How to SEO optimize your website

Add SEO titles and meta descriptions to all pages

Your meta title and meta description are on display in search engine results (SERPs), on social media, and in the web browser. That’s a lot of exposure, right? Meta titles and descriptions provide a text preview of your page’s content.

Compelling meta description copy can help drive more clicks. A high click-through rate, in turn, is a positive SEO factor. The more people click to your website — the more value Google believes that it provides — the higher it will rank.

Meta title (tag)

A title tag is the first touchpoint between you and a potential visitor. Use a descriptive and memorable one-liner to explain what your page is all about. Keep it under 60 characters. Google truncates longer titles. The title is simple and on point. I state the main value proposition of my website (content writing jobs) and elaborate on job types. Ahrefs uses a similar copywriting formula for their title: [Brand Name] + [Product] + [Benefit/Outcome].

Ecommerce websites can get away with more clickbait or product-focused titles. For example:

Primary Keyword [Product Type] — [Ad Claim] | Website Name
Noll Wooden Surf Boards — Free Shipping | Surf Store
Primary Product Category and Secondary Product Category | Website Name
Men’s Woolen Jackets & Overcoats | Coat Store

Meta description

The meta description is a text page summary displayed in search results. It should be under 158 characters. Longer ones are truncated. Ideally, aim for the 150–155 characters range.

Shorter meta descriptions are OK too. But why waste an opportunity to tease your website

Treat your meta description as an ad copy:

Promote your main products
Mention a competitive advantage
Highlight a brand differentiator
Pitch a special offer

Your goal is to persuade the user to click on your website over the competitors.

A few more dos and don’ts for writing meta titles and descriptions:

Create unique pairs for each page. Don’t duplicate.
Don’t use alphanumeric characters as these may not be displayed properly.
Add relevant keywords — one in the title and one in meta description — but don’t overdo.
Provide a title and description relevant to the page content.

Provide alt text for all images

Alt text (tags) are like meta descriptions for images. They explain the image content to a search engine crawler that can’t see it.

Alt tags are also good for web accessibility as screen readers rely on them to render image content. Also, text descriptions will pop up if the image fails to load.

But the best news is that properly optimized images can help you rank higher in search results as confirmed by Google.

An image carousel may appear atop organic search results if the Google algorithm believes visual content may be helpful to the user.

In 2023, images are returned for 13.4% of all search queries. While not massive, there’s still some potential website traffic you can harness if you optimize your images and alt texts.

Here’s how to optimize your images on Webflow:

Use a descriptive image file name. blue-jacket.jpg over image 0001.jpg. Search engines rely on file names to better understand the image content.
Add alt attributes to every image. Explain what’s on the image. There’s no max length for alt texts. But it’s best to keep ’em on the shorter, non-keyword-heavy side.
Optimize image size. Google loves fast-loading pages. But bulky visuals can eat up those seconds. Use compression and CDNs to ensure top speed without quality losses.

Set up proper URL structures

Users and search bots both rely on URLs to identify the content of a web page.

“URLs with words that are relevant to your site’s content and structure are friendlier for visitors navigating your site.”

— Google

An SEO-friendly URL is short and keyword-rich. Typically, it mimics your page title. But you may want to drop some filler words to match it with your target keyword.

For example:

The full title of the blog post is: 11 smart ways to monetize a website in 2023 (with examples)
The URL is just /blog/how-to-monetize-a-website

Use proper header tags

Once you are done with page structure optimization, let’s tweak your page content. Here you should focus on setting up proper header tags (H1 to H6).

Title tags help both readers and search engines process the content of your page and understand how different pieces of information relate to one another. They capture the main topic and subtopics.

Are SEO-optimized headers a ranking factor?

They used to be, but not anymore. According to John Mueller, search advocate at Google:

“We do use headings when it comes to search. But we use them to better understand the content on the pages.”

Adding relevant keywords to headers helps describe the page content better. But keywords alone won’t guarantee higher rankings.

When creating page titles, think of usability over SEO. Assign proper H1, H2, and H3 titles to denote hierarchical levels of information.

Use H1 once for the main page title (e.g., product category name or blog post title).
Apply H2 to content when you need to outline the main subsections.
Add H3 when you need to list extra points within the broader topic.
Sprinkle in keywords when you see them contextually fit.

Pro tip: Headings and subheads can indirectly affect SEO by increasing time on page — a positive ranking signal. A catchy heading or subhead can turn that skimming visitor into an engaged reader.

Here are several quick formulas for writing attention-grabbing subheads:

Pick curiosity: “Why platform beats product companies”
Sell a benefit: “How to create (and stick!) to an editorial calendar”
Good old clickbait (use sparingly): “This is how I got 10,000 app downloads for free”
Elicit an emotion: “The one SEO mistake I regret doing”

Sitemap:

Webflow automatically generates a sitemap for your site. Ensure it is submitted to search engines like Google through the Google Search Console.

Regular Content Updates:

Regularly update your website with fresh and relevant content. This could be in the form of blog posts, news articles, or updates to existing pages.

Pro Tip: Never delete content, only add content. Deleting pages can lead to valuable backlinks leading people to a 404 error page and deleting content within a page can delete valuable keywords that your site currently ranks for. If you are unsure, always consult a professional SEO Specialist before possibly making a huge mistake and hurting your online exposure or rankings.

Social Media Integration:

Connect your social media accounts to your website. Social signals are a factor in SEO, and sharing your content on social platforms can help drive traffic. Have your web designer or developer add these links to the footer, header or other areas of your website.

SSL Certificate:

Ensure your website has an SSL certificate for secure browsing. Google favors secure websites, and it can impact your search rankings. We recommend getting this through GoDaddy if you already purchased your domain through them, otherwise, a platform such as DigiCert or SSL.com also is an option.

Not all SSL certificates are the same though, so don’t just go for the cheapest option. Depending on the level of verification you want for your website, you may want one of three options:

Single Domain SSL Certificate

Multi-Domain SSL Certificate, or MDC

Wildcard SSL Certificate

If you do not know the difference between the above SSL options, you can learn more from Cloudfare in this article on the different types of SSL certificates.

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Analytics:

Integrate Google Analytics to monitor your website's performance and user behavior. This data can help you make informed decisions for ongoing optimization.

Remember that SEO is an ongoing process, and it may take some time to see results. Regularly monitor your site's performance and adjust your strategy as needed.