Techathon Series: SEO essentials - Best practices and implementation strategies

The fourth Sogody Techathon was an enlightening event centered around the topic of SEO essentials. Presented by Dardan Asllani, one of our Software Engineers, this Techathon delved into the intricacies of SEO, providing valuable insights and practical strategies.

The primary objective of this presentation was to equip the team with the necessary knowledge and tools to enhance their ability to construct websites that are SEO-friendly. As a team, we are dedicated to continuous growth and are committed to consistently improving our website-building standards.

Through this presentation, our BriTech team aimed to foster a culture of knowledge sharing and encourage discussions about best practices within our team.

By empowering each team member with the skills and understanding of SEO-friendly website development, we strive to elevate our websites' overall quality and effectiveness while ensuring they are easily discoverable and accessible to users through search engines.

The art of SEO

Dardan commenced his presentation by emphasizing the importance of SEO, an acronym for Search Engine Optimization. SEO is a fundamental process aimed at optimizing websites to achieve higher rankings in search engine result pages (SERPs).

He then continued by highlighting the pivotal role SEO plays in improving website visibility on search engines, driving more traffic, increasing user engagement and conversion rates, and strengthening brand credibility and trust. “Investing in SEO is a strategic decision that can yield significant benefits. While it requires effort and expertise, SEO is a long-term strategy that can deliver sustainable results and drive business growth.” Dardan said.

SEO can be broadly categorized into three main pillars: on-page, technical, and off-page optimization. Each pillar plays a crucial role in developing a comprehensive and effective SEO strategy.

• Technical SEO - Focuses on optimizing performance, mobile friendliness, site architecture, secure protocols, XML sitemaps, and structured data. Tools such as GTMetrix, PageSpeed Insights, Lighthouse, and Google Search Console aid in assessing and improving technical aspects.

• On-Page SEO - This revolves around optimizing individual web pages through keyword research, optimizing title tags, meta descriptions, header tags, URL structures, internal linking, and ensuring high-quality and readable content. Tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, and Yoast SEO assist in optimizing on-page elements.

• Off-Page SEO - Involves enhancing a website’s authority and reputation through external sources. It includes acquiring backlinks from high-quality and relevant websites, engaging in social media, guest blogging, content outreach, local SEO, and influencer or PR outreach. Tools like Ahrefs, Moz Link Explorer, Google My Business, and social media management platforms facilitate off-page optimization efforts.

Headless and SEO

Furthermore, we explored the concept of Headless SEO and its impact on headless projects. Headless SEO is a unique approach to optimizing content for search engines using a Headless CMS (Content Management System). It requires content modeling for SEO, intentional technical set-up, and an omnichannel search strategy.

While familiar SEO techniques still apply, the technical setup in a Headless CMS involves decoupling the CMS from the frontend presentation layer.

In order to shed more light on the technical aspects, Dardan proceeded to delve into the intricacies of the set-up process. He explained in detail how a content model is structured within a Headless CMS, emphasizing the flexibility and control it offers.

Dardan further elaborated on the advantages of adopting an omnichannel, illustrating how Sanity, as a Headless CMS, enables seamless implementation across multiple channels.

The importance of SEO implementation

Implementing SEO best practices is vital for improving website visibility, attracting organic traffic, and enhancing user experience. By adopting SEO techniques, businesses and individuals can effectively reach their target audience, increase click-through rates, boost conversions, and establish a strong online presence. It is essential to monitor and analyze SEO performance continuously, adapting to search engine algorithms and evolving user expectations.

By leveraging the power of SEO and embracing best practices, businesses and individuals can connect with their target audience, outshine competitors, and achieve their online goals.

To put this into practice, Dardan assigned our team with a task. The objective was to conduct a thorough Technical & On-Page SEO Audit along with Keyword Research for sogody.com, utilizing the powerful Screaming Frog software. The team will extensively analyze essential elements such as URLs, metadata, headings, images, links, and more by conducting a comprehensive crawl of the website.

This in-depth examination will provide them with a profound understanding of the site’s structure, on-page optimization, and any potential issues that may be affecting its performance.

To effectively carry out this assignment, it is crucial for the team to export the data collected from Screaming Frog, along with their findings from Keyword Research. These valuable insights should then be diligently organized in the provided sheet. By doing so, all team members can facilitate further analysis, monitor progress, and ensure the proper documentation of our SEO recommendations and insights.