Good content and meta data are essential to a well-performing site, but as search engines become more sophisticated, so must businesses and marketers! Search engines are looking to give the most relevant information to their users to keep them coming back. Here are a couple technical methods you should know about to take your Search Engine Optimization to the next level.
Accelerated Mobile Pages
One of Google's key principles is that 'Faster is Better,' which is the leading concept behind Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP). To put it simply, AMP is a coding standard that displays a version of a page on mobile devices that has been stripped of most of its formatting to allow it to load faster. In a recent study, 50% of respondents stated that they preferred this version when reading content. AMP Example
Structured Data (Schema Markup)
Search engine crawlers don't see the web the same way your users do. If you serve information in a way that makes sense to users, but reads like a mystery novel to search engines, you still lose! Structured data is the solution. Sometimes referred to as Schema Markup, Structured Data is code behind your webpage that can tell search engine crawlers who you are and what is on that page. This information can include
- Official business information: Name, Phone Number, Location, Logo
- What type of information is on the page: Recipe, Profile Page, Upcoming Music Event
- Details that can be pulled into Rich Format search engine results: Images, Promotions, Reviews
XML Sitemap
Which is better, to let search engines find your information or to serve it to the crawler on a silver platter? Rather than making search engines scrape to find what they think is important on your site, why not tell them what you think is important in a language that is easy for them to understand? XML sitemaps are files that can be generated by most content management systems that are read by search engine crawlers, so that they understand what you want search engines to index.
If you are ready to take your site to the next level of Search Engine Optimization, contact Informatics. Whether you are looking for an audit and recommendations or a developer to make changes for your technical SEO strategy, Informatics' team of experts is ready to assist.
