Client is not happy with SEO report ran on my website

nellipope

nellipope

Member
A newbie, so please ask if I have used the wrong terminology. Would really appreciate some constructive advice on this.

I have recently built and gone live with a site for a client. However they use an SEO report tool called Act-on. And despite my best intentions and abilities, which I will be honest I'm only 18months into web design, I seem to be falling short regarding the SEO. We discussed H1 tags, the importance of Alt Image tags and other meta data, all meta data was added at request of the client, and I included some along the way and advised the client to the best of my knowledge.

The site went live this morning, the client then ran a report (with Act-on). This report has come back with conflicting data, which I am at a loss to explain. It's probably me and I always like to cover my bases, so I would be really grateful for some advice to correct where I have gone wrong.

First issue, "The Keyword is not being used in the URL" - The keyword is Large Cool Bag Rucksack and the site is Chill Back | Home | Cool Bag Rucksack, I can't explain this. The client's questioning whether this is searchable by Google, is this simply the fact that this site is very young?

H1 Tag - the client requested that CHILL BACK THE LARGE COOL BAG RUCKSACK be h1 - according to my end it is, but their report says otherwise.

I would be grateful for any other SEO related advice for this site.

Also can anyone recommend an SEO report tool that I can use?

I can supply more info, just don't want to write a convoluted thread.
 
You have multiple H1 tags in the source. The main headline is split across two tags so neither makes sense (you've done this with some H2 tags too).

Code: 
<h1>Chill Back - The cool bag</h1>
<h1>that chills on your back</h1>

You also have two more H1 tags a little further down;

Code: 
<h1>CHILL BACK</h1>
<h1>THE LARGE COOL BAG RUCKSACK</h1>

And you've used H1 tags for the different sections, for example 'shop'. The H1 tag ideally should only be used once as it essentially tells search engines what the whole page is about. What I tend to do is use the <section> tag immediately followed by a H2 tag to create different sections in a single page.

--

Code: 
<meta name="description" content="Chill Back The Large Cool Bag Rucksack, the cool bag that chills on your back." />

Meta tags have little to no SEO value nowadays. The title and description tags are used to tell search engines what to display on their snippet when users search so they should be written for humans, to entice them to click the link.

--

Code: 
<p>&nbsp;</p>

Using blank spaces to control the design if text is bad practice. Just add a margin-bottom value to the paragraphs you want to space out.

--

Keywords in domain names aren't as important as they once were as a keyword-rich domain is likely to be scrutinised more closely by search engines (they're often spammy or linked to low-quality sites). It's more important that the domain is easy to remember and not a chore to type in. From a usability point of view, using a keyword-focussed domain is bad here. The brand is called 'Chill Back' but the domain doesn't reference this at all. I'd worry this could be slightly confusing to a user.

--

Code: 
alt="Large Cool Bag Rucksack"

Img alt tags are for usability, specifically screen-readers for the visually impaired. If you stuff them with keywords you're setting the site up for a fall (Google themselves advise against this). They should be used to describe the image visually – imagine you were having to describe the image to someone who can't see it. You could be ok here since the image is of a 'large cool bag rucksack' but I'd rewrite a few to be a little more descriptive to please humans not machines.

--

I wouldn't rely on SEO tools too much, they focus on ticking boxes rather than actually looking at the site and asking if it makes sense to a user. So many people today sacrifice pleasing users over pleasing search engines which is completely the wrong approach. There's no point getting a site ranked for a search term if the site doesn't convert or is off-putting to users.

If you want to offer SEO services alongside design/development, I would invest in an SEO course (I've heard good things about Fresh Bananas) or find an SEO person you can work with before/during the design phase.
 
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I can't thank you guys enough.

Thanks for the h1 and spacing advice (that's where the designer in me took over a little). I'm not sure why the client wanted to use a keyword rich domain as they own their brand domain - chill back. You have also confirmed my fears over stuffing the site with key words.

Thankyou very much again for all your advice. Is very much appreciated.
 
Running a SEO report on the day of launch is harsh. Sure, improvements could and should be made, but you are not going to get the best data from one day online.

I also tend to use http://www.woorank.com/ for reporting. It is, in my opinion, the most reliable and even-handed of reporting tools available. Remember that SEO is not just on-page either. In my view the worst mistake is that URL - it is ugly! The brand is far more important than having a keyword rich domain and should have been chillback.co.uk!!
 
Thanks Corrosive.

I'm afraid the one that can say is I know very little about are these SEO analysers, which is why I've posted this. I wasn't sure how they work and whether the 'youth' of the site would be pertinent in this case and give negative results at this stage. I've always worked on the theory that providing good SEO was down to the standard process that most web designers should (should being the operative word) know! But there's always more to learn.

I've adjusted the site now, in particular to reflect the H1 v H2 tags - I'm afraid the designer in me took over there.

And hey! Without this forum and other resources, I wouldn't keep learning.

thanks
 
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