Website SEO Starter Guide
If you have recently started up a website, chances are you are not too sure of what to do. However, with a little guidance you can start on the right track and see a noticeable increase in your traffic. This is why it’s important to get started now and learn some of the basics of website SEO.
Title tags
Creating good title tags for website SEO can increase your website’s visibility and click-through rates. Google looks at the content of the title tag to determine the relevance of a page to a search query.
A title tag consists of around 60 characters. The main keyword should be close to the beginning of the title tag. This way, it will get noticed right away. However, do not use overly lengthy titles. This may waste valuable space.
You also want to include your brand name at the end of the title tag. This will allow people to find your website if they use the brand name. You can add extra descriptors such as adjectives to make your titles more meaningful.
The length of a title tag is also an important factor in its effect on a search engine ranking. Shorter titles usually have more focus.
Meta description tags
If you want to improve your website’s SEO, one of the most effective tactics is to get a high quality meta description. It’s a short snippet of text that can appear underneath a page title in the search engine results. If it’s good, it could get you clicks that will lead to more traffic.
The meta description is important because it helps the search engine pick up on what a page is all about. It’s also a chance to show potential visitors why they should click through to your site.
A meta description is usually a brief summation of a webpage’s content. It should include a couple of keywords and give a concise overview of what your page offers. It should not be cryptic, but it should be eye-catching.
Internal links
If you’re looking to improve your website’s search performance, internal links can be an invaluable resource. They help organize your site’s content and make it more easily crawlable. However, it’s also important to make sure your internal links are doing their part.
There are many ways to optimize your site’s internal links. You can do it manually, or use a plugin or Google’s own internal linking tools. The key is to use them wisely.
If you’re not sure what an internal link is, you should know that it is a url that redirects to a webpage that isn’t directly accessed by the user. For example, if you are writing an article about wedding photography, you might want to hyperlink to a page on wedding videography.
XML sitemaps
Sitemaps help search engines understand your website. They provide a map of your site and point the way to the most important pages. Aside from helping search engines find your site, XML sitemaps can also be used as an SEO tool.
Creating an XML sitemap takes some time and effort, but it can be a very beneficial tool for your website’s SEO. However, you need to make sure that your sitemap is created correctly. If you don’t, your site could be indexed incorrectly. There are a few steps you can take to ensure that your XML sitemap is correct.
The first step is to create a Google Search Console account. Then you can use the Sitemaps section to check whether your sitemap has been indexed. If it hasn’t been, you should either add the sitemap or remove it.
Avoiding off-topic or long anchor text
A lot of websites are utilizing a lot of generic anchor text in their link profile. This could potentially confuse users. A better approach is to use descriptive anchor text. It will help the reader understand the context of the link.
If you’re a reputable site, you don’t want to link to an inferior site. This can come across as spammy. So, follow the best practices to avoid this.
When you’re using anchor text, you should make sure it looks natural. Google’s algorithm will look at the content of your page to understand how relevant the text is. Keeping it brief and descriptive will help you avoid a “spammy” appearance.
You can also try incorporating LSI keywords into your anchor text. This will help increase the diversity of your link profile. But be careful not to overdo it. Using a lot of keywords in your anchor text can be harmful to your rankings.
