Adding a new page to your website is quite exciting – you´ve put your heart and soul into that page, prepared the content, prepared the layout, and, finally, it is out there in the world. Do you think your work is done, and that now the traffic from Google will start pouring into your website and the sales will skyrocket?
Well, even if we forget for a moment all the competition in Google search that you will need to beat to get that first place in its results page, it’s not enough to just publish a page to make Google happy.
Today we’ve prepared for you a checklist with 10 things you need to do, or check, when publishing a new page, to better optimise it. However, a small disclaimer is in order: following these steps will not automatically put you at the top of the search results. SEO is a multi-faceted process where the end result depends on quite a complex combination of factors. What we will try to do with this checklist is give you some guidelines of what you definitely need to do on a page level, especially when publishing a new page on your website.
1. Define a clear objective for the page and choose focus keyword(s).
Every page on a website needs to be there for a reason. Some pages are created to help your clients find relevant information about the industry; some pages are created to work on trust and reputation for your company; some pages exist to help your client make a choice in your line of products, and some pages are meant specifically for sales. By defining which this exact page’s objective is, you will be able to find better keywords, but more importantly, create more helpful and relevant content. The purpose of your page will also tell you which users, with which intent, will appreciate this page more, so you can then make an informed keyword research and choose those with the correct user intent. We’ve talked several times about intent on this blog, but in easy words: if your page’s objective is to inform the user about recent news in your industry, then you need to find keywords with an informational intent, or keywords that are used by people who are most likely searching for information than trying to buy something in this very moment.
2. Organic (non-paid) competition analysis.
So, you have an objective for the page and its focus keywords with the correct user intent. Now, you need to see what other websites, also targeting these keywords, are doing. Yes, just google the keywords and open the websites on the first page of results. Analyse their content, see how they have organised the page, if they give a lot of stats, or explain things, or show more images. See what is already out there and then think – how can you use what others do as guidelines, but do it better? Plan the page and its content.
3. Create your content.
That’s right, it is only on this third step that we start to create the actual content for the page. Use the guidelines you’ve learned in step two, for if those pages dominate the search, this means Google thinks these are the best answers to users' questions. But do not copy the actual content. Write high-quality content yourself, with at least 300 words (or more, depending on the objective of the page and your organic competition). While creating that content think about the user – if you were to search the web using those keywords and got your content as an answer, would it satisfy you?
4. Check your page’s URL.
The URL should be readable to human beings and clean. If possible, and logical for your page, you can add a focus keyword to the URL. But please, before publishing it, make sure your URL is nothing like mywebsite/page-123/, or mywebsite/my-content-in-production/, or anything else you’ve put there ‘just temporary while you are working on the page’.
5. Write the Page title and Page description.
The page title and description continue to play a crucial role in SEO. Google still uses the page title as one of the most important signals to determine the topic of the page, so do include your focus keyword in it. The page description is not a signal per se, but it is your one chance to make the user click on your website rather than on the one above or below in search. Be creative, explain what kind of content is on the page, but in a way that arouses curiosity in the user and gets that click.
6. Optimise the images.
Make sure the images are not oversized; make sure they are saved for the web and not the original files that will make your page take forever to load. Fill in the alt text (for people who have visual disabilities and for Google to understand what is on the image) – describe the image and, when applicable, do use relevant keywords.
7. Page speed.
Test your page’s speed. Just search for Google PageSpeed Insights and test your page. You will get an evaluation from Google on whether the page loads quickly enough and, if not, what exactly is the reason why it doesn’t and what you can do to improve it.
8. Add your new page to the sitemap.
A sitemap is a map for Google that helps its bots discover pages on your website quicker. If you don't have any solution installed that updates the sitemap automatically, you will need to add your new page to the sitemap and resubmit it to Google manually.
9. Internal links to and from the page.
Not long ago on this blog we’ve explained all about internal links and why they are very important to your website’s SEO. Make sure that there is at least one link pointing to your new page, so users can access it while browsing the website, and then, depending on your internal linking strategy, add appropriate links to and from the page.
10. Need backlinks for your website? Promote your new content!
Yes, do not expect that people will just find your new page by themselves. If the content is good, people will eventually provide links to it and you are going to get those backlinks. But in order for that to happen, do not let your content just sit there – promote it! Make a post on all your Social Media telling the world that you’ve just published something amazing on your website, give a direct link to it, and promote that post for more people to see it. Share the link to the new page in relevant social media groups, where it is permitted. If you use email outreach, send out a newsletter, inviting your subscribers to check out your new piece of content.
And there you have it! This would be a basic routine you need to follow when publishing new content on your website.
For more information, bespoke strategies and efficient digital marketing solutions, just contact the Clarity’s girls through info@yourdigitalclarity.com or visit our website at yourdigitalclarity.com.
