How to create a website optimized from the start
When an SEO expert is hired by a client, they are usually asked to optimize an existing website for a certain number of keywords, or in order to achieve a certain number of conversions. In these cases, the final result may not always be the best desirable because in websites that have already started there are a series of factors that can hinder the SEO work, first of all certainly the use of a blogging platform that is no longer in step with the times, for example.
So it seems clear how creating a site optimized from the start is definitely the best choice, but we need the site to be more workable in the long run.
Below I will list some fundamental steps to make the right choices immediately and thus have a perfect SEO optimized site.
1. Choose the right domain
It may seem obvious, but choosing a domain name is not an easy task and there may be a lot of headaches before you can find the perfect one.
Some think that it is enough to enter a series of keywords in the domain to reach high rankings in the rankings. Yes, they can be effective immediately, but the truth is that this type of site is harshly opposed by Google, which prefers sites with brand names and which are created not for the purpose of doing the so-called “Keyword stuffing”, that is, to scatter keywords on the whole site. On top of that, users are generally more interested in clicking links that don’t look like spam at first glance. And in this direction, fortunately, there is increasing attention.
It is also possible you should avoid using hyphens. Not that there is anything wrong with their use or any rule that prohibits them, but using dashes is equivalent to making it clear that you wanted to build a site around keywords. And it’s also more difficult for users to type in the address bar.
The advice in this case is to be as simple and clear as possible.
2. URL structure
Contrary to what has been said for the domain name, keywords must absolutely be entered within the directory that forms the URL of the site. If the directory has a name consisting of two or more words, it is good to use hyphens to separate them in order to make it more readable by both users and search engines.
It is therefore advisable to avoid using dynamic URLs , typical of some forum platforms, for example. Or use URLs that contain sequential numbers, IDs, and so on. Everything has to be made simple so that the content of that page can already be guessed from its URL.
Another very important point is to never overdo the use of folders and sub-folders.
3. Keep an eye on duplicate content
The problem of duplicate content inside the site is a problem that does not exist in blogs and information sites, if not minimally which, however, does not create problems. In e-commerce, on the other hand, where there are pages and pages of identical products that differ in color, size and so on, it is clear that the problem is more extensive and can create complications not only in positioning, but also in indexing of the site . In these cases it is a good idea to establish which page to place and have the courtesy to refer all other pages to that page using the canonical tag.
4. Perform a keyword search
To create an optimized website you cannot ignore a careful keyword research that takes into account their diffusion, their difficulty and the percentage of conversion that it manages to generate. There are no easy ways, at this stage a long and in-depth analysis is required, then accompanied by a practical experimentation perhaps using AdWords sponsorships.
5. Technical precautions
Here you can collect various technical precautions, such as creating a sitemap and a robots.txt file , using a responsive theme so that the site can be viewed smoothly even from a mobile phone (preferable to the creation of separate sites due to the problem of duplicate content), the use of images optimized for the web that do not clog the server and increase the load time.
These are the fundamental points that should be set well in advance in order to create an optimized website.