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This article is part of an SEO series from WooRank. Thank you for supporting the partners who make SitePoint possible.
Search engine optimization is the collection of strategies, tactics and techniques used to rank highly in search engine results pages (SERPs) in order to increase the amount of traffic to a website. That’s the traditional answer you’ll find in featured snippets when you Google "what is SEO?" And it’s not wrong — it’s just a little incomplete.
The better, more accurate definition would be "the strategies, tactics and techniques used to rank highly in search engine results for the keywords used by your target audience in order to increase your conversions and reach."
Think of it this way: You own a pizza restaurant in your neighborhood, so you go about optimizing your site for pizza-related keywords. You do a really good job and now you rank in the top ten Google results for the keyword "pizza". The problem is, you’re a local shop and your site isn’t optimized for local search, so people looking for recipes, or the history of pizza, or the nutritional information of pizza are finding you, but maybe not people looking to order pizza in your neighborhood. This is a disaster because your customers aren’t finding you when they are most likely to convert into a sale.
Making sure the right people find you at the right time is what SEO is really all about.
Yes.
Since you’re reading about how to get started on SEO, you’ve probably already realized that you need it. But, if you’re still on the fence, here are some numbers that should convince you:
So search optimization is really important in getting your audience onto your site. But there is another really important reason for you to be doing SEO: your competitors are doing it too. That means not only is our poor pizza restaurant missing out on current sales, its better-optimized competitors are forming relationships with customers, improving brand recognition and repeat sales.
Since the goal of SEO is to rank highly in search results, your first step is to get your site crawled and indexed by Google. Submit your site to Google via Google Search Console, which doesn’t require you to have an account. If you do have a Google Search Console account, use the Fetch as Google tool in the Crawl section. When Googlebot successfully fetches your page, click the "Submit to index" button.
You can have Google index just the page you submitted by checking the box for URL, or have it index your whole site (assuming all of your pages can be reached by following your internal links), beginning with the submitted URL, by checking "URL and all linked pages".
You can submit your URL to Bing, which requires you to have a Bing Webmaster Tools account.
The next best way to get your site crawled by search engines is to get links to your site in as many (reputable) places as you can. Put a link to your website in the About section of your social media pages, particularly your Twitter profile. Make sure to link your website with your Google+ profile and set up a Google My Business account to link to your website. Not only will this increase your chance of getting your site crawled, it will help your chances of appearing in the Google Answer Box and optimize your knowledge graph rich snippet. If you’ve got a YouTube account for your business, add a link to your channel’s About page and your video descriptions.
The vast majority of these links will be nofollow, so they won’t actually help your ranking via improved link juice, but that’s not the point here. Crawlers still follow those link and will index the sites they land on.
Finally, consider adding a blog to your site. People typically think of blogs as tools for content marketing and on page SEO, but they can also provide a steady stream of fresh content. Sites with blogs have an average of 434% more indexed pages than those without.
Find a more detailed look at getting crawled and indexed by Google here.
Despite rumors to the contrary, keywords are still very much relevant to SEO and picking the right keywords to optimize your site around is a core component of a successful SEO strategy. The process by which you find those keywords to target is called keyword research. Here are the basic steps to keyword research:
First, discover how people are currently finding you via search engines using Google Search Console, and which keywords are driving your best converting users via Google Analytics. If your site is really new, or doesn’t get much organic traffic, get ideas from your products, categories or by answering the question "What is my website about?" or “What does my business do?” Find new keyword possibilities using a tool such as AdWord’s Keyword Planner from Google or Bing’s keyword research tool, among several other options.
Once you have a nice, long list of keywords you want to target, narrow it down to the those that have enough search volume to make them worth the effort. Google now prevents accounts that don’t reach a certain, unspecified spend threshold, from accessing estimated search volume data, giving only a range of monthly searches. However, you can still access keyword volumes using WooRank’s SERP Checker.
If you don’t have a WooRank Pro or Premium account, you can use Bing’s keyword research tool to find search volume. However, as Bing accounts for less than 10 percent of the market share of search, this data will only unlock the tip of the iceberg. Bing & Google’s keyword tools use PPC data. It won’t be 100% accurate, but it’s close enough to draw accurate conclusions.
