Web redesign #3 takes a look at page content elements; title, meta-tags, linking strategies, Domain naming conventions etc. Aside from the Title which appears in the top left corner of the browser outline bar, these are elements hidden from normal view. They are regarded as important elements by search engines and can be viewed on any page by choosing “View / Source” from the web page menu bar. These are part of all our affordable website design packages.

Web Redesign: Content Links & Domains

The <Title> tag is regarded as one of the most important off-page content elements, and an accurate, keyword-rich Title can impact dramatically on a page’s ranking potential. A web design agency has a responsibility to its clients to ensure that a web redesign project does more good than harm!

Other page content opportunities exist that, if used correctly,  increase the density of keyword phrases – some of those are listed below;

<Title> Tag

This is the page content that appears in the top left corner of the web browser page and is also the heading that search engines use in the SERPs (search engine results pages).

The total suggested Title content is 8-10 words or 70 characters. Full manual control is very useful. Some CMS and e-commerce applications restrict the effectiveness of Titles by tying the Title to the Page’s 1st heading, or product name. If a Title is dynamically generated, it should be arranged in this order; Product Name + Category + Tagline: to a  maximum of 60 characters including spaces. Don’t use ‘stop’ words, or irrelevant words. A knowledgeable NZ website designer understands that a superior Title tag is both unique and precisely relevant to every page – both aspects critical to achieving top search rankings.

Description & Keyword Meta-Tags Intro

Like the Title, the Description meta-tags are an essential page element and have a determining influence on whether searchers click on your link in the search engine results pages!

The keyword meta-tag should not be used. Its very presence can be construed as “over-optimisation!” That’s not a good website redesign practice!

For CMS and/or shopping cart websites, it is probably best to have a double-action manual/or dynamic system. The initial redesign might involve populating the Title / Description / Keywords meta-tags automatically from page content. As time permits, a manual overwriting of content can be done progressively, as/if required.

Description Meta-Tag

Unique Description meta-tags must be provided on all pages. The maximum recommended length for a Description is 200 characters (Google will display 150 only, but other SEs will show 200). Manual control is best if possible. If dynamically generated then an output string like this is best; Product Name + Category Name + 1st Paragraph of Product Description: maximum 200 characters It is extremely important to search engine rankings that a carefully crafted Description, unique to every page, be provided.

This helps the search engines to properly categorise the site. A well-crafted description will also be used verbatim in most search engine results displayed to searchers, meaning you can control what is shown to searchers in SERPs. And, of course, the Description should in fact describe the page it’s on.

Negative Consequences

When descriptions are not supplied, the search engines will do their best to generate one from existing content, which can often look like rubbish, or be duplicated on all pages. Where a “generic” description is provided, all the pages look the same in the search results. Your Descriptions are meant to help “sell” the product…

Page Content: Linking Strategies

Links, and acquisition thereof, require a cautious strategy. Basically, it now works this way…

• Links to your website are a vote for your site and are added to your total link-vote score.
• Links from your website to another site are considered as vote BY you for that site and are DEDUCTED from your total link-vote score…

Reciprocal Links Neutrality

• Outgoing links can erode your Page Rank away….
• Outgoing links to “bad neighbourhoods” can damage your online reputation & rankings…

Link sculpturing is possible; preventing loss of link-juice is done by adding the rel=”nofollow” attribute on outward links. Reckless use of nofollow across the site is unwise because it’s unnatural and you may be penalised for it. The “nofollow” concept was introduced to apply to “untrusted” links, and perversion of the original intent is forcing Google to rethink its use.

Domain Naming Issues

Switching domain name as part of a rebranding process can be a desperate measure, and is one requiring serious evaluation. This was covered in Section #1 of this series. On rare occasions, it may make sense to change domain names. If the existing domain is only a year or so old, is poorly named, has minimal incoming links, and current search engine rankings are insignificant, a more relevant domain name may offer much. There are a variety of Domain-related issues that impact your search engine rankings.

• Using a relevant, high-volume keyword is a good Domain Naming strategy. 2 or 3 keywords are sufficient, any more becomes counter-productive…
• Separate words with hyphens to ensure clarity for viewers and SEs…

E.g.; australianhockeytours.com vs. australian-hockey-tours.com

Correct Country Code or Dot.Com?

An off-page content element aspect overlooked by many site owners is the importance of the Domain Name “Country Code” to your site rankings, traffic and consequent success. The problem here is the “de-centralisation” of search – the way in which the major search engines have split their indexes up into country-specific search opportunities.

• A .com site must be hosted in the targeted country if it’s to appear in the local search results – e.g. in “Search: pages from New Zealand”
• A .co.uk or .co.nz website can be hosted anywhere and Google will associate it with the specific country data set.

Website Hosting

Google (and other SEs) know where you are, or where you should be associated with, by either the Country Code (.Co.NZ) or the IP address allocated to your site. IP addresses are allocated in numeric blocks or ranges, by country.

If you are targeting customers in a specific country, make sure that’s where your website is hosted!

Web Redesign Summary

The page content examples highlight that it’s not necessarily the tools, it’s more the quality of workmanship that makes the difference.

If lack of knowledge or inexperience causes the newly redesigned web pages to disappear from search engine results pages, it does not matter much if the site looks stunning!

Elements such as page redirection are so fundamental, it is tantamount to gross negligence to overlook them. Incorporating fully automated XML and HTML sitemaps is also best practice in web redesign.

Contact me for a website redesign quote!

Page last Updated on 1st October 2023 by the author Ben Kemp