When Google’s Matt Cutts announced in 2013 that they will now be taking into account a website’s site architecture and usage of HTTPS, it was no doubt the most impactful change to Google Search since 2011. Although Google is making these changes to help websites rank higher on multiple search engines, SEO companies have been buzzing with questions as to how their work should change in response.
One question many SEO experts have been asking is, “How do I create more content for my website?” With this article, we try our best to answer the question, why your business needs a blog by providing seven steps that you can take today to help your website rank higher in Google Search Engines.
Step 1: Add a sitemap.xml file to your website
A sitemap.xml file is an accepted XML format that allows web crawlers to discover your website’s content and structure. More importantly, the sitemap lets Google know what pages are important through links embedded in the XML document. Before you get started with creating your sitemap, you should first identify which pages on your website are most important by doing a page-by-page audit of your internal linking structure. You should then use this information to add links from the most important pages to each other as well as any other relevant pages of your website.
Step 2: Link to old content from your new content
It is very important for your website to have a good structure, and you will find that it’s critical for you to move some of the content around on your website. However, you should not alter or replace existing internal links without making sure that each page has enough anchor text from the original link pointing to it. Anchor text is simply words used in a hyperlink to refer to another site. This link text has been proven by search engines to be an important factor in determining the importance of a given piece of content. Look for opportunities within your website to replace existing internal links with new links containing more valuable anchor text.
Step 3: Avoid using image alt text
Google now prioritizes links and internal anchors more than they previously did, so if you can get away with using only short words in the image alt text field of your website, then you should. This is because Google has recently made changes in how it reads this field. Using longer words will most likely be ignored by Google, meaning that your website will often see less views from its images. If you want to be sure that all of your pages are indexed and ranked as high as possible in search engines, then you should consider removing image alt text from all of your images used on your website.
Step 4: Remove all breadcrumbs from your website
Breadcrumb links are used to show visitors a path of where they have been on a website. While this may sound like a great way to help people navigate your website, these types of links are not usually necessary for those sites that are well-structured. If you need to move some of your pages around, then chances are that breadcrumbs will only stand as a distraction to the visitor. Remember that breadcrumbs provide no value from an SEO perspective since they are not used by search engines for indexing purposes. When you are making changes to your website, make sure that breadcrumbs don’t get in the way of visitor engagement.
Step 5: Use video for content promotion
According to a recent study published by Outbrain, approximately 60% of users will watch an advertisement if it is interesting. This is certainly great news for SEO experts. In today’s world, video has become one of the most popular formats used for producing content online. YouTube videos account for more than 1 billion views per day, and this popularity doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon. In fact, according to this survey , 40% of marketers plan on using video as their top marketing strategy moving forward.
Step 6: Stop using JavaScript and CSS
If you’ve been in the SEO game for any period of time, then you’ll know that JavaScript and CSS are two of the biggest ranking factors. However, many agencies today still haven’t figured out how to work them into their strategy to help websites rank higher in Google Search Engines. In fact, 53% of marketers don’t know how to leverage these technologies. If this sounds like you, then it might be time for you to think back to your college computer class where you learned how programming languages like JavaScript can be used.
Step 7: Remove everything from your root domain
Finally, if you want to make sure that your website is completely indexed and ranked as high as possible in Google Search Engines, then you should stop using any sub-domains or sub-directories on your root domain. While this may seem negative for the SEO agency that has been working with you all these years, it really is for the best. The reason being that the data links within these subdirectories are not known by Google, which means that they won’t be taken into consideration by search engines when making a website rank higher. You can find more information about this issue in our post , “Removing Your Website from Subdomains” .
