At its heart SEO (Search Engine Optimization) developed as an extension to web accessibility by following HTML 4 guidelines, in order to better identify the purpose and content of a document. <\/p>\n
This meant ensuring that web pages had unique page titles that properly reflected their content, as well as keyword headings to be better highlight the content of individual pages, and that other tags were treated the same accordingly. <\/p>\n
This was necessary, not least because web developers were often only focused on whether their coding worked, rather than the user experience, let alone following web publishing guidelines.<\/p>\n
This slowly changed as it became increasingly known that search engines used these “on-page” signals to provide their “Search Engine Results Pages” (SERPs) – and that there was an advantage to ranking higher on these to tap into free and natural organic traffic.<\/p>\n
The internet has evolved a lot since those early days, and major search engines such as Google now process far more “off page” information when determining their search results, not least by using semantic processing, collating user data, and applying neural networks for the machine learning of patterns, trends, and personal preferences.<\/p>\n
Even still, the core ideals of SEO remain the same as they always have – that of ensuring pages have the correct tags for targeting keywords, not just for natural search results, but also for PPC (Pay Per Click) and other marketing campaigns, where call-to-action (CTA) and conversion rates are essential indicators of success.<\/p>\n
But how does a business know which keywords to target on its sales pages? How does a website filter transactional traffic from general site visitors? And how can that business increase its ability to capture targeted traffic from across the internet? Here we list a number of tools that will help do exactly that.<\/p>\n
Google Webmaster Tools<\/a> (GWT) is an excellent way for newbie webmasters to get started with SEO. The arsenal of tools includes ‘Fetch as Goole’, which allows you to view URL’s in the same way as Google does. This is a very simple way to detect and troubleshoot poor Search Engine Optimization. You can then modify your page accordingly and even review code to make sure your site has not been hacked<\/a>.<\/p>\n ‘PageSpeed Insights’ permits you to perform speed checks on desktop and mobile versions of your site. As mobile traffic now consumes a hefty portion of web traffic overall, this is crucial for ensuring mobile visitors access and remain on your pages.<\/p>\n The ‘structured data testing tool’ is also useful for checking data has been inputted correctly, performing validation routines to check it’s in the right format.<\/p>\n Google also very generously offers a free chat with a personal representative via Hangouts. You can make use of this feature during regular office hours for assistance with site issues such as mastering the various tools and detecting malicious activity. Further help is available visit the GWT forum<\/a>. This is a place for Webmaster’s to connect and share troubleshooting and performance tips.<\/p>\n GWT has received the universal praise online with the only criticism being a slight delay between when data is posted and when it is reported.<\/p>\n