SEO Quick Wins for Every Website
10 Tips For Content Editors To Improve SEO
Use Keywords
Utilize the words and phrases, otherwise known as keywords, in your content that your users are most likely to type into search engines when creating content.
Add Title Tags
Write effective title tags for each page of the web site, so that Google will correctly crawl and index the content of your pages for search.
Customize Meta Descriptions
Develop unique, compelling metatag descriptions for each page of the web site, (intelligently using the keywords the page is targeting) so that once your page climbs to the top of the search engine results, searchers will want to click. The meta description should be specifically relevant to the webpage it describes.
Add Sub-headings for Scannable Reading
Use sub-heading (H2s and H3s) to break up text into readable paragraphs.
Simplify Writing
Simplify language on your website, choosing easier words and using shorter sentences. Aim for a 8th grade reading level.
Use Alternative Text for Images
Make sure all images have descriptive alt text that describes the image - and if possible, include a keyword in that descriptive text.
Aim for Unique Content
Eliminate any duplicated content throughout the site.
Prioritize Key Content
Pay attention to site architecture. Don't bury key pages. If content is important, site visitors should be able to find it easily from your main menu, or one level down.
Refresh Quarterly
Unpublish outdated pages or have WebHelp delete them off your website; and move off-topic content to another stand alone page. WebHelp is available to help with site navigation and clean up.
Link Related Information
Link to relevant internal and external content and resources.
SEO Best Practices
- Use properly ordered and nested headings to structure your text content visually and semantically.
- Correct all broken outbound links and misspelled words.
- Remove or optimize all images over 1 MB.
- Be clear about the purpose of the page and include a call to action (CTA).
Silktide is a tool available at Western that can help improve SEO on your website. We've created a "Quick Fixes" report for website administrators that identifies three of these issues on your webpages so that you can correct them quickly and easily. Learn how to get started with Silktide to make your website better.
Positive Results
Useful content, attractive design, clear calls to action, and helpful directions for the next steps to take will help your webpage perform better and improve the user experience.