What is search engine optimization?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing the website or webshop in favor of being visible in search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo.
Pages need to prove relevancy for the keywords that you wish the page to be found by. We namely focus on Google, since Google has the most popular search engine.
Base for SEO
Our websites and webshops have a great base for SEO. We mean that the factors that affect every single page, are all taken care of. Factors such as page speed, mobile friendliness, the page structure (header ... main ... footer), and internal links from the header and footer to the most important pages of your website, all form the base for SEO to enter the game with.
May a client want to be visible for certain keywords, then the base for doing so is already there and then the chance of success is only dependent on the content of the page, and then the structure surrounding the content is already optimized.
Visibility in search engines depend on a lot of different factors. Some factors way heavier than the other. Some factors can't even be changed, such as the age of your domain. That's why we focus on the base of a good website. Our clients use Yoast SEO for WordPress, which will give them a headstart when it comes to search engine optimization.
IntroductionHow do we optimize a web page?
In order to make a page rank for certain keywords, first that page needs to show relevance for those keywords. Search engines are looking for clues towards finding the main topics of a web page in order to rank them.
Presence of keywords in the main title
When a keyword is present in the main title of a web page, that will give a strong signal that this is part of the main topic of the page. Using a keyword in a sub heading, is also part of optimizing a page for visibility in the search results.
Step 1
Presence of keywords in the content
If a keyword is not present on the page, then the search engine will not find any clues pointing towards the page being relevant for it. We also make sure that the keyword is present in the first paragraph of the page, because that also indicates a stronger relevancy.
Keyword density is measured in percentages. Search engines do not use optimal percentages, but it is a good idea to make sure that the keyword is used a reasonable amount of times. It is possible to use the keyword way too often, which will be seen as spamming keywords in the eyes of the search engine (and reader, obviously). This bad technique does not work anymore.
Step 2
Presence of keywords in filename and description of images
When you use images to introduce or compliment a certain topic, it is recommended to name the image file so that it represents the topic, for instance: search-engine-optimization.jpg.
You can also provide a short description for an image, which would be visible to the search engine, which then would end up in the search results when searching for images. If the content of an image can be linked to the query that was entered in the search engine, then it is possible that the image will appear as a miniature in the search result.
Step 3
Internal linking
When a page on your website mentions a topic, which is the main topic of another SEO page on your website, then it is good practice to link to that very page which it's main topic is all about. That way you create relevancy for that page for that specific topic or keyword.
When a search engine discovers a page that receives only few links, that will give them the indication that the page is less important. It is important to link to the most important pages from your header and footer, but not to every single page.
Step 4
Meta title and meta description
Search results always consist of a title and a description. Those are called the meta title and meta description.
We make sure that the keywords are present in both the title and description, because those will turn into bold text inside of the description if those keywords are used in the query. This will increase the click-through-rate of your page in the search results.
The presence of keywords in the meta title and meta description do not have any direct influence to how good your page will rank, but it does have a great influence on the click-through-rate (CTR). If the search engine notices that not many people click on your page in the search results, which may be the top ranking page, then that would mean that the result does not match the searchers' expectation or that it may not be an appealing search result to click on.
This would cause the search engine to lower the ranking of your page for that search query. This means that the meta title and meta description has an indirect influence on the ranking of your page in the search results.
If a search engine gets the feeling that the meta description does not match up with the content of your page, then it will use a part of the content in your page that better fits the search query - in order to make the search result more relevant and appealing.
This happens pretty often. Sometimes this is fine, because often you write about multiple topics that are related to the main topic of your page. Those topics may not match up with the meta description that was written to match the main topic.
Step 5
Address of the page (URL)
Pages can be requested by using the address of the page. This address is called a URL. Such an address consists of:
- A protocol: http or https with :// behind it
- A domain: www.terluinwebdesign.nl
- A path: /en/search-engine-optimization/
Step 6
Keywords in the domain
A domain consists out of three parts:
- A subdomain (optional): www.
- A main domain: terluinwebdesign
- A domain extension: .nl
If the subdomain or main domain contains a keyword, then that will give your rankings a slight boost for that keyword. A domain extension tells the search engine what the main language of the website is. Do you want to rank in The Netherlands? Then make sure that you are using a .nl-extension. Search engines prioritize websites with a domain extension relevant to the language or country.
Step 7
Keywords in the path
The path is responsible for what page your browser requests from the server of a website. If that path contains certain keywords, then that will make the page more relevant to those keywords. This is one of the easiest practices of search engine optimization.
Step 8
What clients say
A selection of SEO pages written by us
Responsive web design
Responsive web design means that a website or webshop works great on all devices, namely focussed on the functioning of the web design on mobile devices, since the majority of traffic originates from smartphones. We take care of:
- Legible text on all devices
- Easy to use website
- Expandable menu on mobile devices
- Correct order and prioritization of content
- Visually stable layout
- Proper use of images
- Changes for a better experience on touchscreens
- Expandable product filters
- Back-to-top button
- Clickable phone numbers
- Clickable email addresses
The mobile friendliness of your website or webshop is very important for the visibility of your website in the search engines, because the search engine of Google prioritizes the functioning of your website on mobile devices over the functioning on desktop screens.
Search engines want to serve the best results to their users. You would appreciate a web page that works on your smartphone, too.
Page speed optimization
Page speed optimization is very important. Nobody likes slow websites. Despite that, every year web pages become heavier and heavier. In 2016, pages weighed, on average, a little less than 5MB (5,000,000 bytes). In the end of year 2020 that was already 7MB.
Source: https://httparchive.org/reports/page-weight
Luckily, the internet speeds improve alongwith that, but not every one has access to a great internet connection. The weight of pages is not the only factor that has an influence on page speed. The process of loading a web page goes as follows:
- Seeking the website's server
- Sending a request to the server
- Waiting for a response from the server
- Downloading files for styling and functionality
- Browser will render/paint/draw the website by using the downloaded files
Google uses user experience as a ranking factor using the Core Web Vitals. That's another big reason for page speed optimization.