10 SEO Points to Remember While You Are Developing a Website
Search Engine Optimization or SEO will always remain relevant to companies. This can be attributed to the simple reason that the consumers often rely on text-based as well as voice-based search queries to find information about products and services.
When it comes to websites, quality SEO enhances the overall searchability and visibility. Done well, it takes the business to the next level irrespective of the size or niche. But then, the world of SEO is vast and full of several possibilities. This gives rise to the question – how to lay the foundation for SEO from the ground up while building a website.
We did our homework and came up with an action plan, which you can implement to stay ahead in the race of search engine visibility.
Here’s a list of steps you need to take for developing a website with kickass SEO. In no particular order these are:
- Structure of the Website for SEO
- Opt for 301 Redirection
- Check The On-Page Requirements
- ‘No Index’ the URL While Working Live on the Page
- Remove Multiple Versions of the Home Page
- Use the Hreflang Tag
- Optimize the Meta Size
- Fix the Footer
- Include a Section in the Header for Multiple Languages
- Increase the Site Speed
1. Structure of the Website for SEO
First up, decide on the website structure based on SEO fundamentals. Ideally, you need to have the home page, followed by the product page, followed by the inner pages.
It is a step-by-step process and when done right, the structure will appear something along the lines of:
- https://www.sasken.com
- https://www.sasken.com/industrial-offering
- https://www.sasken.com/industrial-offering/semiconductor
- https://www.sasken.com/industrial-offering/semiconductor/hardware-design
- https://www.sasken.com/industrial-offering/semiconductor/hardware-design/software-design
- https://www.sasken.com/industrial-offering/semiconductor/hardware-design/software-design/toys-design
- https://www.sasken.com/industrial-offering/semiconductor/hardware-design/software-design/toys-design/electronic-toys-design
You need to adhere to the same process in the breadcrumb navigation as well.
A case in point is shown below:
- https://www.transfunnel.com/
- https://www.transfunnel.com/galley-url/
- https://www.transfunnel.com/galley-url/library-url
2. Opt for 301 Redirection
Merging your existing website with a new one? If your answer is affirmative, 301 Redirection will be your saviour. This step is important for maintaining your website’s existing domain authority and the search rankings irrespective of a change in the URL.
Make it a point to use 301 Redirection (Moved Permanently) and not 302 (Moved Temporarily).
The reason is simple. Using 302 redirections will lead search engines to get confused between the new and the old URLs. This can adversely affect the SEO in terms of the traffic and keywords ranking.
3. Check the On-Page Requirements
The next step on our list is to check the on-page requirements, which includes the following:
- Page Title
- Meta Title Tag
- Meta Description Tag
- Robots.txt File Update
- Redirection (301, 302, 303…etc.)
- HTTPS/ SSL Certification
- Alt Tag
- Heading Tags (H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, and H6)
- Canonical
The options for all the above-mentioned features should be present on your website. Make sure that you get all these right for a flawless, SEO-friendly website.
4. ‘No Index’ the URL While Working Live on the Page
This is another crucial point for developing a website with SEO at the forefront.
You need to ‘No Index’ the specific URL of the page the developer is working at a given time. Alternatively, if the developer chooses to work on all the URLs at once, disallow the same in the robots file. Undo the step when the developer is done working on all the pages.
5. Remove Multiple Versions of Your Home Page
The next step is to make sure that the home page always opens in the format https://www.example.com due to all the security benefits it brings to the table.
Therefore when you enter www.example.com or https://example.com or example.com, it needs to be redirected to https://www.example.com
We always remember that we need one URL only that is https://www.example.com which means we need to have https it is because Website security and www is for the website is world wide.
6. Use the Hreflang Tag
Hreflang tags give the signal to Google for correcting the web page to be served to the user, based on their language or the search location. It is essential to have the tag on the website.
Image Author: Seobility(Hreflang), License: CC BY-SA 4.0
The tag is also called rel=”alternate” hreflang=”x” and the code looks like this:
E.g. You need to customise the ‘en-us’ part according to a country/language.
7. Optimize the Meta Size
Ensure that you also fix the meta size on the page by fixing the character sizes in KB. The ideal lengths for the same are provided below:
- Featured Image Size in kb: >65 , <100
- thumbnail Image Size KB: >65 , <100
- Blog Image Size (Inside Blog): >65 , <100
- Title Length: >45 to <60 Character
- Meta Title Length: >45 to <60 Character
- Meta Description Length: >145 to <160 character
- H1 Size: >45 to <60 Character
- H2 Size: >45 to <60 Character
- H3 Size: >45 to <60 Character
- H4 Size: >45 to <60 Character
- H5 Size: >45 to <60 Character
- H6 Size: >45 to <60 Character
- Alt Text: >45 to <60 Character
- URL: <90 characters
8. Fix the Footer
The Footer area is one of the most crucial parts of a website. Make sure that the sections include the following information:
- The clickable contact number of the company in the Footer (it should allow the visitor to make a call directly)
- A clickable email address
- All the social links of the website in the Footer
- Include the header anchor text in the Footer (header services pages)
- Put the copyright, Company name, Inc. and so on
9. Include a Section in the Header for Multiple Languages
Make it a point to include a section in the header for multiple languages as shown in the image below.
10. Improve Website Speed
Last but not the least, make it a rule of thumb to increase the speed of the website. Here’s how you can go about it:
- Optimize Image size.
- Use JPG file format for images. Alternatively, you can also settle for the SVG format. However, avoid using the PNG File format.
- Go for JavaScript/CSS/HTML minifying.
- Reduce the redirects.
- Remove render-blocking JavaScript.
- Leverage browser caching
- Improve the server response time.
- Use a content distribution network/CDN.
- Reduce the Bounce Rates.
- Use BJ Lazy Load such as - image.jpg
To Sum Up
While there is no one-size-fits-all approach for making your website SEO-friendly, these pointers will give you a head start. Implement these steps and also keep an eye on the latest SEO updates by the search engine giant Google and you will never go wrong.
