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SEO for mobile and social media

SEO for mobile and social media

SEO for mobile and social media

With the ever-increasing use of mobile devices and the pervasive influence of social media, optimising for these platforms has become imperative for businesses aiming to expand their online presence. 

Understanding Google's mobile-first approach, which priorities mobile-friendly websites in search rankings, is crucial. Here, we delve into strategies to enhance SEO for mobile experience and leverage social media for maximum impact.

Google mobile-first

Google's Mobile-First Indexing.

Google's mobile-first indexing means that the search engine primarily uses the mobile version of a website's content for indexing and ranking. 

This shift underscores the importance of mobile optimisation. Given the prevalence of smartphones and the preference for on-the-go browsing, ensuring your website is mobile-friendly is non-negotiable.

Location based search

Mobile-Centric Search Results.

Mobile search results typically appear in a single column format due to the limited screen space. 

Moreover, Google often displays results as images or videos, emphasising visual content. Consequently, optimising images and videos for search is essential for mobile SEO success. 

Additionally, search queries on mobile devices often prioritise location-based results, leveraging the built-in GPS functionality. Therefore, local SEO optimization is paramount for businesses targeting mobile users.

Mobile search

Key Strategies for Mobile SEO

Responsive Design: 

Ensure your website is responsive, meaning it adjusts seamlessly to various screen sizes and orientations. This not only enhances user experience but also aligns with Google's mobile-first indexing criteria. 

Page Load Speed Optimisation: 

Mobile users are typically more impatient than desktop users. Optimising your website's page load speed is crucial for reducing bounce rates and improving search rankings. Compressing images and minimising HTTP requests are effective strategies for faster loading times. 

Image Optimisation: 

Utilise image optimisation techniques to minimise bandwidth usage without compromising quality. Employing responsive image styles and implementing lazy loading can significantly enhance mobile performance. 

Local SEO: 

Incorporate location-based keywords and meta tags to improve visibility in local search results. Registering your business on Google My Business and other local directories can also boost your presence in mobile searches.

Social media SEO

Leveraging Social Media for SEO

In addition to optimising for mobile search, integrating social media into your SEO strategy is essential for maximising online visibility and engagement.

Social signals, such as likes, shares, and comments, are increasingly influential in search rankings. Here are some strategies to leverage social media for SEO: 

Share Buttons: 

Include prominent social media share buttons on every page of your website to encourage visitors to share your content with their networks. This not only increases visibility but also drives traffic back to your site. 

Engagement and Interaction: 

Actively engage with your audience on social media platforms by responding to comments, initiating conversations, and sharing valuable content. Increased engagement can lead to higher social signals, which positively impact search rankings. 

Content Optimisation for Social Sharing: 

Craft your content with social sharing in mind. Create visually appealing graphics, videos, and infographics that are highly shareable on social media platforms. Incorporate relevant hashtags and keywords to increase discoverability.

Marketing Workshops

Try our marketing workshops for FREE

The first FREE introductory workshop will cover the business identity section of the branding development training programme. 

This 45 minute call will cover the following areas: 

  • Splitting your marketing activities into customer acquisition and customer nurturing marketing strategies 
  • Add clarity to your objectives by asserting a well defined USP 
  • Generate a business identity by presenting value and results combined with your passion to deliver 

The complete workshop programme includes Marketing Analysis, Content Marketing, Website Strategy, Messaging Strategy and Business Analytics. These workshops can be arranged as 45 minute telephone / Zoom calls to be held once a week (a time and day that fits). Those companies who wish to take this further can arrange one-2-one training or join an existing workshop group held on Wednesdays or Thursdays.

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Security and performance

Security and performance

Security and performance for SEO

In today's digital environment, where online threats loom large and user expectations for speed and security are higher than ever, optimising your website for both security and performance is paramount. 

Not only do these factors impact user experience, but they also play a crucial role in search engine optimisation (SEO) rankings. Here's a comprehensive guide on how to fortify your website's security and performance to enhance its SEO potential:

Security review

1: Security Review of Your Website.

Before delving into performance enhancements, conducting a thorough security review of your website is essential. 

