Internal Website Optimization: A Brief Overview of the Main Concepts

In the process of site ranking, search engines consider quite a few details. As time goes on, new factors emerge or the significance of older ones increases significantly. However, there is a category of factors that holds a significant place across all search systems. This is the internal optimization of websites. Today we will discuss it in more detail and explore what can be done with the resource to get it into the top of search results. This information will also be useful for those for whom this is work, and for those who have their own site.

Internal and External SEO – Main Differences

Internal optimization of a web resource involves a set of actions aimed at improving the site from the perspective of usability and user experience, as well as the search engine. This includes working with the site’s content, its structure, improving the condition of the code, and usability.

Thus, when we speak of internal SEO, we mean all the actions directed at the site itself. This involves working with the server and files on it as well as with the code. External SEO encompasses all activities conducted outside the site (links to it, mentions of the brand).

Internal Site Optimization – Initial Steps

It is impossible to conduct internal site optimization just once and forget about it. In fact, this process is regular and continuous. There is no single web resource without exception, so you should always think about what can be improved or changed for even better performance. Understanding what is lacking and what needs to be changed can be achieved through an SEO audit. Its goal is to find mistakes, set goals, and decide how to achieve them.

For an SEO audit to be effective, it should also be directed at the sites of your main competitors. With this step, you will understand what such competitors have, what you lack, and also find the reason for their leading positions in search results. When conducting an SEO audit of competitors, special attention should be paid to a few points:

• What structure do their web sites have;
• Whether there is interlinking;
• How many pages appear in search;
• How high-quality, substantial, and well-written their content is;
• How well their meta tags are filled;
• What the domain age is;
• How quickly their pages load;
• Whether it is convenient to navigate;
• Does the site have a mobile version.

For analyzing competitors’ resources, you can use some paid services, such as Semrush, SimilarWeb, and many others.

Now let’s discuss in detail what exactly influences the success of internal optimization.

Technical SEO

The overall performance, allowing the site to function correctly and load pages quickly, is called technical optimization. Thanks to proper technical SEO, you can increase the number of visitors while making the site more visible to search engines.

We recommend you follow the following necessary actions within the framework of technical optimization that you can either implement independently or entrust to a specialist. In the process of implementing technical SEO, it is necessary to:

• Remove all duplicates. Some duplicates can be quite easy to find. For instance, these may be pages that have a slash at the end of the URL and those without it, as well as those having www and those without it. But there are also less noticeable duplicates – pages with similar content or comment sections.
• Optimize the code and remove errors. With the help of specialized services or programs, you can find errors both in HTML and in CSS. It is also necessary to check that all functions are working on the site and that nothing is hanging.
• Ensure fast loading speed. The speed of site loading and its separate pages depends on the content – the size of multimedia files and their quantity, as well as how quickly separate files (CSS, HTML, JS) load.
• Create a proper 404 error page. A 404 error often scares users away and makes them leave the site. You must format this error page in such a way that a person understands what they should do next.
• Restrict indexing of technical pages. Here you can use robots.txt. Pages containing technical information can be hidden using “noindex, nofollow” tags in meta-robots.
• Analyze your own site. Here it is essential to control what actions your users are performing on the site and where your traffic comes from.
• Improve Last Modified If-Modified-Since. These headers give robots information on when the last changes were made to the page.
• Find and remove mixed content (links to sites with the HTTP protocol). Here, it is important to highlight sites that use the HTTPS protocol.
• Ensure quality hosting. This allows the site to function correctly and be accessible to users.
• Apply microdata. This way, you give the search engine the ability to identify what exactly is contained on the web page.

Some changes recommended by Google in May 2021 strongly advise conducting technical optimization. Importantly – the site’s loading quality is now evaluated by three metrics:

• LCP or Largest Contentful Paint – how fast the most important content loads on the web page (the norm is no more than 2.5 seconds).
• FID or First Input Delay – the duration from a click to when it starts working with the content (the norm is no more than 100 ms).
• CLS or Cumulative Layout Shift – how much the layout shifts during loading and whether elements appear during the load process that interfere with interacting with the current content (the norm is 0.1).

To understand what performance metrics your web resource has, use Google Search Console.

Well-Structured Site

For a site to rank higher in the search results, an assessment of other sites in this top is essential, as well as developing a semantic core. Thus, for each query category, there should be its landing page. The structure of the web resource should ideally be developed during its design phase. However, if the site already exists, the structure can always be revised and improved.

The usability of the structure affects the usability of the site and the indexing of pages by search robots. There are three main types of structures:

• Linear. Pages are viewed in a fixed order. Here belong presentations, business cards, and also slide shows. It is quite difficult to apply SEO here, but contextual advertising works great.
• Hierarchical. This is the most widespread variant. Levels can be different. For landing pages or business cards, two levels are sufficient. It is more common to see three levels – the homepage, category, and the content. It is certainly possible to create 4, 5 levels or more, but we do not recommend doing so. The more levels, the more difficult indexing will be, and the worse a user experience will be.
• Mesh. This structure is typically used by online stores, where many products from different brands are presented. In this case, pages with lower levels will be part of several sections.

