Search Engine Optimisation

Everyone wants their website to be well visited. A position at the top of the search results in search engines like Google helps. Search engine optimisation (SEO) helps with that.

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is used to achieve a higher position in the results. How well is your website found?

Make it easier for search engines to index your website by using search engine optimisation:

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) using friendly URLs

On a website, each page has its own URL. A good URL is readable, hierarchical structured but as short as possible, and gives much information about the page. A good URL gives visitors a good idea of the information that they will find on the page before they click it. Search engines use the URLs for indexing: the keywords are indexed. The less "slashes" in the URL, the closer to the home page gives an indication how important the page is for the site.

Sitemap

For visitors is an HTML sitemap a useful tool to see the structure of the website at a glance, and without having to navigate many clicks to deep pages. The same applies for search engines that you can server an XML sitemap. Normally, search engines index pages of a website. They go through a page and visit each link is listed on that page. Through an XML sitemap the search engine understands the structure at once, including information about how often a page is updated which might use the search engine to determine how often it should come by to index.

Breadcrumbs

A breadcrumb trail shows the hierarchical route of the home page to the page where the visitor is located. This is useful because if a visitor arrives at the website from a search engine, the navigation path then displays information about where the visitor is in the site. It offers the visitor to navigate an additional option. For search engines are handy crumb trails: crumb trails contain keywords, giving the structure of the website and can be displayed by search engines in the search results.

Semantic HTML

A web page that is built with semantic HTML displays in the HTML structure information about the importance of text on that page. An H1 headline will be more important than an H2 header. And an H1 headline will provide explicit information on the subject of the page, the text between <p> paragraph tags </ p> that follows. Search engines use it to determine context and significance of texts. Make sure the pages are structured semantically.

Why is Search Engine Optimisation important for your website?

Improved visibility and discoverability

If your website is well optimized, it appears higher in search engine results. This way, more people can find your website when they search for related products, services, or information.

More organic traffic

SEO helps you get more organic (unpaid) traffic to your website. People are more likely to click on websites that rank high in search results. This brings more visitors without needing to pay for ads. SEO is a long-term strategy: it takes time and effort to see results. But a well-optimized website can provide sustainable traffic and growth over time without constant advertising costs.

Improved user experience

SEO is not just about search engines, but also about users. By making your website more user-friendly, for example by improving the loading speed and ensuring it is mobile-friendly, you offer a better experience to your visitors. This increases the chances they stay longer, view more pages, and eventually take action, like making a purchase.

Competitive advantage

Most businesses optimize their websites for SEO. If your website is not well optimized, you risk competitors being more visible and attracting more customers. With a well-optimized website, you can compete and differentiate yourself from other companies in your sector.

Trust and credibility

Websites that rank high in search results are often seen as more trustworthy and credible by users. SEO helps build authority, which contributes to the trust visitors have in your brand or business.

How can you improve your website's SEO?

Keyword research

Identify keywords: Start by researching the keywords your target audience uses. These are the terms people enter into search engines like Google. Use tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ubersuggest, or Ahrefs to find the right keywords. Also, ask your best customers what keywords they searched for.
Long-tail keywords: Focus on long-tail keywords, which are more specific search queries with longer phrases. These tend to have less competition and can generate more targeted traffic.

On-page optimization

Optimize title tags: Ensure each page on your site has a unique and descriptive "browser page title" that includes the main keyword. Title tags are a very important ranking factor for search engines.
Improve meta descriptions: This is the description that can appear below the title in search results. While it doesn't directly affect rankings, it can positively influence click-through rates. Make the description attractive and relevant to the user.
Use keywords in content: Integrate keywords naturally into your content, especially in the first paragraph, headers, and URLs. Don't overdo it, as search engines penalize "keyword stuffing", the excessive use of keywords.
Optimize headings: Make sure to use clear semantic headings and subheadings with keywords (H1, H2, H3, etc.). This makes the content more structured and easier to read for both search engines and users.

Improve technical SEO

Optimize website speed: Faster websites are preferred by both users and search engines. Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to measure and improve your website's loading speed.
Mobile-friendliness: Ensure your website is mobile-friendly, as Google uses "mobile-first indexing." This means the mobile version of your site is more important for rankings.
Crawling and indexing: Make sure search engines can properly crawl and index your website by having a clear sitemap.xml and robots.txt file.
Use structured data: Help search engines understand your content better by adding schema.org markup. This can lead to better rankings and enhanced search result displays (e.g., star ratings, price information).

Content optimization

Unique, valuable content: Make sure your website has unique content that is relevant and of high quality. Search engines highly value content that answers the user's query and provides useful information.
Regularly update content: By frequently posting new articles or blog posts, you keep your website fresh and relevant. This can also help target new keywords.
Internal links: Link to relevant pages within your own site to guide users through your content and help search engines better understand the structure of your site.

Off-page SEO

Build backlinks: One of the most important factors for SEO is the number and quality of "backlinks", which are hyperlinks from other websites pointing to your site. The more authoritative and relevant websites linking to your content, the better your rankings.
Guest blogging: Write articles for other websites in exchange for a link to your own website. This can help build valuable backlinks.
Social media and content sharing: While social media doesn't directly affect your SEO rankings, it can indirectly help by driving more traffic to your website and potentially generating backlinks.

Improve user experience (UX)

Lower bounce rate: By providing a better user experience, you can increase the time visitors spend on your site, which lowers the bounce rate (the percentage of people who leave your site immediately). For search engines, a low bounce rate is an indicator of relevance and quality.
User-friendly navigation: Ensure your website is easy to navigate. Have a clear and consistent menu structure with logical internal links.