This includes checks for various vulnerabilities such as: 

  • Safe file system permissions: Ensure that file permissions are set correctly to prevent unauthorised access to sensitive files and directories. 
  • Secure text formats: Implement measures to prevent dangerous code injection, such as PHP or JavaScript, in user-generated content. 
  • Safe error reporting: Configure error reporting to ensure that sensitive information is not disclosed to potential attackers. 
  • Protection against brute force login attempts: Implement measures such as CAPTCHA or account lockout to thwart malicious login attempts. 
  • Prevention of information disclosure: Safeguard against disclosing sensitive information, such as server configurations or directory structures, to unauthorised users. 

Regular monitoring and proactive measures can help mitigate potential security risks and safeguard your website against cyber threats.

SSL certificate

2: Correct SSL Certificate Installation.

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates are essential for encrypting data transmitted between a user's browser and your website, ensuring confidentiality and integrity. 

Ensure that your SSL certificate is valid for your domain and has not expired. Verify that your website serves HTTPS:// pages instead of HTTP:// to provide a secure browsing experience for users. A correctly installed SSL certificate not only protects sensitive information but also boosts your website's credibility and SEO rankings.

CSS aggregation

3: Performance settings on your website.

Optimising performance is crucial for providing a seamless user experience and improving SEO rankings. 

Utilise internal page caching mechanisms to reduce load times and server resources, particularly for dynamic content. Set maximum cache age based on the type of website and update frequency to balance freshness with performance. Additionally, implement CSS and JavaScript aggregation to minimize the number of files loaded, reducing HTTP requests and improving page load times.

GZIP compression

4: Compress HTML Using Gzip.

Compressing HTML files using Gzip compression can significantly reduce file sizes and improve website performance. 

Enable Gzip compression on your web server to compress HTML files before they are transmitted to users' browsers, reducing bandwidth usage and speeding up page load times. This simple yet effective optimization technique can enhance user experience and positively impact SEO rankings.

Insert this code in your .htaccess file:

<IfModule mod_deflate.c>
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/css
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/html
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/javascript
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/plain
 AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/xml
</IfModule>

Marketing Workshops

Try our marketing workshops for FREE

The first FREE introductory workshop will cover the business identity section of the branding development training programme. 

This 45 minute call will cover the following areas: 

  • Splitting your marketing activities into customer acquisition and customer nurturing marketing strategies 
  • Add clarity to your objectives by asserting a well defined USP 
  • Generate a business identity by presenting value and results combined with your passion to deliver 

The complete workshop programme includes Marketing Analysis, Content Marketing, Website Strategy, Messaging Strategy and Business Analytics. These workshops can be arranged as 45 minute telephone / Zoom calls to be held once a week (a time and day that fits). Those companies who wish to take this further can arrange one-2-one training or join an existing workshop group held on Wednesdays or Thursdays.

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Communicating with search engines

Communicating with search engines

Communicating with search engines.

As millions of websites vie for attention, effective communication with search engines is paramount for ensuring visibility and driving organic traffic. 

By implementing strategies to optimise your website's interaction with search engines, you can enhance its discoverability, indexing, and ranking potential. Here's a comprehensive guide on how to get your website to communicate well with search engines:

XML sitemap

1: Creating an XML sitemap.

An XML sitemap is a roadmap that helps search engines navigate and index your website's content more efficiently. 

It lists all the pages on your site, along with metadata such as last modified date and priority, providing valuable information to search engine crawlers. To create an XML sitemap, you can use online tools or plugins available for various content management systems (CMS) such as Drupal. Ensure that your sitemap is regularly updated to reflect any changes or additions to your website's content.

cron

2: Using cron to rebuild your XML sitemap

To ensure that your XML sitemap stays up to date with the latest changes to your website, consider using cron jobs to automate the rebuilding process.

 Cron is a time-based job scheduler that allows you to execute tasks at predefined intervals. Set up a cron job to regenerate your XML sitemap periodically, such as daily or weekly, to reflect any new pages, updates, or deletions on your website automatically.

Sitemap XML

3: Leveraging Google Search Console.

