What are search engine friendly URLs?

Answer: Search engine friendly URLs (website addresses) are URLs that don’t contain any cryptic letters or elements in them.

Examples

Un-friendly URL: http://www.juliankristian.com.au/?page=15

Friendly URL: http://www.juliankristian.com.au/blog/seo/what-is-seo/

Why use search engine friendly URLs?

It is considerably better to use search engine friendly (SEF) URLs for search engines as well as for users. They are easy to read and can express the content of your site. It’s really easy for visitors to remember your URL when you use SEF URLs, and they can help visitors identify where they are at on your website via the breadcrumbs path.

Another reason to use SEF URLs is that the URLs are shown in the search results. If you search for something in Google, the URL is displayed between the title and the description. If someone searches for one of the words in the URL, that word will also be bolded in the URL in Google.

What are Microformats?

Answer: Microformats are small patterns of HTML to represent commonly published things like people, events, blog posts, reviews and tags in web pages ( http://microformats.org/wiki/what-are-microformats).

Why use Microformats?

By adding Microformats to your HTML, your website becomes more understandable to various kinds of computers.

  • Search engines can make sense of your HTML which allows them to display a better version in their search results.
  • Browser extensions can enable your readers to download information to their contacts, calendar, and maps apps.
  • Feed readers can be used to subscribe to your website’s feeds (blog posts, bookmarks, checkins, etc).
  • You can even use your website (with Microformats) to sign into other websites.

Example of a hCard microformat

What is SEO?

Answer: SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, which is the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results.

There are a great amount of information about SEO techniques on the internet and it’s hard to distinguish what is effective or not. The search ranking results from online search engines, namely Google, are calculated with a specific algorithm that includes setting a general theme that’s present in a website’s content and determining whether the contents are reliable or relevant to the user’s search context. The algorithm is updated and changed often, so the results can vary from time to time.

One of Google’s official guidelines says “Make pages primarily for users, not for search engines.” (Support.google.com, 2019) This is what really stuck out to me and after reading and understanding these official guidelines, this what I think are the most important points one can’t ignore and the reasons why they are important:

  • High Quality Content = More Authenticity

When the quality of your content is really high, someone might cite your page. It means the content has really helped someone and if many people cite your pages, Google’s search engine algorithm certifies that your content is really helpful and reliable. Thus, you should put really relevant and helpful content for your respective audience.

  • Unique Content = More Exposure

Also, if the content is really unique and interested, the user will stay your page longer to read every line. The longer the staying time, the more the Google search algorithm will think that it is of high quality.  So, it is important to think about how you attract your audience and to keep interested in reading other pages on your website.