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The following represents a checklist of items that will improve your webpage for both visitors and search engines.
Related Resources:
Web Development
Search Engine Optimization SEO
Web Design Resources
Title Tag
Always create a unique meta title tag for each page. This should be a short description of what the page is about. It is a good idea to also include some keywords here. For example:
<title>Web Design Tips To Improve Your Site </title>
Content
ALWAYS craft unique and original content. Do not get into the habit of copying and pasting from somewhere else. This is important as search engines do not view favorably on sites with a high percentage of duplicated content. Make sure to write content that is compelling, informative and interesting. This keeps people coming back as well as getting backlinks to your webpage. Be sure to check for any spelling and grammar issues as well. Simple typos can affect your credibility, regardless of how nice the page looks.
Images
With the increasing usage of high speed internet, image sizes are not as big of an issue as it once was, but always make sure that they are not hugely oversized and rescaled by HTML. Although the image looks smaller, it is still the same filesize. Make the effort to resize and optimize it accordingly in your favorite graphic design software like Photoshop. Always ensure that your images have an alt text.
Links
Use descriptive text rather than generic words such as "click here". Your visitors will appreciate this more as it will give them a better idea of where they are clicking to. Do not hide or obscure links to the point where it is difficult to find it.
Valid HTML
Always check that your HTML code is valid. While it is not necessary to score 100% for accuracy and correctness, certain coding mistakes may cause alot of problems for search engine robots when they crawl your webpage. This then affects your search engine rankings. You can check your validation with this tool.
Spam Tactics
Avoid search engine spamming tricks such as keyword stuffing, cloaking and hidden links. You can read Google's recommended webmaster practices for more information.
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