Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) guide

When writing a webpage, we naturally use words and phrases that people will be searching for. These keywords will be used in page titles, the URL and throughout the page content.

We will not repeat these phrases unnaturally to try and boost our rankings on search engines.

Not using keywords would mean that our content would be harder for residents to find. We may also attract irrelevant traffic which could impact our site performance. Ultimately, it would lead to users leaving our website and increasing our bounce rate.

All page titles will be clear and descriptive to ensure that our users engage with our content. Our page titles will also support with our accessibility principles. Ensuring that anyone using a screen reader can easily navigate between different pages.

A page title featuring the most important keyword is essential for SEO optimisation. It increases the likelihood that the page is visible in search engine results. This is because it is the first thing that a user sees and can influence whether they click on our page.

From a user experience perspective, headers create a structure demonstrating the most important content on our pages. It also allows users to scan and find information that they are searching for. Headers are good for SEO for this exact same reason. It helps search engines understand the page hierarchy.

When Google creates a snippet, it will pull content from headers. Using headers increases our chances of being selected.

Other benefits include allowing search engines to index our website more efficiently. Plus, using key terms within a header will help match our content to searches. It also supports individuals using a screen reader as they can skip ahead or find context.

All content published on our website must be clear and easy to understand. To achieve this, we use relevant keywords and formatting options like bullet points and accordions. It's important for SEO because it can impact our website traffic. This is how search engines decides whether our website answers user's search. Plus, it's a way we can organise information and guide our users through our website. Benefits: improving time on page and click throughs.

Body copy length isn't strictly an SEO requirement. However, pages under 300 words are considered to be thin. Thin pages may not perform as well as longer content. That is why we aim for pages to be 300 words.

On our website, we will often use images to break up large blocks of text making it easier to read. One benefit is that this makes our website look good visually. Another is that it can support explanations about services, boosting our SEO.

When using images on our website, we will always use alternative text to explain an image. Ensuring that all users, understand what is being displayed and how it supports the text. This is essential for any individual using a screen reader.

Where possible, we try not put text on photography or graphics. This is because a search engine cannot process the text. When we do this, we will use alt text to describe the context. Without this, it may impact the ranking of our page and limit users finding what they are searching for.

We use accordions on our website to mange large amounts of content. The functionality also allow users to scan pages for the information they want. This feature is beneficial for SEO because it means we are able to use long-tail keywords. 

By using question and answers in our accordions, we are building trust and authority with our users. This in turn helps to increase visibility and organic traffic.

We want as many people as possible in Peterborough to find information about our city. Did you know that search engines use meta description within their results? This is a clear summary of the page and features the most important keywords. We only submit correct and concise information within a 150-character word limit. 

If we do not include meta descriptions, Google will automatically generate one using the page content. This may not be accurate as it often pulls the first thing on the page. Clear meta description can influence page clicks. A lower click-through rate can influence search engines. It may show that our website is less relevant and lead to lower rankings on all pages over time.

Although ranked low in regards of importance for optimisation, meta keywords still contribute towards meeting good SEO requirements. 

When optimising our content, we will always add in unique keywords, slang and older terminology into meta keywords. For example, on our household recycling centre webpage, we have included the term 'dump'. Although we have chosen not to use this language on our page, we understand that residents may use it. By featuring it in our meta keywords, it allows search engines to recognise that is a term linked to our content. Allowing individuals who are searching for the phrases to find our website.

However, Google will penalise for excessive meta keywords (keyword stuffing) an old practice used to manipulate SEO by using brand names and high-ranking keywords or popular terms of the month.

It is essential that our users can complete tasks on our website and find information they are looking for. As part of our auditing process, we check to see if our website has any issues that could cause a bad use experience. Checks that we regularly monitor for are broken links, spelling errors and more.

Fixing usability issues falls into SEO because search engines look at user experience within their rankings. If our website isn't mobile-friendly or easy to use, its less likely to promote our content.

We will only use trusted and authoritative links that are relevant and useful for a specific page. It is important that links we feature go to information that is correct. To prevent broken links, we monitor both internal and external links as part of our auditing process.

By following this, we are showing search engines that our website only features high-quality sources. This can lead to higher rankings and more users finding our site. However, overlinking can negatively impact our rank as well as encourage users to leave our website.

We often receive requests from local and national organisations to promote services or information. Please note, for these requests we will only feature links to our partners.

Redirects can affect our website both negatively and positively. To ensure that redirects support our website, we try to redirect any 404 errors. Our aim is to reduce bounce rates by using both H4 301 redirects (permanent) and H4 302 redirects (temporary).

H4 301 redirects (permanent)

When improving content, we may make the decision to permanently move a page to a new area on our website. So that we don’t lose its ranking on a search engine, we will create a redirect to pass the authority from the old URL to the new one.

H4 302 redirects (temporary)

While a temporary redirect doesn’t pass on the value from a link, it does retain it for when the page is back up. We may use this type of redirect if we are experiencing an error such as a 404 page, are testing content or have a temporary landing page.

Regarding SEO, benefits of using a redirect link is that can it preserve the link equity, prevent broken links and 404 errors, improve crawl efficiency and consolidate duplicate content. What is more important to understand is the negative impacts that redirects can have. With each redirect, it takes extra time for the page to load. This impacts both the user and can mean that we jump down in search engine rankings.