Is SEO just information management? Well, maybe not quite, but it sure helps!
For the past few months I have been working on a lengthy search engine optimization (SEO) project and as an information guru, it has been truly fascinating!
The job of a search engine is to respond to a user’s query with a list of best and most appropriate websites. Search engines evaluate websites based on certain criteria such as content, URLs, headings, site speed, responsiveness, and history. For a website to be viewed favourably by a search engine, its data needs to be kept clean, tidy, and well organized. Each page, post, or image must be categorized and labelled properly. Anything stale, outdated, or unused must be removed. An SEO checklist for website is enormous, but it reflects the best practices for managing information.
Here are a few tips to both manage your websites information and optimize search engines:
- Each web-page should be relevant, useful, and fresh, and have appropriate titles and tags.
- Irrelevant, out of date, or incorrect information should be deleted.
- All links must work. All external links should be checked periodically to ensure they are still appropriate.
- All images should provide informative metadata.
- Use categories and tags correctly.
- Know your organization’s keywords and ensure your website supports them.
SEO, like information management, is an ongoing process, they both require regular maintenance, and nothing should be categorized as ‘miscellaneous’.
If you are interested in learning more about SEO or managing information, contact me and I will send you some great resources!