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When talking about the correctness of a website’s head section in the context of SEO, we actually mean several of its elements, which are very significant for SEO efforts. The analysis of what is contained in the head section is a sizable part of any comprehensive SEO audit, and its optimization has a direct impact on a given page’s positioning.
What is the head section of a website?
The <head> section in a website’s source code is a fundamental part of an HTML document. It is the place where you put metadata and other information about the page that is not directly visible on the page but is relevant to web browsers and search engines.
What is in the head section of a website?
There are many elements in the head section of the website; here are the most common ones:
- Title
- Description
- Links to CSS style sheets
- Links to JavaScript scripts
- Links to site icons (favicon)
- Links to alternative versions of the site, e.g. for mobile devices
- Instructions on browser compatibility
Why is meta title important for SEO?
The meta title, a tag that defines the title of a page and its subpages, is particularly important because it appears in organic search results, and its content is supposed to be one of the elements that encourage the user to visit that particular site.
Search engine robots also consider the title when determining organic results for particular keywords, so it is worth ensuring that it is completed according to the guidelines.
The length of the title should be between 60 and 70 characters. This is primarily because Google does not show more characters in organic results, so a longer sentence may be dropped at a random place, which does not look good to the user. In addition, it’s a good idea to include one or two of the most important keywords for the subpage in the title in a contextually natural way.
The title is also visible as a tab title in the browser for a given website, so it should clearly indicate what site it relates to so that a person with multiple tabs open can easily return to it.
Why is the meta description important for SEO?
The meta description is the second element of the head section visible in organic search results. Like the title, it is meant to entice potential customers to visit our site. It should be so interesting that, given a choice of 5 sites in high positions for a given phrase, a search engine user will decide to enter our site.
The description should also meet the length requirement, which is about 155 characters. Best practices also indicate that it is worth including a call to action in its content, directly addressing the potential customer, and keywords most accurately describing the content of a given sub-page.
The content of the sub-page should also be the same.
Is it still worthwhile to complete meta keywords for a website’s subpages?
When SEO as a marketing service was still in its infancy and search engine algorithms were far less complicated, one method of optimizing pages was to include meta keywords in the head section. This is no longer practised today, as it can do more harm than good. Google started to ignore meta keywords many years ago, so supplementing them can only indicate to the competition what keywords we care about.
What does content=”index, follow” mean, and when should it be used?
By including the line <meta name=” robots” content=”index,follow”/> in the head section, we inform the search engine robots that we want our website to be indexed by them and taken into account when determining the position on keywords. We can establish this for the entire site or only for a designated part of the subpages that we want to „show the world”. For the rest, we then apply the inverse of this command.
What does content=”noindex,nofollow” mean and when should it be used?
The inverse, of course, is <meta name=”robots” content=” index,nofollow”/>, which is intended to indicate that you do not want a subpage to be indexed by search engine robots, that is, its content is not accessible from search engine results. A sub-page containing noindex and nofollow is, of course, possible to be visited by users and can be fully functional, it just will not be visible organically.
Noindex and nofollow are worth including for pages that are still being worked on, such as test versions of sites that are still evolving.
What is rel=””canonical” and why is it important in SEO?
The rel=”canonical” attribute is used in HTML to indicate which version of a web page is “main” when multiple copies or subpages of the page with similar content are available at different URLs. The main purpose of the rel=” canonical” attribute is to help search engines understand which of these versions should be preferred and displayed in search results.
The main uses of the rel=” canonical” attribute are:
- Eliminate duplicate content – if we have several pages with virtually identical content (e.g., due to URL parameters, sorting, filters, etc.), we can use rel=”canonical” to indicate which version is original and should be indexed by search engines
- Solving problems with content stored at different URLs – when there are multiple copies of the same content available at different URLs (e.g., with and without www, with HTTP and HTTPS), we can use rel=”canonical” to determine the preferred version that should appear in organic search results
- Redirect content from multiple pages to a single canonical page – if we have multiple pages with content that we want to consolidate into a single canonical version, rel=”canonical” can help with this process
Why is optimizing the head section of a website a very high priority when implementing changes from an SEO audit?
Optimizing the head section should be one of the higher priorities when implementing changes and optimizing the technical aspects of a website’s performance. A complete SEO audit should always indicate which elements of the head section are to be improved and on which pages, as they affect how our site is seen by a search engine robot and, consequently, by our potential customers in search results.
Optimizing the head section is a very high priority.
It is worth taking the time to create or edit the content of the meta title and meta description attributes, as they represent the first contact a user has with our site and impact building our image.
Wondering if the head section of your site needs to be optimized?
If you have doubts about whether the head section of your website is properly optimized, it most likely is not. If this is the case, getting a professional SEO audit and dispelling any doubts is a good idea so your site can achieve high organic rankings!
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She has 11 years of professional experience, she started her career at the Emarketing Experts agency as a junior SEO specialist. In addition to website positioning, she was responsible for conducting 360° marketing projects as an Account Manager at They.pl. She worked for companies from the financial sector (Bank Millennium, Bank Meritum, Finai S.A.) and e-commerce (e.g. Black Red White, Autoland, Mumla). At Up&More, he is responsible for, among others, SEO projects for Panek Car Sharing, Amerigas, Interparking, H+H and Autoplaza.