Anyone who runs a homepage and wants it to be listed as high as possible in the Google search engine will quickly come across the keyword SEO optimization. SEO stands for “Search Engine Optimization” and means that the page is designed in such a way that the Google bot classifies it as high quality and useful for the user. The better the content of a website, according to the assessment of the Google algorithm, fits a search query, the higher its place in the ranking on the search results page.
So-called CMS, “Content Management Systems,” can help with these optimizations.
WHAT DOES ONPAGE SEO MEAN?
When designing web content to be search engine friendly, a distinction is made between on-page and off-page optimization. Off-page, SEO is mainly concerned with so-called backlinks, i.e., links that lead from external pages to the one to be optimized. The more backlinks there are, the better the website will be rated by Google. But the quality of the links also counts. It is essential, for example, that the crucial keywords are also mentioned in the headings because many bloggers and social websites use these headings as link names.
On the page, optimizations are the essential factors for a good search engine ranking and are more versatile than the off-page methods. They can be particularly strongly influenced by the authors of the text content of a website. The most important and well-known measure is the targeted use of so-called keywords, i.e., specific keywords that the user searches for using Google or other search engines.
WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT ONPAGE SEO TECHNIQUES?
Meta title and Meta description
Meta-information is a short description of a larger volume of information. In SEO, it refers to the title of a website displayed in the search engine list and the concise information text below it. Anyone who has ever searched something using Google knows how vital this short, mostly gray text can be when selecting the results. It decides – together with a memorable, “crisp” Meta title – whether the user clicks on the product or not.
The page title (also Meta title) can consist of around 55 – 70 characters and contain the most important keywords. The main keyword should come first. The website title should ideally only appear once on the entire website.
In the Meta description (Meta description), a call to action and a summary of the website content can be designed with a maximum of 156 characters (including spaces). To be more prominent, Unicode characters such as checkmarks or arrows can be used. It is essential to know that the Meta description is not evaluated directly by the Google algorithm, but that Google records the click behavior of the user. And with a good Meta description, a search result is clicked much more often.
Headings in H1 and H6
Every landing page of a website should have a meaningful H1 heading, but only one per page. All other subheadings should be formatted correctly with Hx. The Google bot rates the frequent use of subheadings and paragraphs positively, and such a text is more reader-friendly. The Joomla search engine optimization offers various ready-made templates that automatically format the page headings with H1. Using the editor, the titles can easily be set in H1 to H6, even without knowledge of HTML.
The internet lives from images
Images are particularly crucial for the appealing design of websites. Google also likes to see pictures, and users often end up on individual pages via the image search. However, there are a few points to consider:
- The image files should not be too large so that they can be loaded quickly. Before embedding it in a website, you should reduce image files accordingly. Too long loading times worsen the Google rating and also annoy users.
- The file should have a meaningful name and not just automatically generated numbering or a date code. Of course, it is best to have a file name that matches the image content.
- A short description of the image, the so-called alt tag, is often hidden in image files. The Joomla search engine optimization allows you to enter and change such an image description via the editor.
Breadcrumbs on the homepage
The so-called breadcrumb navigation contributes very well to a high search engine ranking and helps users with orientation. The breadcrumb navigation makes the route through the homepage traceable via several internal links, and the visitor can find his way back to the homepage or other levels more quickly—the Google bot rates high internal website links as positive.
The URL structure should be clean
As mentioned above, the SEO adjustment of the URL structure is more of an on-site optimization technique, but the boundaries are fluid. A “clean” URL is a critical evaluation factor for the evaluation of the search engine. Joomla SEO offers some useful tools for this, which can be activated with just one click using the “Search engine friendly URL” function. This tool changes the URL by removing unnecessary parts such as B. “index.php” or “.html” disappears.
Last but not least: the content
The content of a website should not be written for the Google bot, but the user. The content of the given text is, therefore, the essential informational value for the quality of a homepage. In addition to the correct presentation of information and exciting wording, the focus should be on clarity and rapid knowledge transfer. Otherwise, it is possible that the visitors quickly lose interest in the site.
The search engine ranking also looks for so-called “unique content,” i.e., content that is unique in this form. Copied text from other websites is an absolute no-go.
The keywords or keywords that users enter via the search engine should appear in the correct ratio on the website. The keyword density gives Google bot information about how heavily a particular topic is treated on the page. In this way, the search engine then knows whether the content could be useful for the user and whether it matches his search query. However, the keywords should not be packed too tightly in the text, as this would otherwise appear less valuable in the content. The longer a book is, the more often the corresponding keywords can be used in it.
WHAT ELSE AFFECTS THE GOOGLE BOT?
The Google algorithm records many factors to evaluate a website and display it accordingly in the ranking. For Google, an important metric for the quality of website content is the links it contains. These are rated according to their number and quality as well as the anchor text used (the book in which clickable, i.e., linked words, are contained). High internal links are also welcome and make navigating the website easier for the user.
Google also evaluates the quality of a website based on user behavior. If a user immediately returns to the search engine after a glance at the page, this is registered by Google as a “short click” and rated negatively. This is called “Return to SERP Rate,” where SERP stands for “Search Engine Ranking Page,” meaning the search engine result list. In general, high visitor numbers contribute to a fair evaluation of a search result.
Another tool that is rated positively by search engines is a sitemap. This can be easily hidden in the footer of a website and provides an overview of all sub-pages of a homepage.
Digital Bash 