Together, SEO and web development can improve website performance and raise visitor traffic. Web developers can optimize a website for greater search engine ranks by using their knowledge of effective SEO methods and how to apply them. However, a lot of site developers, especially beginners, are not knowledgeable about broad SEO approaches and strategies.
Creating both user-friendly and search-friendly content is essential. Also, quick loading speed is a key aspect to be considered when building a website. All of this contributes to attracting more and more potential audiences to engage with the site. As a result, the SEO improves, thus, increasing the traffic. After all, the likelihood of losing a traffic source increases if Google fails to understand what a web page depicts.
So, in this article, we’ll discuss the SEO strategies that web developers should use to make sure their site complies with Google’s rules. These suggestions will also aid in making the website speedy, safe, and simple to use on multiple devices.
Let’s begin!!
Fundamentals of SEO for Web Developers
Use Heading Tags Appropriately
Heading tags acts as clues for search engines. Make sure to use the heading tags for content and not only for CSS shortcuts. Use them in order and accordance. For example, don’t use the H5 for the web page’s biggest heading and H1 for subtopics or subheadings.
Simply follow the hierarchy of how heading tags are utilized and represent the content and overall website well.
Ensure Quick Website Loading Time
Website speed is a key aspect that Google evaluates for search rankings. After all, slow webpage or site loading affects conversions and user experience.
Here, every web developer must follow the set of ways mentioned below to optimize the site speed.
- Keep the code clean and light.
- Stay careful when using extensions or plugins.
- Minify and compress CSS and JS.
- Ensure having a better hosting environment.
- Keep the size of the images optimal.
- Benefit from lazy loading.
- Browser caching is essential.
Remember if a plugin or extension is not-to-update, it can slow down the website’s functioning. Also, an image size of more than 10MB will impact the website’s loading speed.
Simply put, keep a check on all these factors and continuously improve site speed.
Check the Redirects
The website migration and the launch process is incomplete without the redirects.
Ensure that every URL from the previous website has a 301 redirect to the new website’s page with the most relevant content. The redirection can be performed from one old site to the new web pages. Even it can vary from many to one if your objective is to simplify or revamp the content layout.
Avoid assuming that a page is rendering correctly and doesn’t need any updates, modifications, or redirects.
Add a Sitemap
Every web developer must prevent the indexing emphasis on irrelevant pages, photos, or other items and avoid wasting time and resources.
XML sitemaps are a great chance for website developers to ensure search engines understand all the web pages. It is referred to as a file that provides information about webpages, site files, videos, and the connection between them all. Search engines need to be guided with hints about how the pages link to each other and all this is possible by adding a sitemap.
Keep your internal linking appropriate and relevant. The search engines will find it simple to crawl a site in this way. Additionally, confirm that the websites are included in XML sitemaps that affect a 200 server code. Keep the pages free of 404s or redirects that do not lead to the desired page.
Evaluate the Robots.txt File
No SEO effort is of use if the site fails to index and rank on the search engines. Here, checking the robots.txt file for what is written in it is essential.
Many sites failed to rank only because they disallowed the commands from staging. Here, considering blocking low-value items that CMS creates can be helpful. It can be anything like comment sections, tag pages, and more.
If it is challenging to keep the pages from generating junk, at least prevent them from being indexed.
Optimize the Website for Mobile-Friendliness
While the stats say 54.8% of website traffic comes from mobile devices, many websites still neglect the significance of mobile-friendliness. Google follows a mobile-first indexing approach to ensure websites fulfill the criteria of delivering an excellent UX.
The Google bots use the mobile version to crawl the site. Hence, if any site fails to perform on mobile devices, it loses the chance of ranking well on the SERPs. So, optimize the website for mobile-friendliness. It is best to use a variety of testing tools to determine how well the website functions on mobile. They can further recommend the modifications.
Understand the Implementation of Structured Data
For SEO professionals, the use of structured data might be rather difficult. Developers benefit much from it, though. They already know how to format the web page so that each element fits appropriately. They also know how to make the text simple to read for both people and bots.
Utilize the anchor sentences in the images as well. These are the clickable links that are typically present on CTAs such as “click here,” “learn more,” etc. People are better directed by it.
Website Security is Vital
Website security is a preferred and vital key aspect considered by search engines. After all, getting personal data hacked affects user experience. Therefore, make sure the SSL is accurate and placed appropriately and this is where the website security begins.
In addition, implement the fundamental security measures to prevent site flaws that could allow access to altered content, an injection, and more.
But stay careful of site speed, particularly if you utilize plugins or extensions to secure the site.
Final Words
Improving organic traffic is the main objective behind any website development. Hence, SEO is vital for web developers. Web development experts who are knowledgeable and understand SEO basics can go a long way in making a difference to the website’s success. In addition, website development can be more efficient.
If you are a website owner looking for web developers who can build well-performing websites with the knowledge of best search engine practices, we can help. Stellen Infotech has a team of experienced developers who know how to best optimize the website for Google-friendliness, ensuring that it is also an SEO-Friendly Website. Besides, we provide SEO services and paid advertising aiming to help ventures boost their online presence and help acquire customers via multiple channels.
Thus, helping businesses grow their customer base as well as distinguishing their online presence.
