Optimization of the website

Website optimization focuses on improving website speed, user-friendliness, and visibility to search engines to increase visitor numbers and page efficiency.

Written by:
April 22, 2024
Author:
Pearu

Website Optimization - What Does It Mean?

Website optimization refers to a number of activities aimed at improving the performance, user experience and visibility of a website in search engines. This includes a range of activities from technical improvements to content development to ensure the effectiveness and competitiveness of the website on the Internet. The main objectives of website optimization are:

  • Search Engine Optimization (SEO): There is internal web page and web page external SEO. Both aim to improve a website's position on search engine result pages (SERPs) to increase organic traffic. This includes the analysis and use of keywords, improving the quality of content, optimizing meta-descriptions and titles, and having referrals from other portals.
  • Improving technical SEO: Ensure the technical correctness of the website so that search engines can index and rank it effectively. This includes optimizing the site structure, organizing URLs, managing 404 pages, using HTTPS, creating a sitemap, and configuring the robots.txt file.

What is SEO?

SEO, or search engine optimization, is a process that aims to increase the visibility of a web page in search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo. SEO includes a variety of strategies, techniques, and best practices that aim to improve a web page's position in search results for certain keywords or phrases. The main goal of SEO is to attract high-quality and targeted traffic to a web page through organic (free) search results.

SEO can be mainly divided into two areas − On-page SEO (on-page SEO) and off-page SEO (off-page SEO). SEO requires constant monitoring of innovations and adjusting strategies to respond to changes in search engine algorithms. A successful SEO strategy involves long-term commitment and consistent work to achieve and maintain high positions in search results.

Source Reference - https://www.semrush.com/blog/what-is-seo/

Website inbound SEO (On-page SEO)

On-Page SEO (On-Page SEO) is a website optimization strategy that focuses on improving the content and structure of the site in order to raise its position in search engine results. This process involves a number of elements that are designed to make a web page more attractive to search engines and users. Below you will find some of the main areas that are paid attention to in on-page SEO.

Research and use of keywords
  • Keyword Research: Before creating content, it's important to do some research to understand what keywords your target audience is using. This involves identifying specific terms and phrases that potential visitors use in search engines.
  • Keyword integration: When creating optimized content, it is important to use keywords appropriately, including in titles, subheadings, main text, URLs, meta-descriptions, and alt texts in images. The natural use of keywords helps to improve the ranking of the page in search results.

Quality of content
  • Valuable and relevant content: High-quality, relevant and useful content must be provided that meets or exceeds user expectations. Content should be informative, well-written, and offer solutions to visitors' questions or problems.
  • Uniqueness: It is important to ensure the originality of the content to avoid duplicate content problems that can affect the position of the page in the search results.

Technical elements
  • Meta-Descriptions: The unique meta-description of each page should briefly describe the content of the page, include important keywords, and encourage users to click.
  • URL structure: Clear and logical URLs that contain keywords improve the page's comprehensibility for both users and search engines.
  • Headings (H1, H2, H3, etc.): Properly used hierarchy of titles helps to structure content and make it scannable for both users and search engines.

External SEO of the website (off-page SEO)

Off-Page SEO (Off-Page SEO) refers to the methods of optimizing a web page that take place outside the home page with the aim of improving its position in search engine results. Unlike internal page SEO practices, which focus on improving the content and structure of a web page, external page SEO involves activities that increase the authority, credibility and visibility of the web page on the internet.

Building Backlinks (backlink)

One of the most important components of off-page SEO is backlinks, or Backlink. A backlink is a link that links to your website from another website. Search engines such as Google use backlinks as one of the most important signals in assessing the authority and relevance of a web page. High-quality and relevant backlinks can significantly improve your website's position in search results.

Source Reference - https://launchsiteboost.com/blog/what-are-backlinks/

How to choose keywords?

When optimizing a website, selecting keywords is an important process that helps to increase the visibility of the web page in search engines and attract traffic corresponding to the target audience. Choosing good keywords requires a strategic approach and thorough analysis. Here are some steps and tips on how to choose effective keywords:

Understand your target audience
  • Know the needs of your target audience: Think about the types of search queries your potential customers could use to find the products or services you offer. For example, if you offer a cleaning service, possible search queries could be “cleaning service in Tallinn” or “cleaning companies”.
  • User Intent: Understand the different search intentions (searching for information, making a purchase, etc.) and choose keywords according to what stage in the customer journey they are at.

Use keyword research tools
  • Keyword Research Tools: Use tools such as Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, Ahrefs, Moz Keyword Explorerand others to find related keywords, assess their search volume and level of competition.
  • Analyze competitors: See what keywords your competitors are using and consider whether some of them might be useful to you as well.

Source Reference - https://ahrefs.com/keywords-explorer

Choose keywords according to relevance and competition
  • Significance: Choose the keywords that are most relevant to the content of your website and the products/services you offer.
  • Competitiveness: Keywords with less competition can be a good target at the beginning, as they make it easier to achieve higher positions in search results.
  • Balance between search volume and competition: Try to find a balance between high search volume and lower competition. Don't forget to include long keywords that are more specific and may have a lower search volume but a higher conversion rate.

Test and optimize
  • Monitoring and analysis: After implementing keywords on your website, track their impact on traffic and conversions. Use Google Analytics and Search Console to measure success and make changes if necessary.
  • Continuous optimization: SEO is an ongoing process. Keyword effectiveness can change over time, so it's important to stay on top of trends and adjust your strategy if necessary.

