Web pages are created using a fundamental HTML code. This is a type of mark-up language referred to as a “Hyper Text Mark-up Language”. In other words, it is a “machine readable” language. HTML tags describe a specific document of content. They allow users to organize, change and link text with various data online.
There are certain HTML elements that can help you to display your site better on search engines. Perfecting these HTML factors can even improve your ranking position on SERP’s.
Title Tag
Search engines use HTML title tags to find out what the web page is all about. The <title> tag is extremely important for SEO because it defines the essence of the page. Search engines use this HTML signal to decide if your web page is relevant to a specific search query. If your HTML title tags are not descriptive enough, Google will edit them.
A good HTML title tag will describe what the specific web page is about. Think about it this way: what do you hope each of your pages will be found for? For example, if one of your web page’s sell children’s books and another sells fantasy novels, your HTML title tags should reflect this.
Each title tag should be different and unique to the content included on the page. Use keyword research to gain insights that will help you to write informative title tags.
Meta Description Tags
A meta description tag is a 160-character snippet of information used to describe the content of a web page. When you search for a specific term, your search results feature a meta description underneath the main title and page link. This allows users to find out what the web page contains before they click.
Keep in mind that your meta description will not directly affect your SEO. However, SEO experts often refer to meta description tags as “display factors”. If your search keyword appears in the meta description, it will appear as bold text. This grabs the user’s attention and helps the user decide if the web page is relevant to them or not.
The meta description tag must convince the user to click onto your site – so put on your thinking cap and get to work! Don’t forget to make sure that each page contains a unique HTML meta description.
Structured Data and Rich Snippets
Structured Data is highly organised information using mark-up codes. These HTML codes are written specifically for search engines to read. It reveals important details about both the content and structure of web pages.
More often than not, this structured data translates to what we know as a “rich snippet”. Rich snippets can be added to existing HTML’s. Adding rich snippets allow search engines to better understand what a web page contains. This information is then presented in an appealing and useful way to users. For example, common rich snippets include site reviews and ratings.
If your webpage contains a rich snippet, it is more likely to get more clicks than a webpage without rich snippets.
Header Tags
Included in the HTML coding of a web page are Heading tags, which are defined by number. For example, H1 tag refers to the lead heading of a page and the rest are usually sub-headings (such as H2). These usually range from H1 to H6 tags.
Search engines use header tags to identify web page sections. If you include your desired keywords in header tags, it is more likely that your page will show up when user’s search for those exact keywords.
Whilst these HTML factors are not defined as ranking elements, they WILL help improve your SEO efforts. Using simple HTML factors such as those mentioned above will make your site easier to find and more “clickable”.
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