Analysis and optimization

Visitor analysis tools: Use Google Analytics or Matomo (the privacy-friendly alternative) to analyze your visitors, their origins, and how they navigate your website.
Google Search Console: With this tool, you can see how your website performs in Google search results. It also provides insights into which pages are indexed and areas for improvement on your site.
Screaming Frog: This powerful paid SEO tool allows you to analyze your website and improve technical SEO. It provides deep insights into how search engines crawl your site and identifies issues that may negatively affect your rankings.
Review and adjust: SEO is an ongoing process. By monitoring your rankings and traffic, you can adapt to changes in search engine algorithms and adjust your SEO strategy accordingly.

How we improve your SEO!

Technical SEO optimization

We make sure your website follows best practices for:

Speed optimization: we improve your website's loading speed, which is crucial for both user experience and search engine rankings. A faster website makes visitors stay longer and reduces bounce rates, which positively affects SEO results.
Mobile-friendliness: we also optimize your website for mobile devices. This is important for mobile user experience and for Google's mobile-first indexing, as the mobile version of your website is now the primary version analyzed by Google
Accessibility: by optimizing the website accessibility following the WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines), we improve usability and also help your site rank better in search engines.
Security: although SSL certificates (for https) are now standard and weigh less with Google, we help secure your website. We configure HTTP Security Headers to make your site even safer for visitors.

URL structure and sitemap

Optimize URL structure: we optimize the menu and URL structure to make them short and descriptive. This is better for visitors, and search engines like Google can index the pages more efficiently.
Crawlability and indexability: we also create an XML sitemap to give search engines insight into your website structure. We take into account the robots.txt file to guide search engines on what should or should not be indexed, making it easier for search engines to crawl the site and increasing the chance of better rankings.

Content and semantic HTML

Content structure: we advise you on how to structure your content for readability and scannability.
Semantic HTML: we also help you structure your content using semantic HTML. By correctly using H1 and H2 tags, you make it clearer to search engines what the page is about, which can help improve rankings.

Structured data and rich snippets

Structured Data Markup: we use schema.org to add extra metadata to your website's HTML. This helps search engines like Google better understand what a page is about. For example, on a product page, schema.org can specify the product, price, availability, and reviews.
Rich Snippets: we add rich snippets to your site via structured data, which can be used in search results. These could include star ratings, prices, or stock statuses, improving visibility and click-through rates.

SEO Training

We offer various SEO trainings for both beginners and advanced users to help you improve your website's visibility in search engines:

Basic SEO training: beginners with little SEO experience learn the basics of search engine optimization, including keyword research, optimizing title tags and meta descriptions, and improving the structure of your website's content.
Technical SEO training: for more advanced users, we offer training on technical SEO aspects, such as optimizing your site's loading speed, improving mobile-friendliness, and using structured data like schema.org. You'll learn how to help search engines better understand and index your website.
Joomla-specific SEO training: we provide specific training for optimizing Joomla websites, covering Joomla-specific extensions, URL structures, and using SEO tools within Joomla to achieve better performance in search engines.
Custom training: we also offer custom SEO training tailored to your website and business needs. These trainings can focus on specific goals, such as improving local SEO, increasing organic traffic, or using advanced analytics tools like Google Analytics and Matomo.

SEO analysis

We analyze your website based on the following SEO aspects:

Website crawling and audit: simulating a website crawl like search engines do. We analyze which pages are crawled and identify issues (404 errors, 301/302 redirects).
Meta-data and content analysis: analyzing title tags, meta descriptions, and headers (H1, H2, etc.) to optimize on-page SEO. By fixing missing or duplicate titles and meta descriptions, you can improve technical SEO for better rankings. We also check the length of titles and meta descriptions to ensure they're correctly displayed in search results.
Sitemap validation and optimization: we review your site's XML sitemap to ensure it's properly set up and includes all relevant pages, optimizing crawlability and indexability by search engines.
Robots.txt and noindex checks: we verify your robots.txt file and check for important pages that may be excluded from indexation ("noindex") by search engines.
Duplicate content: we check if your site contains duplicate content, as search engines penalize duplicate content with lower rankings. We detect identical titles, meta descriptions, or content so you can create unique content for better SEO results.
Image analysis: Missing alt texts can harm accessibility and negatively affect SEO. Large image files can slow down your website. We identify these issues so you can optimize your site.
Mobile-first: we verify if your website meets Google's mobile-first guidelines, which are increasingly important for SEO. This includes checking mobile page load speed and the compatibility of your site's mobile version.
Internal linking insights: we analyze your site's internal link structure. It's important for both search engine crawlers and user navigation. By identifying pages with too few internal links, we can ensure that important pages are better connected to the rest of your site.

Want to know more?

Structured Data Markup

For several years Structured Data Markup has been used within a web page to determine the context of texts.

Rich Snippets

A search engine like Google displays search results in the increasingly context-based information about the search results. Think of ratings (the rating asterisks), information about video, audio clips and authors.

Microdata

Microdata is an HTML specification to give using metadata (information about chunks of information) of the content on web pages context. As written on a website ratatouille, you can give context by microdata: Ratatouille is about the film Ratatouille (2007) or the French court Ratatouille?

Schema.org

The Microdata can only be understood properly if everyone uses the same context diagrams. Schema.org provides a collection of shared markup types that are used by search engines.

External variables

There are many variables that determine your position in the search results in, for example, Google:

The search history of a Google logged in internet user
The search history of a non-Google logged in internet user, e.g. based on IP address
The location of the user
The device (desktop computer or mobile phone) the user is using to search

With a search engine like DuckDuckGo in combination with incognito mode or another browser, you can disable many of these variables when searching for your own website.

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