Mobile-first indexing explained
Google reads the mobile version of every site: Mobile-first indexing is Google's policy of using the mobile version of a webpage as the primary source for indexing and ranking, rather...
12 min read
Tag
Tag: OnPage SEO
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When to use a 302 redirect (and why most cases need 301 instead)
302 is the wrong default, but it's the right choice for specific situations: A 302 redirect is an HTTP response code that tells the browser the requested URL has temporarily...
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How to migrate from HTTP to HTTPS without losing rankings
HTTPS migration is a redirect job with hidden complexity: Migrating a site from HTTP to HTTPS sounds straightforward. Install an SSL certificate, redirect HTTP URLs to their HTTPS equivalents, update...
15 min read -
Sitemap.xml strategy beyond the basics
A sitemap is a list of URLs the site wants Google to know about: A sitemap is an XML file that lists the URLs on a site, optionally with metadata...
15 min read -
Featured snippet optimization: paragraph, list, and table formats
Featured snippets are answers extracted from a page and shown above the regular results: A featured snippet is the answer box that appears at the top of some Google search...
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Soft 404 vs hard 404: what each does to indexing
A 404 is the server saying "this page doesn't exist": When a browser or crawler requests a URL the server can't fulfill, the server returns an HTTP status code that...
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How social meta tags work: Open Graph and Twitter Cards
Social meta tags are how the page introduces itself in a share: When someone pastes a link into Slack, sends it through iMessage, or shares it on LinkedIn, the rich...
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Mobile usability and the viewport meta tag
The viewport meta tag tells the browser how wide the page actually is: A mobile browser opening a webpage has to make a decision before rendering anything: how wide is...
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What are Core Web Vitals and why do they matter?
Core Web Vitals measure how a page feels to use: Core Web Vitals are three specific metrics Google publishes to measure the user experience of a webpage. They quantify how...
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Image optimization for SEO: format, WebP, lazy load, srcset
Image weight is the most fixable performance problem on a typical page: A typical webpage with images carries them as the heaviest content type. Text downloads in kilobytes. Images often...
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How to write image alt text for SEO and accessibility
Alt text is what the image says when the image isn't there: Alt text is a short text description attached to an image in HTML, written into the alt attribute...
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What is the difference between robots.txt and meta robots tag?
robots.txt tells crawlers where not to go: robots.txt is a plain text file that lives at the root of a website (e.g., https://example.com/robots.txt) and tells search engine crawlers which paths...
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How to structure H1, H2, and H3 tags on a page
Headings are the page's outline, not styling: Headings tell readers and machines what the page is about. They mark order and level of importance. They're the page's outline. Visual size...
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How long should a title tag be for optimal display in search results?
Title tag and meta title length basics: Around 580 pixels. That's roughly the amount of room Google typically gives title tags in desktop search results. The title tag fills that...
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How to write a meta description that gets clicks
The click-justifier, not the click-trigger: A meta description doesn't make people search for your page. It convinces them to click yours once they're already looking. The title tag earns the...
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How to add structured data to a webpage step by step
Structured data is a second language the page speaks to machines: Structured data is a standardized format for annotating the meaning of content on a webpage. The page already says...
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How to use breadcrumb navigation for SEO
Breadcrumbs show where the page sits, not where the visitor came from: Breadcrumbs are a secondary navigation element that shows a page's position in a site's hierarchy. The name comes...
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What is a canonical tag and when should you use it?
A canonical tag tells search engines which URL is the original: A canonical tag is an HTML element placed in the <head> section of a webpage that tells search engines...
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How to create clean URLs for better SEO
URLs are content, not addresses: A URL is more than a web address. It's a short, public description of the page that lives in search results and social shares. Read...
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Why anchor text matters for internal linking
Anchor text is the link's promise: Anchor text is the visible, clickable text inside a hyperlink. It's the few words a reader sees before they decide whether to follow the...
17 min read