Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO for web editors
Meta data
Make it easy for people and search engines to find and share our content. In addition to making the content SEO friendly, the meta title element and meta description are important.
H1 (Title in Contentful)
Include the target keyphrase once at the beginning of the title element.
Meta Title
Make sure title tags are between 40-75 characters long. Include the main keyword and important phrases towards the beginning of the title so that they'll be the first thing that catches the eye when a user scans search engine results. In Contentful: "Meta tags: Page Title". Note: Although the H1 and the meta title can be the same, they have to be very similar but not necessarily identical.
Main Differences:
Meta Title Tags appear in search engines and the Web browser’s title bar
H1 headers appear within the body text of the webpage
Search engines give more weight to Title Tags than H1 headers
Some more reading here:
Meta description
Try writing concise yet compelling descriptions of the page content that will persuade users to click on your link. Include important keywords and keep the meta descriptions shorter than 160 characters. (Search engine results will read and show only 160 characters)
Alt attribute
Alt attributes are important for accessibility and SEO. They are the text equivalent of the image for people who are visually impaired and they have an impact on how the search engine interprets your images. In Contentul, this field is named as "Description" in the image asset.
Tips for writing ideal Alt attributes:
Describe the image, and be specific. Use both the image's subject and context to guide you.
Add context that relates to the topic of the page. If the image doesn't feature a recognizable place or person, then add context based on the content of the page. For example, the alt text for a stock image of a person typing on a computer could be "Dermatologist reading an article of DermWorld online".
Keep your alt text fewer than 125 characters. Screen-reading tools typically stop reading alt text after the first 125 characters.
Don't start alt text with "Illustration of..." or "Image of..." Jump right into the image's description. Screen-reading tools and search engine bots will identify it as an image from the source code.
Use your keywords, but sparingly, and only if the keywords are logical to use with the image. If you cannot easily use keywords, consider using the most important terms within a longtail keyword. For example, if your article's head keyword is "how to use Modifier 58," you might say "Medical coder using Modifier 58" in the image depicting a person filling out paperwork in front of a computer, as "how to" is not something that the image can convey.
Do not use keywords in every single image's alt text. If your article contains a series of images, include your keyword in at least one of those images. Identify the image you think is most representative of your topic, and assign a keyword.
Every image does not need an alt tag. You should add alt text to most images on a webpage — however, there are exceptions. Images that are purely decorative, meaning they have no connection to the content on the page or the organization, such as decorative borders, should have an empty alt tag. (These types of images are very rare on our site. Most of our images do have a context, even if they are there mainly for visual interest)
Headings
H1, the main title of your article, should:
Be short and direct.
Be able to stand on their own and understood out of context.
Avoid jargon, abbreviations, cleverness, and technical terms.
There can be only one H1 per page
Subheads (H2, H3, etc.)
Subheads break articles into smaller, more specific sections. They give readers avenues into content and make it more scannable.
Headings and subheadings should be organized in a hierarchy, with main heading first, followed by subheads in order. (After H1 comes H2, After H2 comes H3 etc.)
Include the most relevant keywords in your headings and subheads, and make sure you cover the main point of the content.
Use sentence case for page titles and subheads.
Don’t use punctuation in a title unless the title is a question.
Links
Provide a link whenever you’re referring to something on an external website. Use links to point users to relevant internal content and trusted external resources.
If a link comes at the end of a sentence or before a comma, don’t link the punctuation mark.
Don’t say things like “Click here!” or “Click for more information” or “Read this.” Write the sentence as you normally would, and link relevant keywords.
Links to external pages should open in a new window. Links to internal content should open in the same window.
Use calls to action components for important links that require action. For example: "Register", "Sign up for newsletter", "Vote now".
For web editors: The internal links should be entered as "Entries". Do not just paste the URL from your browser. This will help with tracking as well as broken links.
Lists
Use lists to present steps, groups, or sets of information.
Give context for the list with a brief introduction.
Number lists when the order is important, like when you’re describing steps of a process.
Don’t use numbers when the list’s order doesn’t matter.
If one of the list items is a complete sentence, use proper punctuation and capitalization on all of the items.
If list items are not complete sentences, don’t use punctuation, but do capitalize the first word of each item.
Buttons: Buttons should always contain actions and spell out the action. The language should be clear and concise. Capitalize every word. It’s OK to use an ampersand in button copy. Note: We do not have buttons as components by themselves in Contentful, but they do appear in call to actions and optionally in cards and image blocks.
Forms
Form titles should clearly and quickly explain the purpose of the form.
Use sentence case for form fields.
Keep forms as short as possible.
Only request information that we need and intend to use. Don’t ask for information that could be considered private or personal, including gender.
Headings and subheadings: Headings and subheadings organize content for readers.
Navigation
Use title case for main or global navigation. Use sentence case for sub-navigation.
Navigation links should be clear and concise. They don't have to be the page name.
URLs
Max URL length is 50-60 characters. The shorter, the better.
Keep them descriptive, simple and clear, use 1-2 keywords.
Related articles
Sometimes a long piece of copy lends itself to a list of related links at the end. Don’t go overboard—four is usually plenty.
Related articles should appear in a logical order, following the step down/step up rule: The first article should be a step down in complexity from the current article. The second one should be a step up in complexity to a more advanced article.
If you can, avoid repeating links from the body text in related articles.