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Your SEO ABCs

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11 Jan 2022
5 min read
Instructions
If you intend to use this component with Finsweet's Table of Contents attributes follow these steps:
  1. Remove the current class from the content27_link item as Webflows native current state will automatically be applied.
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  4. In the Trigger Settings, deselect all checkboxes other than Desktop and above. This disables the interaction on tablet and below to prevent bugs when scrolling.

Identifying and tracking keywords is a huge part of SEO (or Search Engine Optimization). But there's a way to optimize your website and content for search that doesn't involve keyword tracking. I call it intuitive SEO.

WTF is SEO?

(And how much do I need to care?)

Search Engine Optimization — it’s a big term that encompasses a whole bunch of strategies and practices that help you rank higher in a search. Because it encompasses so much, people often get overwhelmed when first getting into the algorithm

“It’s all about the Keywords

When we talk SEO we’re talking about how high you rank in a search — the keywords are what’s in that search box.To measure your ranking you need to know your keywords. BUT that’s a metric and it’s not the only way to optimize.

Beyond keywords: Intuitive SEO

Let your ideal client / customer be your guide.

If you understand your ideal client and what their needs are, you’ll write keyword rich content. That may sound overly simplistic, but it's true. If you're centering your target audience and creating content that answers their questions, your keywords will be there. You'll also avoid keyword stuffing. (That's where you try to work in your keywords into your copy to the point where it's forced. Google has long since adjusted the algorithm to penalize this behavior, rather than reward it.)

So, now you're writing that ever elusive quality content. Keywords are everywhere. What else do you need to do?

If you’re meeting all of the technical requirements, your content’s impact is significantly greater. When it comes to understanding the technical requirements? Just remember: you gotta help out the robots.

You gotta help out the robots.

When you google something, there's no person on the other side compiling results — it's a robot. And that robot is reading (often called "crawling") the whole internet to find the most relevant, helpful, and trusted responses possible. So you have to make it easy for them to figure out if your page fits that criteria.

  1. They can’t read images! If you've got text embedded in an image (like a JPEG or PNG) that text is unreadable. So if you've got text in an image, make sure it also appears as text. If it's short, it can go in the alt text. If not, it needs to appear in the copy or as a caption or transcription.
  2. They’re gonna skim! So make your content skimmable. Create hierarchies in your copy, using the H1, H2, H3 format. Use bullet points and numbered lists where relevant.
  3. It has to load fast! Those robots have to search the whole internet and they have to do it fast. So you're rewarded if your site loads quickly. Make sure to resize photos larger than 1MB. Get rid of any unnecessary code and files.
  4. Write them little summaries. Page titles, descriptions, SEO titles and descriptions — these are where you can write summaries that get to the core of what each page is about.
  5. Tell them in your URL. Make sure you change your URL slugs to reflect what the page is about in (ideally) five words or less. You can drop articles like "the" and prepositions like "of."

It may sound a little silly, but when I think about helping out the robots while writing copy, I find it much easier to remember the whole technical, on-page SEO checklist. Not that you need to remember it, though it sure feels good.