Website Optimisation
Website optimisation (or website optimization) involves making changes to the design, content, structure and coding of an existing website in order to increase its ranking in Google and the other search engines.
Glasgow Web Design offer our clients website optimisation in Scotland, and throughout the UK and Ireland. We have experience of web site optimisation UK wide in a variety of industries, and are happy to demonstrate some of the high Google rankings we have achieved for our existing clients upon request.
Please contact us now to discuss your web site optimisation project on 0141 424 3408.
Web Optimisation (or web optimization) services can take many forms, and each project calls for a slightly different balance of techniques. We currently offer a full range of website optimisation services (website optimization services) including:
Web Page Optimisation Services
HTML and CSS code validation
Valid HTML and CSS code has several benefits; reduced file sizes, reduced server bandwidth, increased browser compatibility and easier maintenance. By removing unnecessary and invalid code from the site it also becomes easier for search engines (and humans) to work with the files.
Search Engine Friendly Code Redesign
It is possible to retain the visual appearance of a website while changing the underlying code to make it more search engine friendly. This also includes removing obstacles that might prevent search engines from indexing the whole site, for instance by replacing any Flash or Javascript navigation links with standard links, removing legacy HTML Frames, and using hierarchical header tags where appropriate.
Browser Compatibility Tests
Many older websites use invalid or proprietary code that is not guaranteed to display correctly on all modern browsers. Websites that are incompatible with modern browsers will make lots of people leave the site, so it is important to clear up any browser compatibility issues while updating the code.
Website Copy Optimisation Services
Copy Writing And Existing Content Editing
Existing copy that is not written with search engines in mind is likely to limit search engine rankings. Optimising existing copy in line with recent keyword research can help to improve rankings, as can adding new pages of relevant content to a site. Writing effective copy is crucial to the effectiveness of a web site optimization campaign.
Page Title Optimisation
The page title element (or title tag) is important for search engines, but also because the page title appears as a clickable link at the top of your listing on search engine results pages. So properly optimising your page titles helps to boost your rankings as well as the number of people who will click through to your website.
Meta Tag Optimisation
Meta tags are small non-displayed pieces of descriptive text that were historically used to tell search engines about the content of your web pages. Although greatly devalued by Google and others today, there are still certain benefits from a properly optimised meta tag. For example, the meta description tag is often used underneath the page title on search engine results pages.
Alt Tag Optimisation
Alt tags are small non-displayed pieces of descriptive text that are associated with non-textual elements, particularly image files. Alt tags are primarily used to provide descriptions of pictures to improve accessibility for people with visual disabilities. However they can also help to a lesser extent with search engine optimisation.
Duplicate Content Analysis
To maintain the quality of their index, Google and other search engines filter out largely duplicate content that can be found elsewhere. This penalty can affect individual pages and entire sites. It is particularly problematic where the identical company website can be found under both a global and a UK-specific domain name. A related problem is where dynamic websites use very long URLs, such as example.com?id=100&uid=46&lang=en-gb&t=1&u=0. Long URLs are harder for search engines and visitors to process, and make it harder to find unique content. Therefore it is important to take steps to limit the impact of duplicate content where possible.
Keyword Density Analysis
Keyword density refers to the number of times a particular keyword appears on a page, as a proportion of the total number of words. Search engines used to be more concerned about the exact density of keywords on a page, but, like meta tags, keyword density has since lost much of its importance. However search engines still penalise websites for keyword stuffing, the inclusion of repeated lists of keywords with the aim of manipulating search rankings. The cut-off point for keyword stuffing depends on the subject of the website.
On-site Link Optimisation Services
Site Navigation And Internal Link Structure
A poorly designed navigation system can prevent search engines from finding all pages on a website, and can cause a website to look like it contains lots of duplicate content. An effective website navigation and internal linking structure can help sites get better rankings, as well as making the site easier for visitors to use.
Broken Link Checking
Broken links tend to suggest a website is out-of-date or careless, both to visitors and search engines. It is advisable to check and fix any broken links.
Outbound Link Audit
Google and other search engines measure the quality and quantity of your outbound links. An excessive number of links out to low-quality websites might suggest your website belongs to a 'bad neighbourhood', resulting in lowered search engine rankings. An outbound link audit will identify and remove any links that may harm your site's reputation.
Sitemap Generation And Submission
Sitemaps are a useful navigation tool for both search engines and visitors to your website. Google and other search engines allow for the submission of a sitemap file, which is one way of informing them of your website's structure and some of the most important pages.
Web Server Optimisation Services
Web Server Configuration
An inappropriately configured web server can cause a number of difficulties. For example, in most cases websites should be accessible either with the 'www' prefix or without. But it is quite common for pages to be found under both addresses, leading to duplicate content problems. Web server response codes can also cause difficulties, where custom 404 'page not found' error pages can get treated as though they were real pages, and get mistakenly stored in the main Google index.
Robots Exclusion File - robots.txt
The robots.txt file contains instructions that restrict what parts of your website search engines can access. When configured correctly, the robots.txt file can be helpful, preventing search engines from finding and indexing parts of your site that are in transition, or blocking off duplicate or low-quality content. However it is possible to accidentally block off access to other parts of your website, so the robots.txt file must be configured properly.
Page And Graphic Loading Speed Optimisation
Using low quality shared web hosting can sometimes lead to slow download speeds or an unacceptably high amount of time where the server is not available. Slow download speeds can also be caused by very large images that are not optimised for the web. In extreme cases Google and other search engines may penalise a website if there are repeated and significant problems with accessing files on the server.
Website SEO
Website SEO is an major part of achieving higher rankings, but it is also necessary to promote your optimised website using a variety of other techniques, including link building. It is also vital that adequate keyword research is also carried out prior to optimising your website.Website Optimisation UK
Glasgow Web Design are website optimisation specialists based in Scotland, and we offer web optimisation to clients in Scotland, UK and Ireland. To speak to us about website optimisation in Scotland please call now on 0141 424 3408.
