SEO best practise tips that are often overlooked

In the rush to get your new business website or ecommerce site up and running it’s easy to overlook the smaller details in favour of the big picture, such as colour scheme and images. When it comes to SEO, it’s easier still to overlook the basics when there are bigger tasks such as time-consuming link building and reputation management to consider.The basics are still important though as they form the cornerstone of a well optimised site. So while it may at first glance seem like an inconsequential detail, something as small as adding ALT text to an image can provide a solid foundation for your entire website design and build.Here, we’re recapping a few of the best practise tasks that often get overlooked. Use this as a checklist to ensure that you’re getting the basics right before you move on to more complex SEO strategies…

1. Alt tags Alt tags only take a few seconds to input when an image is uploaded and it’s one of those boxes that’s often left empty. Even if you’re in a rush, take just a second or two to add the Alt text in for your image. This tells the search engine, and anyone on a device where the image won’t load for whatever reason, what fills that space. It gives context and enhances the user experience. 2. Optimised image file names Uploading DSC878877.jpg is the quick and easy option but that file name fails to tell Google anything at all about that picture. Renaming it to blue-t-shirt-size-small.jpg is much more meaningful. It’s also an easier file structure to work with when you’re searching for images. 3. Switching to HTTPS This is a one-off job but it’s important as Google has stated this is a ranking factor. If your site isn’t yet moved over from HTTP to HTTPS, do it now. If you take payments or collect any personal information from visitors, this task is even more vital. 4. Creating a unique page title Gone are the days when a keyword stuffed page title would give you a serious ranking boost but that shouldn’t negate the value of inputting a unique, useful and descriptive title. Keep it around 60 characters (not words) long so that it displays correctly in the search results without being truncated. 5. Adding structured mark up Structured mark up provides additional context for Google and helps it to sort search results. This is something that is fairly quick to do and could mean that your page is ranked better for very relevant searches. It also means that search users will be given much more information about your business up front, which can only be a good thing.