4 misunderstood SEO optimization factors

BUCHAREST, Romania - Aug. 31, 2016 - PRLog -- In principle, all you need to rank high for queries relevant to your website is a good backlink profile, which you can build with intelligent investments and high-quality content.

Although SEO may seem accessible for everybody, there are some factors at play that you need to take into consideration. These factors can make or break your SEO optimization strategy. I'm talking about technical SEO factors, which require some degree of coding or site structure familiarity. This is the reason why they're commonly overlooked by SEO optimization amateurs, and can affect negatively even solid SEO strategies.

1. XML AND HTML SITEMAPS

One very important technical aspect of SEO implies the development and implementation of sitemaps. There are two common types of sitemaps: Standard formatted HTML sitemaps and XML formatted sitemaps. The HTML sitemap is what's generally used for human site visitors, while the XML sitemap is intended for search robots like Google. You need both sitemap versions to help both human and robot visitors.

"There are plenty [of] reasons and advantages to having sitemaps. Apart from making site navigation easier, this tool is also a better way of communicating instantly with search engines for indexing purposes. With sitemaps, changes on webpages are easily identifiable and are sure to be indexed much faster." MediaOne Marketing declares.

2. /ROBOTS.TXT FILES

Another technical SEO optimization element you need is the /robots.txt file. This file offers search robots instructions about your site. Here's how it works: A robot visits your website URL. However, before it does that, the robot starts by checking for http://www.example123.com/robots.txt, where it will find certain information and directions that tell the robot how to proceed and which pages it's not allowed to access.

The important thing to remember is that /robots.txt file aren't hidden or anonymous. Anyone can find them, so there's no point in trying to hide information there.

3. MOBILE OPTIMIZATION

Did you know that there are now more mobile-only Internet users than desktop users? This signals a huge shift in how Web content is accessed, and it needs a responsive answer from websites.

Google officially stated that website owners need to develop mobile responsive sites in order to satisfy users. Google encourages this initiative by offering the responsive websites a bump in searches coming from a mobile device. Google also adds "mobile friendly" tags to responsive websites. Furthermore, non-mobile friendly sites occupy inferior positions in the search engines. In other words, sooner or later you'll need to invest in this direction.

4. PROPERLY USED 301 REDIRECTS

Redirects represent a particularly confusing topic for lots of people. They are necessary to keep your site relevant and up to date, but using these codes improperly can damage your site's UX and will directly affect your positions in the search engines.

There are two types of redirects. I'm talking about the 301 redirects – which are permanent – and the 302– which are temporary. 301 redirects are essential because they tell a search engine that the page in question has been permanently moved and will transfer a large part of the page's authority to the new version. However, if use a 302 instead, you won't get the authority transfer and will lose some of the traffic.

DON'T FORGET THE TECHNICAL ASPECTS

While developing high-quality content and a good backlink profile are certainly the key to success in an SEO optimization campaign, you shouldn't neglect the technical aspects. If you pay attention to these technical factors, you will notice that they really separate average websites from outstanding ones.

More information on http://www.iagency.ro/en/.