Search engine optimisation (SEO)

Introduction

Why search is important

Most people start their search for information online using a search engine.

Half of visits to suffolk.gov.uk start with someone using a search engine, such as Google.

This means it's important that users can find your pages using search engines.

How search engines work

Search engines aim to present the most relevant results for any search term.

They do this by first building up an index of webpages on the internet.

They then use a complex algorithm to rank pages for different search terms.

It's thought there are over 200 factors influencing the Google search algorithm.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process of improving the ranking of your webpage on search results.

SEO is a complicated and specialist practice. However, as a content editor you can influence how high your page appears for relevant search terms.

How to optimise your web content

Publish on an authoritative domain

Authoritative domains such as gov.uk or nhs.uk are more trusted by search engines. This means pages on those websites rank higher on search results pages.

All pages on suffolk.gov.uk are considered authoritative and trustworthy. If you have the choice between publishing content on this website or a non-gov.uk domain, opt for suffolk.gov.uk; it will mean your page is more likely to rank highly with search engines.

Meet the user need

Make sure your content is relevant and answers the questions people will have.

If people visit your page and immediately return to their search results Google may think your page is not relevant.

Include keywords people use to search

Write your page title, summary and content using the words and phrases people would use when searching.

Do not try to 'trick' Google by repeating keywords unnaturally. This may result in a penalty, where Google stops your page from appearing on results pages.

Make sure your page is well written and formatted

Write clear, concise and descriptive page titles, summaries, sub-headings and content. This helps both search engines and users understand what the page is about.

Ensure your sub-headings are in a logical order.

Do not put information in images

Search engines cannot read information in images, for example: text overlaid onto photos.

If a lot of your page information is contained within images, search engines will think the page doesn't have much content.

Add alternative text to photos

When you add photos to a page make sure you add alternative text (alt text). This helps the image (and page) show up in Google Image search.

Avoid sparse pages or duplicate content

Google may penalise your website if it contains a lot of sparse pages or duplicate content. This means your website would not rank highly on search results pages.

This would only apply to a trend found widely across a website, not just an individual page.

Complete the page metadata

You can add metadata to your page when editing it in the Content Management System (CMS).

This metadata is only read by search engines, and provides more information on what the page is about

Fix any usability issues

Make sure your page doesn't have issues that would cause a bad user experience, for example: broken links.

Acquire good links from other websites

Search engines look at links to a page from other websites as 'votes' that your page is relevant and useful.

Getting links from trustworthy and authoritative websites will help your page rank higher in search results. For example, if you publish a page related to healthcare for young people, links from NHS, university and other relevant websites will be beneficial.

Be aware that it can take days or weeks for search engines to fully take account of all the links to your page and adjust its search ranking.

Avoid bad links from other websites

If a lot of spam or low quality websites are linking to your page, search engines may penalise your page or website.

There are lots of online tools to help monitor inbound links to a website. You can ask the Content Design team for more details.