Learn, how as a web developer, you can build search engine friendly websites for yourself and your clients. The session will take you through the various on-page ranking factors that you should pay attention to when building and launching a new site. This presentation is for developers who want to get better results from their websites.

1. How Developers Can Make A
Website SEO Friendly
Marcin Kilarski
WebInnovation.ie

2. My Journey

3. What I Do

4. Search Engine Results Page (SERP)

5. SERP
What is CTR?
https://moz.com/blog/google-organic-click-through-rates-in-2014

6. SERP
What Impacts CTR?
Title
Meta description
Brand
recognition
Domain
Rich snippets
URL

7. SERP
How do users see your page?

8. SERP
Title
The title tag is the first interaction that a
new visitor have with your brand.
It should be compelling.

9. SERP
Title - Best Practices
● It should sound great
● Each page should have a unique title
● The important keywords should be in the beginning
● It should have between 50 and 60 characters
https://moz.com/blog/title-tag-length-guidelines-2016-edition

10. SERP
Domain
For a new website choosing a good domain
name is one of the most important decisions.

11. SERP
Keyword In Domain
http://www.searchmetrics.com/wp-content/uploads/Ranking-Factors-2015-Whitepaper-US.pdf

12. ● Brandable names are easier to market
● Shorter domains are easier to remember
● .io, .ninja, etc. domain extensions might be a
good choice for a more tech savvy audience
● a less tech savvy audience would expect to
see a domain with a country extension or .com
SERP
Domain - Best Practices
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-your-domain-name-will-impact-seo-social-media-marketing/

13. SERP
Generic vs Country Specific Domain
Generic Top Level Domain (gTLD)
E.g. example.com, example.io
● seen as international business
● higher chance to rank in many countries
● lower chance to rank well in one specific
country
● lower CTR in any specific country
https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2010/03/working-with-multi-regional-websites.html
Country-code Top Level Domain (ccTLD)
E.g. example.ie, example.co.uk
● seen as local business
● lower chance to rank in many countries
● higher chance to rank in one specific
country
● higher CTR in a specific country

14. SERP
Domain Geo-Targeting
https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/i18n
You can set generic domain to
target users in a specific country
with Search Console

15. SERP
URL
The URL lets users know which page
of your website they will land on
when they click the link.

16. SERP
URL - Best Practices
Use words instead of special characters:
and numbers:
✔ example.ie/products
✖ example.ie/?p=123
Use dashes instead of underscores:
✔ example.ie/flower-delivery
✖ example.ie/flower_delivery
Keep it close to the root domain:
✔ example.ie/sample-post
✖ example.ie/folder1/folder2/folder3/folder4/sample-post

17. SERP
URL - Best Practices
Keep it short:
✔ example.ie/services
✖ example.ie/Commercial-Locksmith-Service-
Belfast-Northern-Ireland
Avoid using dates:
✔ example.ie/sample-post
✖ example.ie/2016/09/14/sample-post

18. SERP
Dates in URLs
https://www.sistrix.com/blog/want-slowly-kill-content-google-simply-use-directory-structure-dates/

19. SERP
Meta Description
It’s a sales pitch for your content
for humans.

20. SERP
Meta Description
● It’s not a ranking factor
● Support title with related keywords
● Google can override it
● Use around 140-150 character
● Include call to action
● If not written, it’s auto-generated
????

