Today we’re going to talk about something I’ve wanted to talk about for a long time: do you need to know how to code to do SEO?
And instead of leading you on a long, lengthy video that’s going to waste your time, I will just tell you the answer.
Do you need to know how to code to do SEO?
The answer is maybe (everybody’s favorite answer regarding SEO, right?) because, while you don’t need to write HTML documents and you don’t need to write JavaScript, it is imperative that you can identify some key code elements on the page.
So, for instance, you would not know that a page has a robots level directive that tells the search engine to don’t index a page If you don’t know what a noindex attribute is or where to find it. So while you don’t need to be able to write the code yourself, you do need to identify key SEO tags.
The tags you need to know
All right. So now that we know we need some coding knowledge regarding SEO, what do we need to know? What are the HTML elements that we need to be able to identify? I’ll give you just a few. These are not all of them, but if you know these, you can do SEO. You’ll need to know the following:
- Head tag
- Meta tags
- Title tag
- H tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.)
- Canonical tags
- Image tags
So basically, you wouldn’t be a very effective SEO if you didn’t know the basics.
Another example
There are also a few other things, like XML. So you have something called an XML sitemap and you need to be able to know what’s on that sitemap because if your page is not indexed properly or is having indexation problems, you need to be able to tell if the XML sitemap is broken or if some code’s just not right.
Now, you can probably look that up quickly on Google, but you don’t want to learn this for the first time when the websites are on fire. You want to be able to know how it’s structured.
So maybe this is a little more on the technical side of technical SEO. But I think if you want to be an effective SEO, you need to know everything, not just on-page and off-page, but also technical.
Video
Are you a visual learner? Check out my YouTube video titled “Keyword Cannibalization: Is It Still Relevant in 2023 SEO?” (Google’s New SERPChanges),” where I show you all of this firsthand.
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
Do you still have questions? Below are some of the most commonly asked questions about SEO.
How can I ensure that my website’s code is properly structured for SEO?
To ensure that your website’s code is properly structured for SEO, it is important to use clean, valid code that adheres to web standards. This means using proper heading tags (H1, H2, etc.), alt tags for images, and descriptive and concise title tags and meta descriptions. It is also important to ensure that the website is easy to navigate and loads quickly.
What are some important factors to consider when optimizing a website?
Some important factors to consider when optimizing a website for search engines include keyword research, creating high-quality content, building backlinks, optimizing meta tags and images, and ensuring that the website is mobile-friendly and has a fast loading speed.
How can I track my website’s SEO performance?
Several tools are available for tracking your website’s SEO performance, such as Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and SEMrush. These tools can provide insights into your website’s traffic, search engine rankings, and backlinks. You can also track your website’s performance by monitoring key performance indicators (KPIs) such as organic traffic, bounce rate, and conversions.
Conclusion
The point is that you don’t need to go out and get some private student loans to pay for a college course on SEO. But surely there will be many things that I didn’t cover. I just wanted to make a quick, snappy video for you guys. If you have any questions or comments, want to talk more about this topic, or want to call me a fool for forgetting some elements, that’s fine.
That concludes this article. What do you think? Let me know in the comments below (I read and reply to every comment). If you found this helpful, check out my full blog and subscribe to my YouTube channel. Thanks for reading!