Search engine optimisation,
search engines use algorithms to access the sustainablility and ranking of websites based on search terms.
Algorithms differ for each engine and are constantly updated as the web develops and grows.
What are the factors of search engine ranking?
On the page factors
-content
-HTML
-Architecture
Off the page factors
-links
-trust
-social
-personal
Violations
-irrelevant/ weak content
-spam
-paid for links
Strategies
Make your site easier to navigate- the navigation of a website is important in helping visitors quickly find the content they want. It can also help search engines understand what content the webmaster thinks is important.
Plan out your navigation based on your home page- all sites have a home or 'root' page, which is usually the most frequented page on the site and the starting place for navigation for many visitors. Unless your site only has a handful of pages, you should think about how visitors will go from a general page (your root page) to a page containing more specific content.
Ensure more convenience for users by using 'breadcrumbs lists'- a breadcrumbs is a row of internal links at the top or bottom of the page that allows visitors to quickly navigate back to a previous section or root page.
Use word in URLs- URLs with words that are relevant to your sites content and structure are friendlier for visitors navigating your site. Visitors remember them better and might be more willing to link to them.
Create a simple directory structure- Use a directory structure that organizes your content well and makes it easy for visitors to know where they're at on your site. Try using your directory structure to indicate the type of content found at the URL.
Prepare two sitemaps: one for users, one for search engines- a site map is a simple page on your site that displays the structure of your website, and usually consists of a hierarchical listing of the pages on your site. Visitors may visit this page if they are having problems finding pages on your site. While search engines will also visit the page, getting good crawl coverage of the pages on your site, it's mainly aimed at human visitors.
Make your site eaiser to navigate
Create naturally flowing hierarchy- make it as easy as possible for users to go from general content to the more specific content they want on your site. Add navigation pages when it makes sense and effectively work these into your internal link structure
Avoid:creating complex webs of navigation links, e.g. linking every page on your site to every other page and going overboard with slicing and dicing your content (so that it takes twenty clicks)
use mostly text for navigation- controlling most of the navigation from page to page on your site through text links makes it easier for search engines to crawl and understand your site. Many users also prefer this over other approaches especially on some devices that might not handle Flash or JavaScript.
Have a useful 404 page- users will occasionally come to a page that doesn't exist on your site, either by following a broken link or typing in the wrong URL. Having a custom 404 page that kindly guides users back to a working page on your site can greatly improve users experience.
-make everything relevant, make the links relevant to the information
-have text as links not images- i am now going to make my images and text links to make it easier for the user to navigate around my website
-make sure the file sizes of my images are not too large as it may take too long to load
-have a domain name that means something and is relevant- my domain name will need to to have 'signwriting' or 'signwriters' somewhere within it.
-make the home page simple- my website is going to be a single page design, I still need to make the home page as simple as possible for user to access all of the relevant information
-on each linked page make sure the user can be directed back to the home page- when the user clicks through to an article make sure they can get back to the homepage otherwise they could just go elsewhere
-save key words as image names will help my SEO
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