Understanding HTML Tags for SEO – Part 5 of why SEO is Critical for Businesses in 2020

Having looked at Content Optimisation in our last post in the ‘Why SEO is Critical for Businesses in 2020’ series, we are now going to look at HTML Tags. HTML is the language/code your website is written in. Don’t worry, you don’t need to have coding knowledge to make your SEO campaign work for you. There are Content Management Systems (CMS) that make managing HTML Tags a simple process.

HTML Tags for SEO

So, let’s look at what HTML tags are needed for to ensure your content ranks. Each page of content should have:

Title Tags

• A title tag refers to the HTML name of a web page.
• The title of your content should use keywords relevant to the page. It should be concise and use no more than 60 characters.
• Search engines and your target audience use the title to understand what your content is about.

Meta Description

• A meta description is an HTML tag that summarises the content of a web page. This information is shown on the search engine’s results page (SERP).
• Keywords relevant to your article should be specified in your meta description.
• Make sure your meta description catches the attention of your target audience as it is the first thing they will read of your content.
• A meta description should use no more than 160 characters.

Header Tags (H1 – H6)

• Header tags are used for headings and sub-headings within your content.
• H1 is the most important header tag and should include your content relevant keywords/phrase once.
• Only use one H1 header per page of content.
• An H1 header should not exceed 60 characters.
• H2 and H3 are far less important but usage of these can see you rewarded by Google’s algorithms.

Slug

• A slug is part of your URL that uses your keywords to identify the page content.
• It comes at the end of the URL after the domain name.

Image Alt Tags

• An image Alt Tag simply put is a title for your image. This is usually a description of the image or details what the image represents.
• The Alt Tag appears in the image box when it is not possible to display the image.
• Alt Tags improve accessibility for users that might be visually impaired using a screen reader.

Internet Marketing Buckinghamshire

Additionally it is important to remember to write for your audience and not for search engines. Hammering out text full of keywords and phrases will not keep your target audience hanging around for long.

Your keywords and phrases should only make up to 3% of your content. Google can penalise you for overstuffing content with keywords. Search engines typically like lengthy, in-depth content, which means pages of content should contain both words (a minimum of 400 words) and pictures.

SEO Buckinghamshire

In the next part of our ‘Why SEO is Critical For Businesses in 2020’ we will look at User Experience. For more information about content marketing, Content Management Systems that can help you manage your SEO and other SEO practices, get in touch with the friendly team at Cyber Sushi Design based in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire on 01494 356 778.