SEO Factors that determine the rank of a website is one of the most sought after information by Web Design Companies, SEO consultants or anyone with an interest in website marketing.  All in all, Google considers over 200 factors to rank a website on search results. Some are more important and hold more weight than the others.

The internet is full of articles and tutorials on how you can improve the rank of your website on Google. In fact there is so much information on SEO and website marketing in general, that it can be confusing for those who wish to learn SEO or are looking for practical advice on the steps they can take to ensure a better ranking for their website.

Search engines like Google use complex algorithms to determine the rank of pages in search results (SERP). Every day search engine crawlers scan through web pages and are constantly updating the rank. The actual algorithm used by Google and other search engines is one of the best kept secrets on the internet. Search engines frequently update the formula used to rank websites in order to ensure rankings are fair and achieved in a natural organic manner. This also prevents attempts to cheat search engines or exert undue influence over the ranking of websites.

Although Google does not publish the actual ranking algorithm, it publishes an official document to assist website owners with SEO. The official document titled ‘Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide‘ can be downloaded from Google’s website and can be a valuable asset for a Web Design or Internet Marketing Company, Bloggers and Web publishers in general.

This article lists 13 best practices and suggestions that Web designers and Webmasters can follow to improve their sites’ crawlability and indexing.

SEO best Practices – Google’s Official SEO Starter Guide

According to Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide, the following SEO points should be addressed to stand the best chances for ranking on Search results:

1) Create unique, accurate page titles

Title is important for both users and search engines. Main keywords should be included in the page title. Title should be specified in the code with the correct <title> and </title> tag. In addition to having an impact on search engine ranking, the text in the title appears as a hyperlink to to your website on search results.

Tip:

• Have unique title for each page.
• Use keywords in title.

2) Make use of the “description” Meta tag

Description Meta tag is not visible on the actual web page itself and is included in the code of the page between the <description> and </description> tags. Like the title, use of keywords is known to improve the chance of ranking on search engines. The text in description is also displayed on search results below the title. A correct description will thus also tell users what information your page will provide.

3) Improve the structure of your URLs

Structure refers to how your pages are organised. It includes the directory and page structure of your URL’s. It can help ensure maximum pages are indexed. Correct category structure can also help create site links in Google’s results.

Tips:

• Use meaningful page names with keywords
• Organise your pages in categories as opposed to single top level structure for all pages.

4) Make your site easier to navigate

Easy to use navigation helps users to find content with ease. It also helps search engines to crawl the pages with ease. Google advises on using simple text links instead of relying only on complex navigation, drop-down menus or image navigation. Text links are indexed more easily by search engines.

Tips:

• Use correct anchor text for links. I.e. link with keywords as opposed to general words such as learn more or read more.
• Use bread-crumbs on pages
• Use site-map
• Check for broken links
• Set-up a custom 404 page (404 is displayed when requested ‘page is not found’)

5) Offer quality content and services

According to Google’s official guide, quality content is the most important factor. Quality content will often get referenced and linked to by other sites, blogs, articles, etc. This is one.

Tips:

• Use good language and write in easy to use text
• Be relevant to your niche or topic
• Keep the website fresh and publish new content frequently
• Google also advises strongly against writing purely to influence search engines. It is important to stay focus on meeting the needs of the users.

6) Write better anchor text

Anchor text is the text used for linking content to another page. Is is sometimes also referred to as link text.

Tips:

• It is very important to choose your anchor text carefully. Use of keywords is a widely used SEO technique and adds more weight to your keywords.
• Try to avoid general words as click here or learn more.
• Keep the anchor text short and to the point.
• Focus on both external and internal links

7) Optimize your images

Images are used on almost every page of the website. In addition to visual appeal, images are also important for search engines. By optimising your images correctly, you can improve the chances of ranking on Google and other search engines.

Tips:

• Use descriptive alt tag for images E.g. if you use an image to support your web design service, and then use this as your alt tag.
• User appropriate file name e.g. Similar to alt tags, you should use relevant file name as far as possible e.g. if you are using an image to support your web designs service, then web-design-service.jpg would be ideal file name.

Use heading tags appropriately

HTML provides 6 different heading tags from H1 to H6. Headings are not only important for users as they help to organise content on a web page and tell a user what content is placed where on the page.

9) Make effective use of robots.txt

“Robots.txt” is a simple text file that is placed on your server. It tells search engines what parts of your website should be indexed and what areas or pages should not be indexed. Some examples can be administration pages or private pages that require login.

10) Use rel=”nofollow” tags for links carefully

In general whenever we link to page, we pass some of our reputation to that page. However you may not always want to share or pass your reputation to all your links. You can do this via the rel=”No follow” tag to your links. This is a is a special tag that tells search engines not pass your reputation. By doing this on links such as on comments where you do not have any control over the quality of links, you can help preserve your reputation.

11) Promote your website in the right ways

As we would expect, in their official SEO guide, Google advise against using mal-practices to promote the website. Google encourages the right methods to promote your content. Following are some of the good promotional practices Google encourages:

• Use blogs to promote your site or content. Writing blog posts are an excellent way to promote your website. It can also lead to natural links that are generated through viral use of your content.
• Use offline methods to promote your site. You can use your URL in business card and other promotional material.
• Use social media and networking sites to promote your website.
• If your business targets the local market, you can benefit by listing your website free on Google’s local business centre.
• Target other sites or portals within your niche to promote your website to a targeted audience.

12) Make use of free webmaster tools

Google webmaster tools is a must if you want to understand in detail how Google is indexing and crawling your site and also to identify and fix potential problems. You can also analyse your Meta tags, website speed and other common issues that websites face. It provides better control over your listing. You can also submit your XML sitemap to ensure all relevant pages of your website are indexed.

13) Take advantage of web analytics services

With any marketing or promotional campaign, the ability to measure and track your performance is crucial for long term success. Google analytics is excellent software to track the traffic to your website. It does not only provide you with overall hits but detailed information on demographics. Using Google analytics you can truly monitor your traffic and see what internet marketing and SEO methods are working for you, what other websites are referring most traffic, what keywords are driving traffic, etc. With this information, you can better plan and tweak your campaign.

CONCLUSION:

The SEO best practices outlined by Google are evenly divided between on-page and off-page factors. It is important to ensure on-page recommendations are addressed during the web design phase itself. A professional Web Design Company or Graphics designer will apply these suggestions when designing a website.  In the long run however it the link profile that is likely to have the maximum impact on your website’s ranking.

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