SEO Features to Look for in a Website Builder-Featured.jpg

SEO Features to Look for in a Website Builder

Having a beautiful website is great. But at the end of the day, even the most beautiful website isn’t worth all that much if no one sees it.

There are billions of websites. In order for your small business website to be effective, it needs to be visible to your customer base.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a key part of making your website more visible on search engines, like Google and Bing. And although organic visibility requires ongoing content creation and optimization, it starts with your website.

Website builders make it easier — and more affordable — than ever before to build a great website for your business, but it’s important to make sure that any website builder you choose is set up for SEO success.

7 SEO features to look for in a website builder

#1. Responsive design

Many of the people who visit your website will be using their smartphone or tablet, and others will be using a desktop or laptop computer. But, no matter what device someone is using, you want them to have a smooth, consistent experience.

A responsive website design will automatically reconfigure itself based on the device being used, which ensures the best possible experience for all of your users.

Websites that are responsive and mobile friendly perform better on search engines, because Google and Bing want to provide the best possible experience for their users.

#2. SEO tools

An effective SEO strategy involves optimizing your website for keywords that are relevant to your business, services or products. These keywords should appear as naturally as possible in your title tags, meta descriptions, website content and beyond.

The website builder you choose should make it as easy as possible to optimize your website with the right keywords.

That means that title tags and meta descriptions need to be editable and easy to access, and it should be easy to add your own alt image tags to your images.

#3. Structured data

Structured data is what helps to describe your website to search engines in a way that makes it easier for them to understand. This makes it easier for search engines to rank your website for the right keywords.

Furthermore, when you use structured data, it allows search engines to display results in a richer, more clickable way. For example, using structured data, you can display a product’s star ratings or a recipe’s cook time.

Look for a website builder that utilizes structured content, so that you can enjoy the benefits of structured data without having to go through the hassle of actually having to put it on your website.

#4. Microdata

Microdata helps to categorize and label individual chunks of content. In essence, microdata tells search engines what different elements of a page are.

For example, in an organic listing for a book, the microdata helps Google differentiate between the author’s name, genre, publisher, etc. And, like structured data, microdata is used to provide richer search results.

Using microdata is important, but it can feel overly complicated and technical. Make it easy by choosing a website builder that automatically includes microdata.

#5. Canonical URLs

When you create content for your website, it should be original and unique. This is so important, in fact, that Google uses it as a ranking factor and won’t rank pages that have duplicate content.

Google and other search engines don’t want to provide their users with the same information over and over again, which is why they prioritize pages with content that’s unique and original. However, in some cases, using duplicate content makes sense.

When you have a legitimate reason to use duplicate content, using a canonical URL will tell search engines where to find the original content, and it will help you avoid any potential penalties that come with using duplicate content.

#6. Image optimization

Internet users are used to instant gratification, and they expect it. And if a site takes too long to load, many users won’t stick around for very long. That’s why search engines prefer to show users pages that load quickly.

One of the biggest things that can slow a website down are large, unoptimized images. These kinds of images take forever to load, and that can end up hurting your visibility on search engines.

Look for a website builder that offers automatic image optimization and makes it easy to compress all of your images at once.

#7. Blog

Having the right website design will help to set your website up for SEO success, but it doesn’t stop there. You also need a way to add ongoing content to your website on a regular basis.

When it comes to ongoing content creation, nothing quite beats having a blog. Blogging on a regular basis is a great way to add content to your website in a way that’s interesting to your visitors.

Not to mention, when you blog on your website, you demonstrate your knowledge and expertise, which builds trust with your readers and educates your customers.

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