Updated 4/13/2024
SEO is one of those elusive concepts that everybody wants to improve but can be hard to nail down. Here are some tips to help:
- Make sure you have a page title that is unique for each page of your site
- Add a unique page description and don't just list keywords. Make it a short excerpt or summary of the page
- Add alt-text for photos or graphics
- Include links to other pages or content on your site - when it makes sense. Use keywords as anchor text for those links
- Include links to other pages on the web - when you have a good reason for doing so.
- Use headings in an “outline” format. Headings go from H1 to H6. H1 is the page title - don't use more than one H1 on a page. Don't use the headings to get the text formatting you want. Use the headings that make sense - H2 for main headings, H3 for sub-headings, etc. Then style them the way you want them to look.
- Check accessibility - use tools like accessibe.com's Website Accessibility Scanner or https://wave.webaim.org/ to evaluate your site. You can test your site for color blindness usability using filters like those at https://www.toptal.com/designers/colorfilter.
- Use language that includes keywords you want the page to be found for - but in a contextual way written for humans. Use not only the keywords but the supporting ideas and phrases. For example - chocolate chip cookies not only implies chocolate and cookies, it also implies baking, oven temperature, butter, flour, eating warm cookies with milk, etc - as well as varieties of cookies like chocolate chip pecan cookies. Keyword suggestions can help but search engines are able to detect the nuance and intention of your content so just write for humans that will read what you are talking about.
- Organize your site well and make sure it loads quickly (but use higher quality graphics if that makes sense for you - it might be worth a slight cost to your loading time).
- Give your user a great experience. The most important factor for SEO is that people find what they are looking for on your site because they will spend time there when they do. So knowing your audience, knowing what they are looking for, and giving them a good experience on your site is your best SEO tip.
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