21. https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/search-analytics
SERP
Checking CTR Of Your Pages

22. https://yoast.com/wordpress/plugins/seo/
SERP
Helpful Tool
Yoast SEO

23. SERP
Your Checklist
1. Page Title:
a. Unique and compelling
b. Under 60 characters
c. Includes keyword
2. Domain Name:
a. Short, unique and brandable
b. Use a domain extension to match location and
audience
3. URLs:
a. Readable, short and informative
b. Use dashes and avoid dates
4. Meta description:
a. Unique and enticing
b. Under 150 characters
c. Include a call to action

24. User Experience (UX)

25. UX
Banned Interstitials From Mobile
https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2016/08/helping-users-easily-access-content-on.html
Pop-ups
Pop-up overlays
Substantial
above-the-fold
ad banner

26. UX
Allowed Interstitials
https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2016/08/helping-users-easily-access-content-on.html
Cookie usage
Age verification
Above-the-fold
layout banner

27. UX
Mobile-Friendly Pages
85%
of pages in mobile search results are
mobile-friendly
https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2016/08/helping-users-easily-access-content-on.html

28. UX
Mobile-Friendly Pages
Test your website and fix all identified issues:
● Mobile-Friendly Test Tool
● Search Console - Mobile Usability
● Google Analytics > Audience > Mobile >
Devices (look for high Bounce Rate)

29. UX
Page-Load Time
https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2010/04/using-site-speed-in-web-search-ranking.html
“40% of people abandon a website that
takes more than 3 seconds to load.”
Kissmetrics

30. UX
Page-Load Time
Free Website Optimisation Tools:
● W3 Total Cache (caching)
● Cloudways (CDN)
● EWWW Image Optimizer (image
compression)
● Rocket Lazy Load (image loading)
● Plugin Organizer (optimising usage of
plugins)
● Autoptimize (code minification and
concatenation)
Free Performance Testing Tools:
● PageSpeed Insights
● Gtmetrix
● WebPageTest

31. UX
Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)
https://www.ampproject.org/
They makes your content load almost
instantly on mobile devices

32. UX
Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)
https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2016/09/what-is-amp.html
“Later this year, all types of sites that create
AMP pages will have expanded exposure across the entire Google
Mobile Search results page, like e-commerce, entertainment, travel,
recipe sites and many more.”
Google

33. UX
Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)
AMP label

34. UX
Ads
If most of the visible area on your site is occupied
by advertisements, this might have a negative
effect on your ranking in search engines.
https://search.googleblog.com/2012/01/page-layout-algorithm-improvement.html

35. UX
Hidden Content
Search engines devalue a hidden
portion of your content.
Keep your important content visible.

36. UX
Comments
Google gives the lowest Quality Page score to
pages with spammy comments or forums
discussion. They are easy to recognize and
may include Ads, download, or other links.
http://static.googleusercontent.com/media/www.google.com/en//insidesearch/howsearchworks/assets/searchqualityevaluatorguidelines.pdf#page=39

37. UX
Images
All images should have be described in an
"alt" attribute and should have distinct
filename to help visually impaired people and
the search engines understand how they
support the rest of the content on the page.
https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/www.google.com/de//webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdf#page=18
Alt tag: A handcrafted jade bracelet with large
turquoise beads and a gold pendant charm.
File name: handcrafted-turquoise-jade-bracelet.jpg

38. UX
Your Checklist
1. Avoid pop-ups, especially on mobile versions of a
website.
2. Double check that a website works well on all
important mobile devices
3. Make the page load as fast as possible
4. Create AMP pages
5. Avoid putting too many ads on your page
6. Avoid hiding content behind tabs and accordions
7. Spammy comments needs to be removed from all
pages
8. All images should be described in the alt attribute
and have distinct file name

39. Technical

40. TECHNICAL
Internal Links
Internal links pass reputation between pages.
They also help users find relevant content on your
website.
They help the search engines:
● understand relationships between your pages
● discover the new pages
● identify important pages
● understand the structure of your site

41. TECHNICAL
Duplicate Content
There is no a duplicate content penalty.
However, the duplicate content dilutes ranking ability of your pages.