When finalizing your keyword strategy, make sure your portfolio has a nice mix of head and long tail keywords. Don’t go overboard with either type. Head keywords will bring you lots of traffic, but it won’t convert very well right away and there’s a good chance you won’t rank very well for them unless you’re a rather big and well-established website. On the other hand, too many long tail keywords can convert like crazy, but won’t bring in enough users to be viable.
Learn more about forming a keyword strategy and doing keyword research here.
Keywords are a core part of SEO, but there’s more to it than that. You also need to build your site with search engines in mind. Here are the basic technical elements your site needs to improve its search engine optimization.
A robots.txt file is a simple text file in your website’s root directory. It tells search engine bots which pages can and cannot be crawled. It’s used mostly to keep search engines from indexing pages you don’t want to show up in search results like temporary folders or your legacy site after a redesign or migration. You can block all user-agents, none or individual bots. A very basic robots.txt file that blocks all user-agents looks like this:
User-agent: *
Disallow: /
Allowing all robots to crawl your whole site looks like this:
User-agent: *
Disallow:
You can disallow specific user-agents from accessing specific folders, subfolders or pages by including them as disallow lines under the relevant user-agent line. Some search engines will recognize the ‘allow’ parameter so you can give access to specific files in disallowed folders.
Be very careful with your robots.txt file. Accidentally disallowing all bots, or certain user-agents to the entire server, is a relatively common, and easy-to-make, mistake that can cause huge headaches for SEOs. For an in-depth look at how to use robots.txt, check out our guide here.
Sitemaps are xml files that include every URL on a website and give a few basic details about each page. A simple sitemap for a website with just one page could look like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding=”UTF-8”?>
<urlset xmlns="http://ift.tt/xwbjRF” xmlns:xhtml=”http://ift.tt/2bTDKEE;
<url>
<loc>http://ift.tt/2byyU2M;
<lastmod>2016-8-01</lastmod>
<changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
<priority>0.9</priority>
<xhtml:link rel="alternate” hreflang=”fr” href=”http://ift.tt/2bTCP7v;
</url>
Here’s a rundown of what that all means:
<urlset> is the current protocol for opening and closing sitemaps. It tells crawlers that the sitemap is starting.<loc> indicates the URL of the page. It’s required for every page on your site, while the rest of the parameters are technically optional. Always write your URLs uniformly and use the canonical version — i.e. protocol, www resolve, etc.<lastmod> is the date your page was last updated or modified.<changefreq> tells how often you update your page, which can encourage search engines to recrawl your site when you update pages. Don’t lie though — if search engines see the value in <changefreq>doesn’t match up with actual changes, they’ll just ignore it.<priority> tells how important that URL is compared to the other URLs on the site.<xml:html> lets you list alternate versions of the URL, like if you have a multilingual or international site.Your site will work and can get indexed without a sitemap, and they’re not a ranking signal. But having a sitemap makes the whole process easier and faster. Plus, the more information you give about your pages, the more intelligently search engines can crawl your site, meaning bots are less likely to waste their crawl budget looking at unimportant pages. Sitemaps are especially important when you’re adding new pages or launching a new site that doesn’t have many links, or any links at all. For an in-depth look at XML sitemaps, check out this guide here.
Canonical URLs help websites to prevent issues caused by duplicate content. They tell search engines where to find the original version of content that can be found at multiple URLs, showing them which one to list in the search results, and to combining link juice at a single URL.. There are all sorts of legitimate reasons you could end up with duplicate content: content management system, e-commerce product platforms and syndicated content. Search engines will see the rel="canonical” tag, know the content is a copy of the canonical URL, and pass on ranking information to the original page.
Rel="canonical” is implemented in the <head> of HTML pages and the HTTP header for non-HTML pages:
<link rel="canonical” href=”http://ift.tt/2fI8pbO;Links: <http://ift.tt/2eikNds;; rel="canonical”When you choose a canonical URL, pick the one that’s best optimized for users and search engines, and has content that is well optimized. Make sure you’ve set a preferred domain in Google Search Console.
This works as a www resolve and Google will take this into account when it encounters links to your site out in the wild. It will pass link juice, trust and authority to your preferred domain, maybe with www, even when someone else uses a link without the www.
Learn more about rel="canonical” and dealing with duplicate content here.
Writing URLs for both human and search engine usability is important — both have an impact on SEO. Use URLs to create a clear hierarchy of information so users always know where they are. Always use the canonical version of your URL (www resolve, https, etc.) and include folders, subfolders and the page, in that order.
