Introduction
Whether you are an experienced SEO whizz or are brand new to Search Engine Optimization, we’ve got you covered. The Metro Publisher CMS has been specifically designed for digital magazines and we have built in all kinds of features designed to enhance SEO and promote reader engagement. But there is also a lot you can do externally to ensure that your website ranks highly on search engines and increase organic traffic. To make the process as easy as possible, we have put together our ultimate guide to enhancing SEO for your website, which covers everything from the basics all the way to advanced actions.
This is the second part of a two part blog entry. Go back to Part 01...
seo-checklist-02
Technical SEO
Make sure your site can be properly indexed - which contributes to better rankings - by taking these technical steps.
15. Make Sure You Are Using HTTPS
Ensure your site is encrypted
Simply put, websites prefixed ‘HTTP’ are not secure, and you are strongly advised to update to ‘HTTPS’, which encrypts the data and makes it secure. (Check by looking at your website URL: if you see a small padlock, you are using HTTPS.)
Shifting to HTTPS is done very simply by adding an SSL certificate. All new sites in Metro Publisher use SSL, but some older clients may need to update their site.
This is a simple process that can be done in a matter of seconds and is completely free. We explain how to update your website on Metro Publisher here.
16. Check for Duplicate Versions of Your Site in Google's Index
Ensure that only one version of your website is indexed
It is important that Google (or any search engine) only indexes a single version of your website, which we call your ‘primary domain’ on our system at Metro Publisher.
It is quick and easy to check in the Metro Publisher. Go to the ‘Site Settings’ page, add all the domains that you own, insert the Metro Publisher IP into the ‘WWW A Record’ field, then check the box ‘Primary’. Our system does the rest for you! You can find out more about how to do this here.
17. Find and Fix Crawl Errors
Crawl errors make it harder for search engines to index your site correctly
‘Crawl errors’ are what happens when search engine crawlers try to access areas on your website but fail. You can find out if your website has any of these errors quickly through the Google Search Console (see point 1 above), which lists them in the ‘Coverage’ Report. (Find out more on the Google help page here.)
If there is any confusion about those errors, you can contact Metro Publisher’s support team for assistance.
18. Improve Your Site Speed
Site speed is important, but note that it is just one aspect of a positive user experience
Site speed is undoubtedly important to users, and slow sites are penalized by Google and other search engines. Metro Publisher clients can rest assured that the automatic updates of our system incorporate the latest guidelines and improvements with regard to site speed and SEO.
However, it is important to remember that the way that site speeds are measured vary considerably, and your site might score highly on one site speed tool and poorly on another. Also, it can be hard to know which recommendations from the site speed reports are critical and which will have little or no effect on your website. We explain more about this much-debated issue here.
At Metro Publisher, we are constantly working to ensure sites score highly for speed. However, it is very important that you take into account that third-party elements in your website – such as Google Ad Server, social media share tools or embedded YouTube videos – may slow down your site. (Google Ad Server, for example, can reduce your site speed score by up to 30%!) These third-party elements, however, may also contribute to making your content useful and giving users a positive experience which improves your search engine rankings. As a result, you should weigh up the benefits of incorporating useful third-party elements against the loss of speed. You’ll find a useful explanation of how this works here.
19. Fix Broken Internal and Outbound Links
Fixing broken links improves user experience
Broken links are frustrating for users, and you should find and fix any that appear on your website. You can find them using one of the many link-checking tools available on the web. Then you can log into your Metro Publisher worksite to update those links on your landing pages and content as you find them.
20. Find and Fix HTTP Links on HTTPS Pages
Keep your web content secure
As we described in point 15, above, it’s important to use HTTPS, rather than HTTP, in website URLs in order to ensure that the data is encrypted. Metro Publisher clients can easily check any page on their site by using a third-party service such as this one.
If you find a page that contains any links to a website that is still prefixed with ‘HTTP’, simply log in to your Metro Publisher admin page, go to the page that needs to be changed and amend the link by replacing ‘HTTP’ with ‘HTTPS’.
Note that, in most cases, any pages you find which are still using HTTP will be from a third-party service. You can usually simply change these URLs to HTTPS.