Choosing keywords is part of an SEO strategy that helps drive targeted traffic to your website. By dedicating time and resources to in-depth keyword research and analysis, you can build a solid foundation for improving your website's visibility in search engines.

Technical SEO

Technical SEO is an important component of the website optimization process that focuses on improving the technical aspects of a website to ensure better indexing and better positions in search engine results. Technical SEO helps search engines better understand and index your website, which in turn can improve the visibility of the page in search results.

Website speed

Website speed is a critical factor for both user experience and search engine optimization (SEO). Websites that load quickly provide a better user experience, which in turn ensures a lower Bounce rate, longer page visits and higher conversion rates. Google and other search engines have reported that page load speed is one of the ranking factors of the algorithm, so it is important to optimize the speed of the web page to improve visibility in search results.

Source Reference - https://www.woorank.com/en/blog/website-speed-test-tools

How to optimize the speed of the website?
  • Image Optimization: It would be wise to reduce the file size of images without significantly sacrificing quality. For this you can use various tools, you only need to google “online image optimizer”. Prefer formats such as WebP, which offers better compression quality compared to traditional formats such as JPEG and PNG.
  • Page loading techniques: Apply lazy charging (lazy loading)for non-critical resources, which means that resources are loaded only when they are visible on the user's screen. Use asynchronous or delayed script loading to avoid blocking loading that slows down page rendering.
  • Cache(cache)Usage: Configure the browser cache to allow repeat users to load pages faster by storing certain resources on the user's device. Wordpress has several plugins for this, such as “WP Rocket”.
  • Network and Server Optimization: Choose a quality web hosting that offers enough resources and is geographically close to your target audience. Implement content delivery network (CDN), which distributes your content to multiple servers around the world, thereby reducing loading time.
  • Optimization of the code: Minimize CSS, JavaScript, and HTML by removing unnecessary spaces, comments, and code duplications to reduce file size.

Mobile-friendly

Mobile friendliness is a critical aspect of web design and search engine optimization (SEO) today, which focuses on optimizing a website for use on mobile devices. The purpose of a mobile-friendly website is to ensure that visitors using smartphones and tablets can browse the website comfortably.

Mobile friendliness has a direct impact on user experience, page visits, and ultimately the position of the web page in search engine results.

Logical URL structure

The logical structure of URLs is an important aspect of website design that improves both the user experience and the SEO of the homepage. This means organizing URLs based on a clear and understandable hierarchy that reflects the structure of the content of the web page. A good URL structure helps users and search engines understand what information a page contains before they click on it.

For example, instead of using a URL like www.näide.ee/toode123, use a slightly more detailed URL, such as www.näide.ee/mene-shoes/boots/product123. This structure provides a clear overview of the hierarchy of the website, starting from a broader category (men's shoes) to a narrower subcategory (boots), ending with a specific product (product123).

In addition, the logical structure of URLs helps the owners of the website to better manage the content and make changes if necessary without much confusion. It is also useful for link building and sharing, as users and search engines prefer clarity and comprehensibility, which in turn can improve the positioning of a web page in search results.

Avoiding Duplicate

Avoiding duplication is an important part of optimizing a web page to ensure that each tab is unique. The presence of duplicate content can confuse search engines which page to prioritize when indexing and ranking, which can negatively affect the SEO results of the web page. To solve this problem, you should use canonical tags(rel="canonical”), which signal to search engines which version of duplicate pages should be considered the main one and indexed.

Source Reference - https://www.stanventures.com/blog/canonical-urls-a-beginners-guide-to-canonical-tags/

It is also important to monitor and redirect old URLs to prevent content from recurring, and to ensure that the content management system does not automatically create duplicate pages. In addition, reviewing content regularly and replacing repetitive texts with unique content helps to avoid duplication problems and improve the overall quality of the web page and search engine visibility.

XML sitemap and robots.txt

XML sitemap and robots.txt file are important components of website technical SEO. An XML sitemap is a file that contains links to all the important pages of a web page, helping search engines like Google to find and index the content of a web page more efficiently. This improves the visibility of the web page in search engines, ensuring that all important pages are found.

Robots.txt is a text file located in the root folder of a web page(root), instructing search engine bots which pages should be visited or indexed and which should not. This allows website owners to control what content is being indexed, thereby optimizing search engine results and website security.

Website architecture and internal links

Website architecture refers to the way pages are organized and interconnected, providing a clear and logical journey for users and search engines. A well-planned architecture helps improve the navigability of the page, increasing the user experience and helping search engines index the web page better.

Internal links, which lead from one page to another on the same web page, direct traffic to important pages and distribute the authority of the page, helping to improve the positions of the pages in search results. Strategically placed internal links strengthen the link between pages and improve the overall SEO of the homepage.

Source Reference - https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/website-architecture

In conclusion

Hopefully, this article provided a bit more in-depth insight into various strategies and practices related to improving website performance, user experience, and search engine visibility. From understanding the importance of SEO to implementing technical improvements such as website speed and mobile friendliness, this article highlights a versatile approach to website optimization.

Disenjador understands the intricacies of website optimization and offers expert help to ensure that your website achieves the best possible performance and visibility in search engines. We are here to help you navigate through the complex world of SEO and ensure that your website attracts quality traffic. Contact us to discuss how we can achieve your website optimization goals.

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