URL structure is important to search engines because it helps them understand how that page relates to the rest of the site. Ideally the URL will be similar to your title tag, so it should include your keyword early on. Search engines look for keywords in URLs to determine the topic and relevance of a page.
Optimizing URLs will also help your backlink profile as people are more likely to use relevant anchor text for URLs that are well-structured and include keywords. This can help you to rank for these keywords. For a detailed look at optimizing URLs, check out this guide.
<H1> - <H6> tags, also known as headers and subheads, denote the headlines and subheads on your page. These tags, especially the <H1> tag, are very important for SEO. Search engines use HTML headers to establish:
Continue reading %SEO Bootcamp for Beginners%
Deciding to sell a website can be a life-changing decision. You've put in years of hard work, lost many nights of sleep and built your online empire into what it is today. The Flippa Marketplace makes it easy to sell your website, but the question on most people's mind is: when is a good time to sell? As a marketing specialist at Flippa, I've encountered hundreds of different reasons for why people decide to sell. Through this experience I've identified the top ten reasons to sell a website.
In a pinch for cash? Whether you have a wedding to pay for, credit card debt, medical bills, a new house, a new car, or a new business, there are some things in life that require a large amount of capital in a short amount of time. Selling your online business offers a quick way generate the income you need to stay afloat.
If the expected sale value today is more than the expected sale value in the near future, it may be time to seek the optimal exit. Every seller dreams of selling at peak performance, because this is often where we see the highest multiples being paid by buyers.
Have a new job and can't keep up with the maintenance of your online business? Want to spend more time with your family? Travel the world? Retire? These are all great reasons to sell your website. Making a lifestyle change will allow you to refocus your priorities so that you can spend more time pursuing your interests.
Many web entrepreneurs succeed due to their mastery of specific skills including web development, customer acquisition, social media, SEO, etc. However, individuals who are highly dependent on these skills to succeed may ultimately find it difficult to achieve sustainable growth. If you feel limited by your abilities, you may consider exiting at a premium to a buyer who has the necessary resources and skills to pick up where you leave off.
For some, the best part about being an entrepreneur is the startup phase. Bootstrapping a business and seeing it grow can be one of the most rewarding aspects of entrepreneurship. It is common for "start-up enthusiasts" to lose motivation and interest over time, as they daydream about the next big thing. If you find yourself in this camp, you might consider selling so that you can fund your next budding project and get back to the startup grind.
The fast paced lifestyle of an entrepreneur is not for everyone. Demanding schedules and always-changing priorities can create a chaotic environment where there is never a free minute. If you do not have time to manage your online business effectively, selling is usually a better solution than letting the business suffer a slow death.
Because sometimes we just get in way over our heads and can't handle what's thrown at us. If you're the captain of a sinking business, you might feel compelled to stay onboard until the last dollar is spent. However, a better alternative is usually to sell the business while it still has some value left.
Business feuds can be a cancer to productivity. Sometimes they become so bad that the successful operation of the business is no longer possible. When it hits that point, dragging out a feud will accomplish nothing but a reduction in exit value. Though it's not easy, it's usually a good idea to sell the website amicably and part ways.
Websites often evolve in ways we never imagined, and sometimes the way a website is used can vary dramatically from the original mission and intent of the owner. An example would be an online forum meant to facilitate anonymous discussions which becomes a breeding ground for explicit adult content. If you no longer align well with your own business, it may be time to step away.
Running an online business can be incredibly stressful and take a huge toll on the human body. Many entrepreneurs are so dedicated to their business that they forget to step back and breathe. If it's a matter of life or death, or overall wellbeing, it's probably time to consider an exit.
Once you've made the decision to sell, the fist thing you need to determine is your target exit price (i.e. the price at which you are aiming to sell). Ask yourself: is your website currently in a position to sell at that price? It is possible your website is positioned for a rapid exit, but it is also possible that the current valuation is well below the target price, in which case something will have to be done to raise the valuation, or the target price will need to be reduced.
As a general rule of thumb, most websites sell for a multiple of annual net income ranging from 1x to 3x, though this can vary wildly depending on the particular site being sold. Additional considerations include risk, sustainability, and growth opportunities. For example, the more sustainable and the more growth opportunities your site has, the higher the valuation it will command. If you are unsure how to perform a website valuation, you can use a website valuation guide to help determine how much your website is worth.