Google Search Console is a powerful tool provided by Google that allows you to monitor, analyse, and optimise your website's performance in Google search results. 

To get started, sign up for Google Search Console and verify ownership of your website. Once verified, you can submit your XML sitemap to Google and monitor its indexing status. Additionally, use Google Search Console to identify and fix any crawl errors, optimise your site's appearance in search results, and monitor search traffic and performance metrics.

Submit to Bing

4: Submitting to Bing webmaster tools.

In addition to Google Search Console, consider submitting your website to Microsoft Bing Webmaster Tools. 

Bing Webmaster Tools provides similar functionality to Google Search Console, allowing you to monitor and optimize your website's performance in Bing search results. Submit your XML sitemap to Bing Webmaster Tools, verify ownership of your website, and leverage its features to improve your website's visibility and performance in Bing search results.

robots.txt

5: Understanding the robots.txt File.

The robots.txt file is a text file located in the root directory of your website that instructs search engine crawlers on how to access and index your site's content. 

It contains directives that specify which pages or directories should be allowed or disallowed for crawling by search engines. To ensure that your XML sitemap is discovered and indexed by search engines, add a reference to it in your robots.txt file using the "Sitemap" directive. This helps search engines locate and prioritise your XML sitemap for indexing.

Marketing Workshops

Try our marketing workshops for FREE

The first FREE introductory workshop will cover the business identity section of the brand development training programme. 

This 45 minute call will cover the following areas: 

  • Splitting your marketing activities into customer acquisition and customer nurturing marketing strategies 
  • Add clarity to your objectives by asserting a well defined USP 
  • Generate a business identity by presenting value and results combined with your passion to deliver 

The complete workshop programme includes Marketing Analysis, Content Marketing, Website Strategy, Messaging Strategy and Business Analytics. These workshops can be arranged as 45 minute telephone / Zoom calls to be held once a week (a time and day that fits). Those companies who wish to take this further can arrange one-2-one training or join an existing workshop group held on Wednesdays or Thursdays.

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Adding metatags to your website

Metadata

Adding metatags to your website

Meta tags stand as silent but powerful tools that wield immense influence over search engine rankings, social media sharing, and user engagement. 

By strategically setting meta tags for your website, you can elevate its visibility, improve its search engine optimisation (SEO) performance, and enhance the user experience. Here's a comprehensive guide on how to leverage meta tags effectively to optimise your website:

Metatags for content

1: Choosing the title tag and structured metadata properties.

The title tag is perhaps the most crucial meta tag for SEO, as it directly impacts search engine rankings and influences user click-through rates. 

When setting title tags, aim for clarity, relevance, and conciseness, incorporating primary keywords to signal the content's topic to search engines and users. Additionally, populate structured metadata properties, such as meta descriptions, keywords, and authorship tags, to provide search engines with valuable context about your web pages and improve their visibility in search results.

Additional metatags

2: Assigning additional metatag fields for social media links.

Meta tags play a vital role in shaping how content is displayed and shared across various social platforms.

Assign additional meta tag fields, such as Open Graph tags for Facebook and Twitter Card tags for X/Twitter, to optimise how your website's content appears when shared on social media. By specifying titles, descriptions, images, and other metadata for social media sharing, you can enhance the visibility and engagement of your content on social platforms.

Hreflang tags

3: Using hreflang tags for multilingual websites

For websites that cater to a multilingual audience, hreflang tags are essential for serving the correct language and regional variations of your content to users in different locations. 

Hreflang tags signal to search engines which version of a page to display based on the user's language and location preferences, thereby improving the accuracy and relevance of search results for multilingual queries. By implementing hreflang tags correctly, you can ensure that users are directed to the most appropriate version of your content, enhancing their experience and increasing the likelihood of engagement.

RDF logo

4: RDF and Schema.org tags for semantic enrichment.

To add semantic meaning and context to your web pages, consider incorporating RDF (Resource Description Framework) and Schema.org tags into your HTML markup. 

These tags provide structured data markup that helps search engines understand the content of your pages more effectively, leading to enhanced visibility and richer search results. By adding schema markup for entities such as products, reviews, events, and organizations, you can provide search engines with detailed information about your content, improving its relevance and visibility in search results.