42. TECHNICAL
Duplicate Content
Page with duplicate content Page without duplicate content

43. TECHNICAL
Duplicate content
Full Duplication
● WWW vs. non-WWW
● HTTP vs. HTTPS
● Printer friendly page
Partial Duplication
● Across site
● Boulder plate
● Comments pagination
Cross site
● Full duplication
● Partial duplication
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxCAVmXfVyI

44. TECHNICAL
Duplicate Content
Quality content that ranks well
Quality content that ranks poorly
Thin pages
Duplicate pages

45. TECHNICAL
Crawling budget
https://moz.com/blog/diagrams-for-solving-crawl-priority-indexation-issues

46. TECHNICAL
Crawling budget
Number of pages that will be crawled and
indexed depends on:
● Authority of your website
● Page-load
● Valid/Invalid HTML
● Duplicate content
● Redirect chains

47. TECHNICAL
Redirects chains
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQCrRwTjkO8
Google may stop following your link after 4-5 redirects in a row
301 301 301 301

48. Removal + Redirect rel=canonical
canonical
TECHNICAL
Solutions Fully Duplicate Content Issue:
301

49. TECHNICAL
Redirects
Redirect 301 (permanent) - it tells search engines that “this is the new page for good”
Redirect 302 (temporarily) - “this page is just for now. Soon, I will have a new page”

50. TECHNICAL
Redirects
https://www.seroundtable.com/google-3xx-redirect-no-loss-22439.html

51. TECHNICAL
Redirects
However, tests have shown
that converting 302 to 301 and 301 to 200
still improves pages’ ranking.
Rand Fishkin, Nicholas Chimonas

52. Redirect to a not relevant page Redirect to a relevant page
redirect
TECHNICAL
Redirects to relevant pages
redirect

53. TECHNICAL
Sitemap for robots
● It helps search engines quickly
discover new pages
● It helps notify search engines of
updated pages
● It helps with including your product
images in image search results

54. TECHNICAL
Submit your sitemap
https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/sitemap-list

55. TECHNICAL
Sitemap for humans
Sitemap
• Home
• Services
• Web Design
• Web Development
• Website Maintenance
• Graphic Design
• Pay-Per-Click Campaigns
• Search Engine Optimisation
• Clients
• Clientele
• Testimonials
• Feedback
• Jobs
• Contact Us
• Request a Quote
• Contact Info
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi5DGOu1uA0
• Portfolio
• Web Design
• Web Solutions
• Ecommerce
• Web Applications
• Search Campaigns
• Display Campaigns
• YouTube Campaigns
• Facebook Campaigns
• SEO
• Logos
• Business Cards
• Flyers and Brochures
It provides an alternative means for
visitors to your web site to find what
they're looking for.

56. TECHNICAL
Crawlable files (JavaScript and CSS)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9BWbruCiDc
To effectively crawl your pages and fully understand what’s on them,
Google needs to be able to crawl all the files that build them up. Don’t
block your JavaScript and CSS files from search engines.

57. TECHNICAL
Crawlable files (JS and CSS)
https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/roboted

58. TECHNICAL
Fetch and render your important pages
https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/googlebot-fetch
1. Fetch and
render page
2. View the
rendered page

59. TECHNICAL
Fetch and render your important pages
4. After fixing all
issues, re-submit
page to be
indexed
3. Check does
Google see all
content on your
page

60. TECHNICAL
HTTPS
● Defend users against man-in-the-middle
attacks
● The green lock icon in the browser bar
increases trust in your website
https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2014/08/https-as-ranking-signal.html

61. TECHNICAL
Your Checklist
1. Remove and redirect or add rel=canonical to fully
duplicate content.
2. Avoid using redirect chains that are longer than 3
redirects.
3. Whenever you can replace 302 redirect with 301, and
301 redirect with a normal link.
4. Add a sitemap for robots
5. Add a sitemap for humans
6. Make sure that all JavaScript and CSS files are crawlable
by the search engines
7. Apply HTTPS to your website

62. Thank You
Marcin Kilarski
WebInnovation.ie
Twitter: @marcinkilarski Email: marcin@webinnovation.ie WordPress Slack: @marcin