Content Optimization, Canonical Links, Internal Links and Sitemaps
Content optimization is one of the very important aspects for SEO.
In order to rank better in search engine we need to write good quality content for your website.
Good Quality Content:
Good quality content means, we need to see does the website provide value to the customers. Most of the users search the query for information purposes, so the content should be unique, something useful and easily get attached with users.
Whenever users come across good quality content there are more chances of directing other users through social media networks, blog posts, word of mouth, Email and so on.
So by quality content you build more trust and reputation with users and search engine.
Building a trust with users leads to more conversion/sales and building a trust with search engine improves a ranking in search result page. So, good quality content plays a vital role in SEO.
One important thing we need to keep in our mind, we should write content primarily for users not for search engine.
A website with quality content will make users to comeback frequently to get more information and refer more users to visit our site.
Rules and Regulation we need follow to write content:
Content Readability:
Write content in such a way that, it should be easy to read and users enjoy the reaching.
Suppose if users find it difficult to read your content, he may search for information elsewhere. So make sure your content is well written with easy words and not with difficult words.
Well Formed Content:
Avoid writing with incorrect spelling and grammatical mistakes
Unique Content:
Avoid using a duplicate content or else you will be hit by Google Panda Update.
Create a unique and useful content for the users in order to connect easily with them and also to bring in new users.
While writing content we need to consider more than or equal to the recommended minimum of 300 words and focus keyword appear in first paragraph of the content.
Keyword Density of the Content:
Avoid using unnecessary keyword stuffing for the purposes of ranking in search engine.
As discussed earlier, we need to create content primarily for users not for search engine.
The density of the keyword in the content can be between 1% and 2.5%.
Also one more important factor we need to consider while writing content is to avoid hiding a text for users but showing it to search engine for ranking. By doing this kind of hiding text will lower your rank in search engine.
Well Organized Content:
Suppose if the content is written with different topics onto a page by using large amounts of text without using any headings, sub headings and paragraphs will experience difficulty for the users to find the information looking in. So we need to avoid this kind of practices.
Organize your content with well-structured headings and subheading to help users to find the information they are looking in.
Use heading tag properly while writing content, because it is an important component for catching the user eyes and understand type of content below the heading tag.
Avoid using too many headings on a page while writing content, because it makes it hard for users to study your content.
Image Optimization:
Use at least one image which is related to the information.
Supported file types are JPEG, PNG, GIF and BMP image formats.
Optimizing the image means using name of the image and alt attributes with short and descriptive keywords. Contents of the alt attributes provide information about the image.
Avoid using lengthy keyword in file name and alt attributes of the image.
Avoid stuffing keywords in alt text.
Conclusion:
These are the major steps we need to follow while optimizing the content of the page.
Canonical Links:
Canonical link helps to prevent duplicate content issues by telling search engine which URL is canonical or duplicate of that page.
It means a different page with similar content, that time we need to notify search engine which is original and duplicate by using canonical link.
The main purpose of using canonical is to get rid of duplication.
Suppose if you have multiple URL with same content and not used canonical link to specify canonical or duplicate URL, you will be hit by Panda Update for duplication.
Example:
http://www.example.com/mens/black-shoes
http://www.example.com/black-colour/black-shoes
We need to specify second one is canonical or duplicate to inform search engine that is a duplication or canonical.
Why use of Canonical?
To specify which URL is original and want users to see in search engine results.
To avoid duplication content
Also helps crawler to avoid spending crawling on canonical or duplicate page.
It also helps to consolidate the links to a single, original URL.
It means the links from http://www.example.com/black-colour/black-shoes get consolidated with http://www.example.com/mens/black-shoes
General Guidelines for Canonical Links:
Don’t use robot.txt file, removal URL, no index for canonicalization process.
Specify using canonical tag
<link rel=”canonical”>
If you are using Yoast SEO plugin, you will find canonical link area in advanced settings. In that mention the canonical URL that page should point to.
Internal Links:
Internal Linking means linking of one page to another page on the same domain.
The number of internal links pointing to a page signifies search engines about the importance of that page. Internal Linking improves the quality and the value of the page.
Internal Links can be implemented using:
- Navigation Menu
- Content Link
Sitemaps:
By submitting a sitemap to the search engine we tell them about the organization of your site and access to all the links to Crawl.
Types of Sitemaps
HTML Sitemap for Users
XML Sitemap for Search Engine
How to Build a Sitemap?
- First define the Canonical or Duplicate Page and decide which Page needs to be crawled by Search Engine.
- You can create Sitemap manually or with third party tools. We can automatically generate Sitemap in WordPress with Yoast plugin.
Submit your sitemap to Search Console
Finally, submit your Sitemap to Search Console for better Crawling.