Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is the process used to increase where a website lands within a search engine's rankings in order to increase a site's online traffic. It is comprised of many elements, including content, links, social media and, what we'll discuss in this blog post, HTML.
HTML is the standard markup language used to create web pages. It is what defines a web page. If you're running a local blog, you don't need to be an HTML expert for it to make an impact, but knowing a few key tags can help elevate your posts in search engine ranking—making it easier for your residents to find and read.
Let's take a look at the four tags you need to know for superior blog post SEO.
1. < a href > attribute (Hyperlinks)
External links are important to creating blog posts with greater SEO. In fact studies have shown that along with strengthening a blog post’s authority, there’s actually a positive correlation between a page's outgoing links and how it ranks on different search engines. Authority matters, so when linking to outside sources, it’s important the source is reliable. When linking to external pages using HTML there are two things to know:
- The HTML code for linking to an external source: <a href="Insert your URL here"<Place the text you want hyperlinked here.</a>
- By adding target="_blank" a new tab will open when users click the link—ensuring readers remain on your blog post, but can easily access the content in the link you provided.
2. <title>
A more appropriate name for this tag would be topic, because its main purpose is describing the overall topic of your blog post. A title tag is displayed by search engines as a clickable headline used for listings on a Search Engine Results Page, or SERP. Search engine crawlers analyze the content within a page title and use that to determine its overall topic. This is why it’s key that the content within your title page reflects the topic of your blog post. Users scouring the web for information will see the title tag reflected on a search engine as a brief description of what your post is about, this information will help them decide if clicking on your link is worthwhile.
3. <head>
Arguably the most important of all the HTML tags, this is where your title tag and meta description (the summary of your page’s content) will live. This tag doesn’t have any effect on your blogs overall look but most of its content will be used by SERPs to determine a post’s relevance, topic, trustworthiness and importance—all factors that contribute to where your page lands in a search result.
4. <figcaption> & <img>
Images are important to blogging, as they make a post more visually appealing. You can use an image tag to help with tailoring image height and width. But what’s important to know with blogging is that HTML5 has done away with the <alt> tag—an additional tag added to an image that created a space for alternative text, such as an image caption or description. This tag was vital to meeting accessibility requirements. With the additional text added to the tag, screen readers were able to relay what the image was to people with visual impairments, making sure they understood everything on the page.
Now, HTML5 includes a <figure> tag, this parent tag includes the <img> and <figcaption> tags within it, making it easier for search engines to make sense of the digital content, image or video, on a particular page. The <figcaption> tag clarifies every element of an image to both search engines and users.
Blogging with Purpose
Using HTML5 is a guaranteed way to improve your blog’s SEO. Including title tags, image captions and external links gives search engines more information to read and assess. The more thorough the information, the better your blog’s chances of ranking higher in searches.
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