For sites that offer services or have a larger assortment of goods, we recommend using a SILO structure. In this way, all pages of the resource are divided into categories by themes, and within each of these categories, they are linked. To ensure that higher-weighted pages, which are located higher, link to those pages that are lower.

In the process of forming the site structure, it is essential to consider the nuances listed below:

• Pay special attention to the semantic core.
• Create a map of your resource. There, users can view the list of available categories, subcategories, and pages.
• Create a sitemap.xml file. Ideally, it should be dynamic, meaning it is updated each time the site is updated.
• Create user-friendly URLs. URLs that are easily perceived by humans give them concise information about the site.

Working with Content

Content is exactly what brings people to your site; it provides answers to questions and solves problems. Therefore, it must be made well-written, unique, informative, and also optimized for requests.

Modern algorithms can analyze the content of a site and choose those pages, where most keywords are present, and those that do not benefit a user.

We recommend you become familiar with the current rules for improving site content:

• Only one H1 header should be present on a single page.
• As in the header, there should be appropriate labeling in subheaders (N2-N6), and in the text of the page itself, key phrases should be used. At this time, you need to avoid keyword stuffing (no more than 2-4 times).
• The text should include requests not only with a high and medium frequency but also low. Also for theme elaboration, synonyms and related words (phrases) should be used.
• Content must completely meet users’ needs. That is, if the query is commercial in nature, then a specific product page should be offered. If the request is informational, the user should receive text, a video, or a diagram with the answer.
• All web pages should have their title and description containing key queries.
• Images should necessarily include alt and title tags.
• Each request and each user problem should be solved with a separate text.
• All texts must be unique. To check this, special services are used.
• Texts must not contain any errors.
• Texts should have a pleasant structure for perception – divide them by paragraphs, add lists, blocks with important information, quotes.
• Texts should have the right volume. If it is a product page – no less than 2000, if it’s an article – no less than 4000 characters without spaces.

To understand what volume of text is optimal and how many keywords should be included for various categories of the page, an analysis of competitors’ resources that occupy leading positions can be conducted.

Special attention should be paid to internal and outgoing links when working with site content. In this process, it is crucial to get rid of broken and repeating links, as well as unnecessary outgoing links. It is important to bring to perfection internal linking keywords and make sure there are no inaccessible links to other sites, marking them with the nofollow attribute.

Usability

Usability refers to the level of comfort when using the site. It involves many components – how and where the menu is arranged, the layout with important information, the color gradient of the pages, and the peculiarities of the font, as well as how easily one can navigate and use its content.

The main principles of optimal usability are as follows:

• Avoid moving pages. The resources’ pages should only contain the most necessary elements for the perception of the content.
• Make familiar symbols. It is much easier for a person to use a site if the familiar elements are marked with common symbols (for example, the “enter” button will be better perceived as a door symbol than in the original format, but understandably only to you).
• Create a mobile version. People use mobile phones far more often than computers, so if you don’t have a mobile version, you are losing a huge percentage of users.
• Highlight essential main sections of the site.
• Create a user-friendly search on the site.
• Place the site’s logo prominently at the top of the page or in the upper left corner so that clicking on this logo takes users to the homepage.
• Create functional and user-friendly feedback forms.
• Work on the clickability of multimedia files.

To understand how user-friendly the usability of your site is, various polls and experiments can be conducted. In the analysis process, eliminate shortcomings and bring the site to perfection.

Connection with the Customer

The user must always have convenient contact with the seller so that he wants to make a purchase on this site. It is precisely the commercial factors that play the most important role in increasing sales levels.

Here’s the following algorithm:

• Place contact details in a visible spot (at the top of the page) – phone numbers, address, email, working hours, links to messengers. An excellent bonus would be a number free for any operators.
• Add buttons that encourage users to take action – buy a product, add it to the cart, request a callback.
• Make sections that explain the company’s operational details, its licenses and awards, about employees, as well as about payment, delivery, returns, and guarantees.
• Provide a map with the location of your company.
• Ensure the opportunity for an online consultation for users.
• Design blocks with similar products or complements to browsed goods.

How to Make Internal SEO Simpler

As you can see, the process of internal optimizing your web resource involves a considerable amount of work. For this, you need to gather a team of people who will write code, textual material, format the external view of pages, and also engage in commercial orientation.

In general, internal site optimization is an ongoing and regular process. After you have implemented all the above, you need to monitor the work of the site and also keep track of the ongoing algorithm updates. Only in this case can you achieve increased traffic and profit.