Whether you are a small business owner or an internet marketer, you know that it’s important to get your website in front of your target audience. One way to do this is with link building SEO. You can use a variety of strategies to build links to your site, including article marketing, social networking, and directory submissions. However, before you start a link building campaign, you need to take a look at the technical aspects of your site to ensure that it is SEO-friendly. This will help you get the best results possible.
URL structure
Having an SEO friendly URL structure is a must if you want to improve your website’s search engine optimization. It helps you create an easy-to-read and understandable page. It also helps you pick the right keywords for each page.
To make the URL of a web page more user-friendly, you can use hyphens to separate words. You can even leave out the year to make your URL short and easy to remember. The hyphens tell Google where to break between words, which will improve the readability of your URL.
Search engines also use the URL structure to determine a web page’s relevance to a particular query. The length and number of keywords in your URL are important factors to consider. Generally, a minimum of 1-2 keywords is recommended.
In addition, your URL structure should be as user-friendly as possible. This will allow your users to find your website easily, which is critical to any content marketing campaign.
When creating your URL, you should consider your target audience. For example, if you’re targeting a female market, your URL should contain gender-specific keywords. You can also use secondary keywords.
When writing your URL, it’s a good idea to avoid using underscores. Underscores will make your hyperlinks harder to read.
It is also a good idea to avoid using stop words. For example, you should not include phrases such as “that,” “and,” or “in that order.” This is because these phrases will not be rewarded by search engines.
Having an effective URL will help you increase your organic click-through rate. This will dramatically affect your search engine ranking. You should also use a sitemap to ensure that search engines can index your pages. Your sitemap should be submitted to the Google Search Console.
To enhance your user’s experience, you should also include a breadcrumb trail. This shows that your site has depth and value. In addition, it helps establish credibility and relevance. This can be especially useful for sites with a large volume of content. It will also make it easier for users to find your page from a search engine.
Broken links
Having broken links on your website can be disastrous for both your visitors and your SEO efforts. They can cause visitors to bounce from your site and drive away prospects. They can also lead to increased load time and a poor user experience.
There are a number of tools that can help you to spot and fix broken links. One of the best ways to find them is to scan your site with a free broken link checker. This tool will show you which pages are broken and how to remedy them.
If you find your site is missing links, you can either redirect them or simply delete them. There are a number of options for fixing broken links, so make sure to choose the right one for your situation.
Another great way to detect broken links is to use Google’s own Search Console. This tool will allow you to see which pages are displaying a 404 error. This error indicates that the page on your website has been permanently moved, is unavailable, or that the URL has changed.
The most obvious reason for a broken link is a change in the URL structure. However, if your host server has gone offline or has been misconfigured, you may not be able to retrieve the page.
Broken links can also occur from deleting images or videos. Having a clear linking structure will help avoid these errors.
There are a number of other ways to identify broken links, such as checking your Google Analytics. This tool allows you to track your keywords daily and will alert you if a page starts to drop in ranking. You can then move in to save the page from further degradation.
It’s important to identify and fix broken links to improve your SEO. The most effective method is to rename or redirect the page to a different URL. This way, you can prevent broken links from affecting your site. The process should take about 20 minutes.
There are also a number of web-based tools that can help you to find and fix broken links on your site. Some of these tools include SEOptimer’s DIY SEO, Ahrefs, and SEMrush.
Tackle technical SEO before starting a link building campaign
Depending on your link building campaign goals, you may want to invest in a robust technical SEO framework to maximize your link performance. If you’re running an outreach campaign, it is likely that you will need to create a strong foundation for attracting first time users. This is especially true if you are targeting demographic data, such as those from an awareness month.
Before starting a link building campaign, it is a good idea to conduct a technical SEO audit of your site. This can help you uncover on-site issues that are hindering your SEO efforts. A thorough review of your site’s structure and design can also reveal whether or not your URLs are confusing or human-readable. If your URLs are confusing, you will have a difficult time indexing your pages, which will impact your site’s overall performance.
Another important consideration is the speed of your site. If your content takes a long time to load, first-time visitors are more likely to leave your site. This may not be an immediate issue, but you can improve the user experience by making sure that your site is well optimized for speed. This will improve the likelihood of conversions, and may even lead to new customers.
Lastly, your site’s tracking code should be properly monitored. If you are using a third party javascript management service, you should ensure that the code is accurately tracked. Poor tracking code will lead to poor SEO decision-making, which can have a negative impact on your site’s performance.
Taking the time to implement a technical SEO framework can help you achieve optimal short-term and long-term results. The benefits of a well-implemented technical SEO framework will extend beyond your link building campaign, and will continue to benefit your brand. Taking the time to implement a technical search optimization strategy will also improve your brand’s messaging. Whether you are creating a PR push, an outreach event, or a content-focused outreach strategy, a strong technical SEO framework can give your site the edge it needs to succeed.
