6 Secrets to Incorporating an SEO Friendly Website

If you’re struggling to gain customers and keep them engaged, the answer may be found in SEO best practices.

Search engines are limited in the way they discover websites according to search phrases, so if you want to evolve to the top, you need to make sure the search engines will notice you.

To do that, you need search engine optimization and a good website.  Follow these 6 SEO best practices to get ahead of the competition.

SEO Best Practice #1: Site speed

Google has made one thing very clear over the years: Site speed is important.

They want pages to load quickly and effortlessly, in an effort to efficiently satisfy queries and avoid frustrating users.

Thankfully, Google has also provided some assistance in this department. Using the PageSpeed Insights tool you can test any URLs speed and performance.

How fast is fast enough, you may ask?

Most metrics strongly advise you to aim for less than four seconds, but new expectations may even render that number too high. If you can hover somewhere around two seconds, you should be in good shape.

SEO Best Practice #2: Long tail keywords

While you likely incorporate some sort of keyword strategy into your site content, it’s possible that you’re going about it all wrong.

Depending on your industry and what you sell, it’s likely that there are hundreds or thousands of other websites competing for the same basic keywords. This high competition may even render your efforts useless.

For example, instead of a furniture company targeting the keyword “new furniture,” something along the lines of “brown leather living room sectionals” could prove more advantageous.

Mess around with the various keyword planning tools on the internet and find out what sort of competition exists for various long tail keywords.

SEO Best Practice #3: Indexable content

Because crawling technology is still relatively rudimentary, it’s critical that you put all of your most important content in HTML text format.

Flash files, images, and other non-text content are often discounted or ignored by search engine crawlers and may prevent your site from ranking higher.

However, there are ways to make visual content more indexable. Options include supplementing search boxes with crawlable links, using alt text for all images, and providing textual transcripts for all audio and video content.

SEO Best Practice #4:URL structure

Have you ever paid attention to your URL structure, or do you haphazardly throw words together?

Since search engines display a page’s URL for the user to see, it’s important to use a simple and descriptive structure. Not only does this enhance click through rates, but it may also provide some SEO keyword benefit. However, your focus should primarily be on user experience, as this isn’t a major focus for the search engines.

SEO Best Practice #5: Optimize for Schema mark-up

In 2011, the major search engines collaborated together to create a new HTML code that would help them better search, read, and understand the web.

Known as Scehma.org, this new HTML mark-up tells websites how to implement more search-friendly features.

For advanced information regarding schema mark-ups, spend some time browsing the website.

SEO Best Practice #6: Use title tags tactfully

Search engines use title tags to quickly garner relevant information regarding what a page’s content is about. When developing title tags, be sure to include relevant keywords (ideally towards the front) and be mindful of the length. Search engines generally only display the first 65-75 characters, so get straight to the point.

For help with search engine optimization, internet marketing, or web design, we’ve got you covered. At Supple, our aim is to help our clients gain a competitive advantage and generate high returns by utilizing advanced technology and some of the most talented professionals in the industry. For additional information on our latest projects and robust services, please contact us today!