Marketing Workshops

Try our marketing workshops for FREE

The first FREE introductory workshop will cover the business identity section of the branding development training programme. 

This 45 minute call will cover the following areas: 

  • Splitting your marketing activities into customer acquisition and customer nurturing marketing strategies 
  • Add clarity to your objectives by asserting a well defined USP 
  • Generate a business identity by presenting value and results combined with your passion to deliver 

The complete workshop programme includes Marketing Analysis, Content Marketing, Website Strategy, Messaging Strategy and Business Analytics. These workshops can be arranged as 45 minute telephone / Zoom calls to be held once a week (a time and day that fits). Those companies who wish to take this further can arrange one-2-one training or join an existing workshop group held on Wednesdays or Thursdays.

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Control your URL strings

Control your URL strings

Control your URL strings

Controlling URL strings is a critical aspect of optimising websites for better visibility and user experience. 

By managing URL structures effectively, businesses can eliminate errors such as 301, 302, and 404 errors, ensuring that missing pages are handled correctly and URL strings accurately describe the content they represent. 

Here's a comprehensive guide on how to wield control over URL strings to enhance SEO performance:

Dirty URLs

1: Use clean URLs.

Clean URLs, also known as user-friendly URLs, are URLs that contain words instead of query strings, question marks, ampersands, and numbers. 

These URLs are not only easier for users to read and understand but also favoured by search engines for indexing purposes. When creating URLs for your website's pages, aim for simplicity and clarity, incorporating relevant keywords where possible to improve search engine visibility.

Manage changes with redirects

2: Manage changes with redirects.

As you edit your website content, changes are inevitable, and URLs may inadvertently move or change over time. 

To maintain SEO equity and prevent users from encountering dead ends, it's crucial to implement redirects for old URLs that have been moved or renamed. Utilise 301 redirects to permanently redirect old URLs to their new counterparts, preserving link juice and ensuring a seamless user experience.

Clean URLs

3: Generate descriptive URLs automatically

To streamline the process of creating descriptive URLs, leverage rules based on page titles and menu hierarchy to automatically generate URL strings that accurately reflect the content they represent. 

By aligning URL structures with page titles and site navigation, you can create a logical and intuitive URL hierarchy that enhances both user experience and search engine crawlability.

The Drupal CMS does this automatically for you with the Pathauto module.

Page not found

4: Catch 404 errors effectively.

404 errors, also known as "page not found" errors, occur when users attempt to access a page that does not exist or has been moved. 

To mitigate the impact of 404 errors on SEO performance and user satisfaction, implement strategies to catch and handle these errors effectively. Consider implementing custom 404 error pages that provide helpful information and navigation options for users. Additionally, leverage tools and techniques to identify close matches for missing URLs or automatically redirect users to relevant search pages to help them find the content they're looking for.

Marketing Workshops

Try our marketing workshops for FREE

The first FREE introductory workshop will cover the business identity section of the brand development training programme. 

This 45 minute call will cover the following areas: 

  • Splitting your marketing activities into customer acquisition and customer nurturing marketing strategies 
  • Add clarity to your objectives by asserting a well defined USP 
  • Generate a business identity by presenting value and results combined with your passion to deliver 

The complete workshop programme includes Business Identity, Marketing Analysis, Content Marketing, Website Strategy, Business Analytics and Messaging Strategy. These workshops can be arranged as 45 minute telephone / Zoom calls to be held once a week (a time and day that fits). Those companies who wish to take this further can arrange one-2-one training or join an existing workshop group held on Wednesdays or Thursdays.

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SEO Strategy

SEO Strategy

SEO Strategy

How to make sure your site is found on the search engines, simple steps to optimising your site. 

It is vital that the pages on your site are optimised for the search engines. The consequences are that your customers will not be able to find you. Information retrieval is the science of searching for information. All search engine algorithms are based on information retrieval theories and methods. These algorithms are closely guarded secrets, but knowing the fundamentals of information retrieval is the key to unlocking these secrets of search engine optimisation.

