Digital marketers understand the importance of search engine optimization to websites in the current digital world. Therefore, if you are developing a website, it is important that you understand some key SEO aspects.
If you are new to this, you should first learn a technical skill like coding or cybersecurity to understand the basics. Nonetheless, adopting specific SEO tactics during web development is a prudent way of ensuring that you position your website or eCommerce platform in front of a wide audience.
That said, below are some coding tips for SEO.
1. HTML Titles
HTML titles have always been an important signal that search engine algorithms use to understand the content of web pages. Titles not only inform visitors and potential customers about the content on your page but also search engines. Therefore, it is important that you ensure that they are descriptive and unique.
Essentially, titles are specified in the HTML title tag, which appears as a clickable link in the search engine results. As such, it should be concise, accurately map out the contents of your page, and include keywords that you want to rank for without stuffing.
In some cases, search engines can provide suggestions of optional titles that may be descriptive and appropriate to the pages’ content. Regardless, for better search engine results, ensure that the title contains specific significant terms.
2. HTML Meta Descriptions
Meta descriptions are another essential HTML tag used to suggest how the search listing will describe your webpage. Descriptions often appear just below the title headline in the search engine results. While it isn’t a specific ranking factor, it is an important success factor. Therefore, including a highly crafted meta description helps entice users to click your website over other suggestions on the results page.
Just like the title, search engines might not automatically select the description that you provide. Therefore, if you want Google or other search engines to use your title and description in the search engine results, ensure that both are highly representative of your document.
3. HTML Headings Tags
Headings provide a hierarchical way of subdividing and organizing key sections within your content. In the HTML codes, the primary headline has an H1tag, while other subheadings that break up the content into sections are wrapped in H2 tags and other tags. Attaching your headings to H tags creates special formatting.
Proper use of headings makes it easy for page visitors to scan the contents of the page and decide if the information provides value or answers what they were searching for. Note that using multiple H1 tags or none won’t affect Google’s algorithm. Therefore, sparingly use the headings to give search engines a good understanding of your page.
Also, don’t spam the headings with keywords but use them sparingly to make your content easy for search engines and users to navigate.
4. Data Structure
The data structure helps search engines to understand your webpage contents better. It is essentially a code format that enables search engines to learn more about your content. The analysis of data structure often gives search engines a rich snippet, which is a listing with additional bells and whistles that make the content attractive to users.
Highly structured data is beneficial for good search results. However, while it is not a strong ranking factor, structured data provides many benefits on the results page. For instance, unlike standard search engine results, structured data provides additional information and functionality that is attractive and beneficial to users. This leads to increased traffic.
5. Coding for Page Speed
Google admits that the speed of your webpages is an important ranking factor. Therefore, the faster your website is, the better for search engines and visitors. That said, you should employ several techniques to improve the speed of your web pages. Among them include integrating file compression software that reduces the size of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files larger than 150 bytes. It also optimizes the codes by eliminating avoidable characters and improves server response time.
6. Code for Language Tags
Websites with a global audience should upload their content in multiple languages. If you intend to use one language on your site, search engines automatically detect the language. However, if you want to present the same web content in multiple languages, you should find appropriate language tags, such as hreflang, that direct visitors to the right page while preventing your page from being penalized for uploading duplicate content.
7. ADA-Compliant and SEO Coding Practices
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) now covers the ease of accessing mobile applications and websites for people with disabilities. The SEO benefits of having an ADA-compliant app or website include higher visibility on search engine image searches and short snippets of text or featured snippets.
Making your website ADA compliant and SEO optimized is the best way to attain good organic traffic and other related digital marketing metrics. Therefore, when coding for SEO, website owners and developers must prioritize ADA accessibility in mind.
Here are some of the best ADA-compliant and SEO coding practices:
Create Descriptive Alt Texts
Descriptive alt texts are invisible descriptions of images. Online users using screen readers, like visually impaired individuals, need this website element so that images can be read aloud.
Readable Video Transcriptions and Tags
ADA-approved multimedia must have a readable transcript. You need to ensure accurate text transcripts. That way, you can provide descriptive and keyword-rich text to search engines. Videos should have a title, keywords, and descriptive text for online users to search your videos quickly.
Easy-To-Access PDF
Ensure your website’s PDF content is accessible by using an accessibility checker. Assistive technologies, like screen readers, utilize headings for scanning a web page. Include targeted headings to show the page’s structure clearly and help with SEO.
Besides the above info, you can check out connectivewebdesign.com for more information about attaining an ADA-compliant and SEO-winner website.
Coding for SEO
Coding and search engine optimization are two challenging aspects of digital marketing and a common concern for web developers and web owners. Fortunately, with some coding knowledge, you can easily design an SEO-friendly website.
The key is ensuring that you always design for humans and not search engines. Other key things to consider when coding for SEO include Facebook open graphs and twitter cards, sitemaps, canonical tags, and proper use of live pages.
