Many people think of search engine optimization (SEO) as a bit of a dark art. But in reality, if your website is navigable and usable for human visitors, this will also hold true for search engines.
When you are creating a page, it is important to think about what your target audience would be looking for, and make sure that the information they need to make a decision is displayed prominently on the page.
The content of the page must match the search results that led the user to visit your page, so if the search results listed a page about a popular tourist attraction, the visitor would not be expecting a page about a hairdressing salon.
For example let’s say you are creating a page about a cat that is available for adoption. The page title should make this clear. You only have 60 characters for your page title, so ensure that unique information is placed first, e.g. “Tabby cat for adoption”. The page summary or excerpt to be displayed in the search results can contain more information, such as the age, sex, weight, health, and vaccination status of the cat. Once the visitor has clicked the link to visit the page, the page title usually matches the one displayed in the search results, and then key information like age, sex, weight, health, and vaccination status will be displayed in sub-headings. There will likely also be several photos of the cat.
The most important information should be displayed in the top-level heading (heading 1), and less important information in lower level headings (heading 2, heading 3, etc). Images should have alt text describing what the image depicts (this is important for accessibility).
Making your website accessible improves search engine rankings, because although search engines don’t rank for accessibility directly, they do add rank for user experience, and making your website accessible improves user experience.
If your website is directed at an international or global audience, it is important to provide localized content for visitors from different countries. It is important to select the right structure for your website address (URL), provide your website in the local language, and write the content in a way that is appropriate to the local culture.
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