Continue reading %The Top 10 Reasons to Sell Your Website%
There are lots of file hosting solutions out there, but few things compare to Dropbox because of its simplicity, auto-sync feature, cross-platform support and other cool features.
As a PHP developer you can even take advantage of their API in order to create apps that use its full capabilities. In this article, you'll learn how to build one such app to perform different operations in a user's Dropbox account. You will be using the Dropbox API version 2 in this tutorial. If you want to follow along, you can clone the project from Github.
The first thing that you need to do is go to the Dropbox's developer site and create a new app.
Dropbox offers two APIs: the Dropbox API which is the API for the general public and the Business API for teams. These two APIs are pretty much the same, the only difference being that the business API is specifically used for business accounts, so team features such as access to team information, team member file access and team member management are baked into it by default. We'll use the former.
Once you've created the app, you'll see the app settings page:
From here you can set the following:
Continue reading %Build Your Own Dropbox Client with the Dropbox API%
In the early days of the internet, websites were primarily used to show text based information. Slowly, our connection speeds have improved and users have been able to download high-resolution images and videos fairly quickly. Now websites do a lot more than just provide necessary information in the form of text. Websites are becoming more complicated, with CSS and JavaScript frameworks, plugins galore and more. With all of this in play, loading all the necessary files for all of this can take some time.
A faster website can result in a better user experience, which can make a huge difference in a website's success. What can developers do to start making performance improvements? One thing that developers can do which helps greatly is to inline critical CSS and load non-critical CSS asynchronously. In this article, we'll cover these points one-by-one and help you improve your website's performance.
The critical CSS in your project is the CSS that's used to style the above-the-fold content of your website. Above-the-fold content is what users see on your website first, which can include navigation and other elements. So it's very important to properly style and render this part of the website as quickly as possible.
One thing that I would like to mention here is that your visitors probably use a myriad of devices with different viewports to visit your website. So, above-the-fold content is not going to be of much help by itself. To solve this issue, you should also consider any CSS related to the basic layout and typography to be critical as well.
Modern web development practices often recommend that you inline your critical CSS. It would be placed into your web page like so:
[code language="html"]
<!doctype html>
<html>
<head>
<title>An Optimized Web Page</title>
<style type="text/css"> (Your minified critical CSS would be here) </style>
</head>
<body>
(Your markup)
</body>
</html>
[/code]
If you head over to Google PageSpeed Insights and analyze one of your web pages, you might see warnings about optimizing your CSS delivery by inlining critical CSS and loading render-blocking stylesheets asynchronously.
Browsers won't render the above-the-fold content of your web pages unless they have loaded all of your CSS files. This can be a big deal when a lot of files need to be loaded.
Not all of your users will have a fast internet connection and waiting for the libraries, CSS and JavaScript to load before they can actually access the content they came for can be very frustrating. Even users with fast internet can loose connectivity in certain situations, like when they are passing through a tunnel. At this point, they would still be able to access the main content if your website has inlined critical CSS and doesn't load other files before showing main content.
The image below illustrates the difference between a regular and an optimized web page. As you can see, the optimized version will allow users to access the content about 0.5 seconds earlier. The improvements will be more pronounced when there are a lot of extra libraries that need to be loaded.
Continue reading %How and Why You Should Inline Your Critical CSS%
Model-View-Controller (MVC) is a design pattern for structuring software systems. The MVC pattern separates application logic from the user interface. MVC stands for Model, View, and Controller, the three main components of the MVC web application architecture. Each of these components should operate as discrete units. The discrete nature of MVC components is crucial for app maintenance and testing.
We often hear that the best way to write clear and concise code in Rails is by following the “Fat Models and Skinny Controllers” approach, which refers to how the Model and Controller in an MVC architecture should ideally work together. Having a “skinny” Controller (which is common practice) means that all non-critical logic moves to the Model; this simplifies testing and maintenance. However, we suggest taking the “skinny” approach a step further: put both your Models and your Controllers on a diet. Often we focus on Models and Controllers, but what about the View? The View can also be “fat,” and in fact, we believe that the View also should go on a diet.
Continue reading %The Basics of MVC in Rails: Skinny Everything%