Search engine friendly

How the search engines work

Anyone who uses search engines knows the frustration of typing in a phrase only to find the results return pages about a similar – but unrelated – items. 

The companies running the search engines, themselves, are also aware of this and in order to make their results more accurate, they are turning to increasingly sophisticated information retrieval techniques. 

Gone are the days when improving your ranking on the search engines was a simple case of repeating a number of keywords and phrases on your pages. In the past, to achieve page one ranking, all you needed to do was to have more keywords on your pages than any of your competitors. Now the search engines regard this as spamming. 

More about search engine optimisation
Research

Writing search engine friendly content

What you can do to give your pages a powerful advantage. 

The 7 steps revealed:

  1. Keep your pages as uncluttered as possible
  2. Use met tags
  3. Aim to comply with formatting standards
  4. Research your keywords
  5. Use correct grammar
  6. Use synonyms and metaphots
  7. Keep your test tight
More about search engine friendly
Control your URL strings

Control your URL strings

Controlling URL strings is a critical aspect of optimising websites for better visibility and user experience. 

By managing URL structures effectively, businesses can eliminate errors such as 301, 302, and 404 errors, ensuring that missing pages are handled correctly and URL strings accurately describe the content they represent. 

More about control your URL strings
Metadata

Adding metatags to your website

Meta tags stand as silent but powerful tools that wield immense influence over search engine rankings, social media sharing, and user engagement. 

By strategically setting meta tags for your website, you can elevate its visibility, improve its search engine optimisation (SEO) performance, and enhance the user experience. Here's a comprehensive guide on how to leverage meta tags effectively to optimise your website:

More about adding metatags to your website
Communicating with search engines

Communicating with search engines

Effective communication with search engines is essential for optimising your website's visibility and driving organic traffic. 

By creating an XML sitemap, indexing appropriate content, using cron to rebuild your sitemap regularly, leveraging Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, and understanding the robots.txt file, you can enhance your website's interaction with search engines and maximise its potential for success in search results.

More about communicating with search engines
SEO tools and automation

Page optimisation

SEO page optimisation is a multifaceted endeavour that requires careful planning, strategic execution, and continuous monitoring. 

By incorporating elements such as breadcrumbs, internal linking, W3C validation, Yoast SEO analysis, SEO Diff tracking, and content scheduling into your optimisation strategy, you can enhance your website's visibility, usability, and ranking potential in search engine results. 

Stay vigilant, adapt to changing SEO trends, and continually refine your optimisation efforts to achieve long-term success in the competitive digital landscape.

More about page optimisation
SEO for mobile and social media

SEO for mobile and social media

Optimising for mobile experience and leveraging social platforms are essential components of a successful SEO strategy. 

By ensuring your website is responsive, optimising for local search, and actively engaging with your audience on social media, you can enhance your online visibility, drive traffic, and improve search rankings. Embrace these strategies to stay ahead in the ever-evolving digital landscape.

More about SEO for mobile and social media
Security and performance

Security and performance for SEO

Prioritising security and performance optimisations is essential for maintaining a competitive edge in today's digital landscape. 

By conducting regular security reviews, ensuring correct SSL certificate installation, optimising performance settings, and implementing Gzip compression for HTML files, you can enhance your website's security, speed, and SEO potential. Stay vigilant, keep abreast of emerging threats and trends, and continuously refine your website's security and performance strategies to achieve long-term success.

More about security and performance
Marketing Workshops

Try our marketing workshops for FREE

The first FREE introductory workshop will cover the business identity section of the branding development training programme. 

This 45 minute call will cover the following areas: 

  • Splitting your marketing activities into customer acquisition and customer nurturing marketing strategies 
  • Add clarity to your objectives by asserting a well defined USP 
  • Generate a business identity by presenting value and results combined with your passion to deliver 

The complete workshop programme includes Marketing Analysis, Content Marketing, Website Strategy, Messaging Strategy and Business Analytics. These workshops can be arranged as 45 minute telephone / Zoom calls to be held once a week (a time and day that fits). Those companies who wish to take this further can arrange one-2-one training or join an existing workshop group held on Wednesdays or Thursdays.

I'm interested in
I am*
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