SEO (search engine optimisation) sounds like a daunting challenge, but there are plenty of simple changes you can make on your site to improve search performance on the web. Often, these SEO-focused changes also have a beneficial experience to the customer too.
This year has thrown up all kinds of challenges, but here are five modern yet simple tips we recommend for 2020.
1. Use alt text to describe your images. This stands for alternative text and replaces the image when it fails to load. This piece of metadata also is used widely in disability aids, so for visually impaired people browsing the web, their tools often read the alt text out loud so they can picture what is there.
2. Go beyond alt text and rename your image files. You’d be stunned to see how many images on the web today are saved in a naming convention similar to “IMG_0502.png” or “i6587515.jpg”. Can you guess what these images are from the name? What about a naming convention like “elephant-on-bike.png” or “smiling-child.jpg”? Exactly! Naming your media files appropriately can give your site the edge and rank higher than one not using this nifty SEO tip.
3. Keep speed at the forefront of your design. Slow websites are the bane of all users. Google knows this all too well and often updates its requirements on what it classes as a slow website, penalising sites that are not optimised. If your site has a ton of old plugins, themes and media files that are no longer in use, delete them. Allow caching and performance tools to take advantage of technical knowhow.
4. Avoid plagiarism. Often, when creating a new site, clients like the look of a successful competitor’s attempt. Perhaps in the past they have even copied paragraphs or images, so they look just as professional. This is a no-no for any website wanting to rank. Google has come down increasingly hard on this over the years – its algorithms trawl the web and know the likelihood of your site containing plagiarised material. The grass is never greener on the other side, so create original content.
5. Invest the time into your website. It is said a website is never fully complete. Writing blogs, for example, ensures you are on top of current trends and keeps the site fresh. Plugin updates keep your site secure and provide cutting-edge functionality. Page updates provide useful, relevant information for visitors. A site that has been left will be left in the dust.
If you would like to know more about SEO, feel free to get in touch with Engage Web today.
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[…] week, I gave five straightforward tips to improve search engine optimisation (SEO) in 2020. This week, I have five more pieces of advice […]