses your audience’s pain points and provides solutions to their queries.
5. Leverage link-building strategies to earn backlinks from reputable websites, enhancing your website’s authority in the eyes of search engines.
6. Focus on mobile optimization to ensure a seamless user experience for visitors accessing your site from various devices.
7. Regularly update and refresh your website content to maintain relevance and attract returning visitors.
8. Utilize local SEO tactics to target potential customers in your geographic area.
9. Optimize your website’s loading speed to reduce bounce rates and improve user satisfaction.
10. Leverage social media platforms to amplify your content and expand your online reach.
11. Monitor website analytics to track the performance of your SEO efforts and make data-driven adjustments.
12. Incorporate schema markup with rich snippets to enhance your website’s appearance in search results.
13. Implement a comprehensive internal linking strategy to improve navigation and boost the authority of important pages.
14. Provide users with a simple and enjoyable UX design by using intuitive navigation, a clear call to action and an attractive design.
15. Create high-value content that genuinely solves a problem or answers a question for your target audience.
16. Leverage testimonials and reviews as you grow to build trust with consumers.
17. Optimize your website’s metadata, including image alt tags and meta titles, to improve accessibility and search engine indexing.
18. Regularly audit your website for technical SEO issues and promptly address any errors or crawlability issues.
19. Continuously monitor industry trends and updates in SEO algorithms to stay ahead of the curve and adapt your strategies accordingly.
20. Regularly analyze and measure the ROI of your SEO efforts, making informed decisions to optimize your business’s online performance continually.

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