Indeed, the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) procedure has the potential to propel a website's success to new heights. Nonetheless, the majority of Web Developers believe that learning SEO skills for Web Development is unnecessary.
Let's imagine a scenario in which a Web Developer creates an appealing and technically proficient website while ignoring SEO considerations.
With over a billion websites available on the internet, it is becoming increasingly difficult for search engines to rank such unoptimized websites in top rankings, resulting in fewer traffic and poorer conversion rates.
As a result, Web Developers must study and care about SEO in addition to other technical abilities while designing a website. Furthermore, if you're a Web Developer, having adequate Search Engine Optimization abilities can open up a plethora of exciting employment prospects!!
Before we continue, let's take a quick look at the SEO Process. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the technique of increasing the ranking of a website in search engines in order to increase traffic and conversion rates.
However, SEO is a never-ending and repeating activity, but it is especially important in the early phases of website creation. As a result, Web Developers should learn SEO and create an SEO-friendly website for the best results!!
Now, let's look at some of the primary advantages of adopting Search Engine Optimization Process during Website Development:
It improves the site's rating, which helps to attract more visitors.
It contributes to the enhancement of a website's user experience and usability.
It also assists websites in achieving greater ROI and conversions.
An SEO-friendly website enhances website speed and security, among other things.
Okay, so you already know that SEO abilities are quite important for Web Developers. Furthermore, let's go over a few key features of SEO that a developer should bear in mind while creating a website:
1. Improved Site Architecture
This is the first and most important step that a Web Developer must complete - create an efficient website architecture! Website architecture is mostly concerned with the structure of your site, such as how your site's navigation works, how the pages are aligned and interrelated, and so on.
An efficient website architecture not only helps search engine crawlers locate and index the website, but it also enhances the user experience and website credibility.
Although website design is determined by the website domain and specialty, there are numerous common suggestions that a Web Developer should follow, such as Flat Site architecture.
2. Correct Title Tag
Although it appears to be a small SEO feature, it is critical in website building. In general, a title tag is an HTML element that defines the title of a web page. A website must have an optimized and acceptable title tag since it is presented to users on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) for a certain query.
As a result, Web Developers must keep in mind that it should be relevant and succinct in relation to the website content. Furthermore, title tags are shown at the top of your web browser and during social sharing.
3. Useful Meta Description
Meta Description, like Title Tags, is an HTML element that represents a brief overview of a website or web page. It is frequently shown on Search Engine Results Pages, increasing the website's click-through rate.
However, while Meta Description is not required because search engines extract information from the web page, site developers are strongly advised to utilize well-optimized and relevant meta descriptions for better results. Furthermore, you should utilize 155–160 characters to develop a distinctive meta description.
4. URLs that are optimized
Yes, you read that correctly! You must also work on URLs to match SEO standards and improve user experience. A Uniform Resource Locator, or (web address), refers to the location of a web page on the internet.
Indeed, an optimal and well-optimized URL assists both search engines and people in determining the specialization of the corresponding web page. It should be brief and in the best possible format. Meanwhile, Web Developers should concentrate on other URL-related issues such as URL Canonicalization, transferring one URL to another URL (Redirects), and others.
5. Meta Robot Tags
Meta Robot Tags are an important aspect of SEO during website building since they tell search engines how to crawl or index web pages and what to follow and what not to follow in the website content.
There are several settings for robot meta tags, such as Index / Noindex to teach search engines whether to crawl the web page or not, Follow / Nofollow to guide search engines whether to crawl the links on the page or not, and so on. Furthermore, X-Robots-Tag can be used as an HTTP response header element.
6. Structured Data
Structured Data is concerned with organized data or information about a website that helps search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and others comprehend what the website (or web pages) is all about. This code must be embedded on the website by web developers in order to increase the site's rankings and reputation.
Furthermore, Schema.org is the most suggested structured data markup strategy for SEO purposes. Structured data may be marked up in a variety of forms, including Microdata, JSON-LD, RDFa, and many more.
7. Correct Linking
Indeed, linking has long been regarded as one of the most important and effective SEO practices for a website. It is also necessary that developers consider it during the development stage.
However, while developing a website, you should place a greater emphasis on internal links to help search engines grasp the site structure and to make the navigating process easier for consumers. If the web pages are not linked to one another, search engines will have difficulty crawling and indexing them and will not display them in SERPs.
8. Improved Page Loading Speed
Regardless of how many innovative features you include, if you create a website with a poor page loading time, no one on the world will appreciate it!!
Google has also identified page speed as one of its ranking variables for ranking websites. Indeed, a faster page loading speed is required for a website to give better user experiences and meet SEO goals.
As a result, Web Developers must work on numerous elements to increase page loading speed, such as reducing redirection, optimizing images and codes, using browser caching, and so on.
9. Website Responsiveness
As the number of smartphone users grows, developers must create websites that are suitable with mobile phones as well as desktop, PCs, and other platforms.
And so we arrive at the scenario of Responsive Websites! It is concerned with websites that do not require distinct versions of a website to function on numerous devices, but rather are adaptable to run on any device successfully. Aside from the viewpoints of users, mobile-friendly websites are also favoured by search engines since they match the SEO requirements.
10. Website Security
Last but not least, one of the most important SEO criteria for a developer to consider while creating a website is its security.
HTTPS is already a ranking indication, and there are other characteristics that suggest secure websites are preferred by search engines for ranking. Aside from Search Engine Optimization, website security is crucial to avoid data loss, data breaching, and other related issues, as well as to establish reliability and authenticity among users.
Pack up
So, these are the primary Search Engine Optimization considerations that developers must consider while creating a website. Furthermore, there are several additional things to consider during website building, such as local search optimization, conversion rate optimization, and so on.
As a result, Web Developers are highly advised to master SEO skills and further apply the information on their next projects in order to make the websites more desirable and profitable, as well as to generate better user experiences!!
Next Read: How Much Will It Cost to Build a Website? (A Reference Guide)
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