21. Make Sure That Your Website is Mobile-Friendly
Mobile-first sites rank better in search engines
Ensuring your site is optimized for mobile devices is increasingly important: 66% of site visits came from mobile devices in 2020 and Google introduced a mobile-first algorithm in early 2021. If you are not giving your site visitors a smooth user experience on their mobile devices, you will be penalized and lose organic traffic.
Fortunately, all Metro Publisher sites are mobile-friendly. You can verify that your site is mobile-friendly using the Google Mobile-Friendly Test tool here.
22. Use an SEO-Friendly URL Structure
Clearly direct users and search engine crawlers to the right page
The URL is an address that directs users – and search engine crawlers – to the right page. You should ensure that your navigation structure is as clear as possible. You can optimize your URLs for SEO by making them short, simple and descriptive: for example, if you’ve written a blog on the best burgers in Brooklyn, an SEO-optimized URL would be https://www.yourwebsitename.com/dining/reviews/best-burgers-brooklyn. This clearly directs users and search engine crawlers to a specific article on the best burgers in Brooklyn, found in the review sub-section of the dining section.
In the Metro Publisher CMS, URLs are automatically created when you upload your content based on the structure of your site, but you can easily and conveniently amend the URL of your pages to reflect the content and your SEO goals.
When optimizing your URLs, use hyphens (not underscores), remove words such as ‘of’, ‘the’, ‘and’ and keep them as short as possible.
23. Add Structured Data
Using structured data helps search engines understand your content
Simply put, structured data is a way of categorising your content that allows search engines to understand it clearly.
The Metro Publisher CMS has SEO-optimized content types, including articles, reviews, events, roundups, etc., that contain structured data. By using these content types correctly (for example, using the ‘review’ content option rather than uploading a review as a general article), you will be including useful structured data that will aid search engine crawlers and improve your SEO. You can find out more about our content types here.
24. Check the Page Depth of Your Site
Make sure your content is available within three clicks (or fewer)
On any website, it should take no more than three clicks for users to reach the page they want. More than three clicks negatively impacts user experience and also makes it harder for search engines to find. All Metro Publisher sites are specifically designed on a two-tier structure which means that no content will be more than three clicks in depth.
For example, to reach this article on one of our customer’s websites, https://fwtx.com/eat-drink/reviews/addicted-to-love/, users would click on ‘Eat & Drink’, then on ‘Reviews’ and then on the article.
25. Check Temporary 302 Redirects
Move content without fear
A 302 code indicates that a page is being redirected temporarily (301 means a permanent redirect). The Metro Publisher automatically creates 301 redirects for all content and sections that are renamed or moved. So, if you move an article on your website from one section to another, or rename an article or change the URL to improve your SEO (see point 22, above), user traffic gets redirected automatically – without you having to do a thing.
In addition, because our system maintains a link history, you can make as many changes as you like, and the pages will automatically redirect. This means that there is no need for 302 (temporary) redirects.
26. Find and Fix Redirect Chains and Loops
Keep it simple with your custom redirects
Redirecting users and/or search engine crawlers should be simple: from one page to the target page. If you add extra steps or rules in the process, i.e. by redirecting users to other pages before they reach the target page, you have created a loop.
Redirect chains and loops are usually created by accident. As a result, Metro Publisher has a robust tool to ensure that you don’t accidentally create a loop. For example, when using the Metro Publisher CMS, you can’t redirect a live, published article: you have to change the status to ‘draft’. You can read about how our tool functions here.
On-Page SEO and Content Checklist
The content you put on your site is in your hands. We all know that great content and an optimal user experience is the cornerstone for good SEO – and the success of your magazine. Again, Semrush provides an excellent overview of key steps to take to optimize your content (points 27 to 36) and we recommend you follow their checklist.
Off-Page SEO
As well as optimizing your on-page SEO, you should also make the off-page recommendations that Semrush lists (points 37 to 41).
We hope that this blog helps you optimize your site effectively. And don’t forget - the Metro Publisher support team is here to answer all your platform questions!
