Overview

For any site we build or manage, we implement SEO best practices. A typical Cantilever New Build should perform well in search engines as long as the site has a few decent links to it from elsewhere on the web. After a Tune-Up we should also ensure a site meets our standards. Within Core Coverage, we should continually use the DEMO Framework to ensure that a site continues to be optimized for search.

How SEO Works

To simplify it, Google ranks a site based on three different factors:

1. How well your site works. This is measured by their pagespeed indexing tools and other metrics. We call this "Technical" SEO.
2. What it believes your site is about. This is based on your content, specifically the keywords that are most emphasized. We call this "Content" SEO.
3. How credible your site is. This is based on how many people are linking to your site, and how credible they are. This is known as "Off-Site" SEO.

Within a typical website build, we cover #1 pretty much completely. #2 and #3 are typically client responsibilities, because they have more to do with the content and the promotion of the site than the site itself.

What We Provide

Here is the stuff we should always do within Technical SEO (#1):

• We implement the site with clean code that is easy for Google to read and understand
• We make sure the site loads quickly and completely for Google’s robots to read
• We use a logical structure within the code that allows Google to figure out what each section means
• We add "Alternative text" to key images on the site and/or instruct you in how to do so within content you are in charge of
• We avoid using text within images, which Google cannot easily read.
• When appropriate we add "Schema" tagging that helps Google better understand your content
• We make sure the site works perfectly well on mobile
• We use an intuitive, straightforward site structure that search engines
• We ensure a "sitemap" and "robots.txt" file are in place and visible to Google

All of these are general Technical SEO best practices, and a client can count on us doing basically anything we can to make sure the site is solid there. Sometimes there are some advanced techniques that might be helpful, but that is rare.