Here’s a general, beginner-oriented mostly, common sense rules for SEO. It’s the first steps before and after purchasing a domain:
URLs
- URLs should be keyword optimised and user friendly (avoid
*+%!
characters). - Use hyphens instead of underscores to separate words within the URL.
- URL length should be under 100 characters.
- Keep URLs lowercase.
- Non-
www
versions of URLs should redirect to thewww
version (e.g.example.com
should 301 towww.example.com
). - Non-secure
http
versions of URLs should redirect to the securehttps
version (e.g.http://www.example.com
should 301 tohttps://www.example.com
). /index.php
or/index.html
style URLs should rewrite towww.example.com
.
Website crawlers & bots
- Include both HTML and XML sitemaps to help users and crawlers discover your site’s structure and content (sitemaps should automatically update with the addition/removal/editing of pages).
robots.txt
ormeta
robots tags should only block select directories/pages as required.- Content should load within HTML (crawlers can have trouble with JavaScript etc.).
- An editable
rel="canonical"
tag should be implemented on every page. - Content should still be visible with JavaScript and CSS styles turned off in browser.
Semantic Web, Schema and Rich Snippets
- Implement any structured data (Schema) elements relevant to your website including breadcrumbs, event, organization, local business, ratings/reviews, price, product, images for eCommerce etc.
Multi-platform & Multi-device
- Cater for multiple devices including desktop, mobile and tablet.
- Site should work across all browsers and major operating systems.
- Ensure site conforms to Google’s Mobile SEO Best Practices.
User Tracking/Conversion
- Implement Google Tag Manager across all pages incorporating Google Analytics and, optionally, Google Ads Remarketing codes as applicable.
- Implement Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
- Redirect users to a “thank you” page after any form submission.
Note that, in 2021, web standards count more than ever. A well-formed web document will help your site rank better.

Technical SEO specialist, JavaScript developer and senior full-stack developer. Owner of getButterfly.com.
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