Tips on SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)

• Keywords are words or phrases that a searcher enters into search engines, also called “search terms or queries”. The keywords on your website, make it possible for people to find your site via search engines.
• Keywords help us to rank higher on the SERP, by implementing them into your website content.
• The first step when deciding what keywords to target is to think “What would a user search while trying find my site” and “What keywords are relevant to these webpages”.

• If you want users to find and return to your site, you need content that is good quality and original.
• Original content shows the user your expertise and enables them to build a relationship with you. Search engines, such as Google, will also reward original content, increasing page ranking. 
• Your content should also be of good quality – i.e. comprehensive and factual. This means the content you publish should answer everything a user might want to know about the topic. This also helps show search engines that you’re an authority on the topic, benefiting your rank in the SERP.

• Header tags are used to separate headings and subheadings on a webpage. They rank in order of importance, with H1s usually being the title. These are the section titles or that users see on the page.
• H1 — The main title of a page. This should contain the main keyword your content is focusing on. There should only be one H1 per page.
• H2 — These are subheadings which are used to improve readability of the content – A main paragraph heading would be a H2. These should ideally include semantic keywords related to the H1.
• H3 — These are subsections that clarify the points made in the H2 further. Alternatively, they can be used in formatting lists or bullet points. 

• Metadata includes the titles and descriptions which tell search engines and users what your site is about – This is the title and description for the page which is going to show up on the search results under the URL.
• It is a positive ranking factor if your metadata contains a keyword. Well written and compelling metadata can also attract more users to click to your website from the search engine results.
• Ensure your title and meta description are unique for every page.
• Meta Descriptions – maximum length of 150 - 158 characters.
• Meta Titles – maximum length of 50 – 60 characters 
• A useful tool which helps ensure correct length of metadata: https://blog.spotibo.com/meta-description-length/

• Text description for each image that describes what it shows.
• The main reason why Alt tags should be optimised is for accessibility reasons. They are used by screen readers for visually impaired. 
• Alt text can also help improve your sites SEO performance by adding further relevancy signals to a web page and help Google better understand contents of an image, helping it rank.

• Follow Good URL Structure – Keep it simple and logical. Simple URLs provide the best user experience. Optimise URLs with descriptive keywords that provide a clear understanding of what the page content is about.
• Ensure URL is Relevant - When you publish a page on your site it should have a clear purpose. Customise your website’s page URLs to be descriptive of the content within the page. This improves your user experience and can increase click-through rates.
• Use Hyphens to separate words - URLs do not use spaces to separate words. Don’t use underscores either. SEO best practices use hyphens between words because this tells Google and users where the breaks between words are. For example:
  • https://www.tudublin.ie/study/undergraduate/courses/business-general-course-streams/management-tallaght-tu908/
• Include Keywords - Use 1-2 keywords in your URL that are relevant and tell Google what the page should show up for in search results. Don’t stuff your URL with more than that because it can come across as spam.

• Site speed is a very important factor that search engines look for when ranking websites. 40% of users will leave a page if it takes more than 3 seconds to load.
• Check Overall Page Size - Use the Google tool Page Speed Insights, this is a free to use tool that’s a great introduction to website speed testing. https://pagespeed.web.dev/
• Reduce overall image sizes before uploading – Photoshop has a ‘save for web’ option which reduces images to KB. Often Images are over 2mb in size, when all elements of a page should be smaller than 1-2mb in total.

If the content of a particular page is of a private or internal nature, you may want to block this page from being found by search engines.

In order to exclude a page from a search engine, go to the General Tab of your page and scroll down to Advanced settings. Tick the Yes box next to Exclude from Search?

By ticking the Yes box, a "noindex,nofollow" piece of code will be added to the page that ensures it won't be indexed by search engines.