Webflow is a popular website design and hosting platform that allows users to create visually appealing and responsive websites without writing code.
Webflow is a popular website design and hosting platform that allows users to create visually appealing and responsive websites without writing code. To optimize your website for search engines (SEO) using Webflow, you can follow these steps:
Keyword Research:
On-Page SEO:
Page Titles and Meta Descriptions: Edit the page titles and meta descriptions for each page. Ensure they are unique, descriptive, and contain the relevant keywords you researched in the above mentioned task. To do this, you would follow the following steps:
Be sure to check the boxes below the SEO Settings to make the "Open Graph Title" and "Open Graph Description" the same as the SEO Title Tag and SEO Meta Description. This is also the section where you will want to add a URL for the "Open Graph Image URL."
Open Graph is the content that shows up when sharing content on social media platforms. If these boxes are checked and you have added an image, when you share any links to your site on Facebook, X, Pinterest or other social platforms, it should look similar to the following:
Use H1, H2, and H3-H6 tags to structure your content. Ensure that your main keyword appears in the H1 tag and that these go in a sequential order.
To do this, simply highlight the text you would like to make into a heading and a pop up menu will appear. When it does, select the H Tag you would like to apply to the text:
Add descriptive alt text to images, including relevant keywords. This helps search engines understand the content of your images. Google Bot cannot see your webpages, it can only read them. Once you understand this, the importance of image alt text is apparently clear.
There are a few different ways to add image alt text. You can add this when you first upload the image to the asset manager, by directly going to the image in the asset manager, or my favorite approach, through the audit panel before saving the edits to any page.
To do this, you would make any edits to the page you are working on, then click “publish.” When you do this, you will see the option to save to the Webflow domain plus any custom domains you have added. Do not click publish. Instead, if you noticed, there will be a warning message if there are any errors on the page. If you have not added image alt text, this will show up as an error. Click on the audit panel option.
In the audit panel, click on an image that is missing alt text, then click “find it for me.”
Add your alt text to the image, then hit the "X" to exit the asset details popup.
Next, click “show audit panel” to go to the next image, and repeat the process.
Once you have added image alt text to each image, go to “publish” once again and this time, publish the page to the relevant domains.
Webflow automatically generates a sitemap for your site. Ensure it is submitted to search engines like Google through the Google Search Console.
Regularly update your website with fresh and relevant content. This could be in the form of blog posts, news articles, or updates to existing pages.
TIP: Never delete content, only add content. Deleting pages can lead to valuable backlinks leading people to a 404 error page and deleting content within a page can delete valuable keywords that your site currently ranks for. If you are unsure, always consult a professional SEO Specialist before possibly making a huge mistake and hurting your online exposure or rankings.
Connect your social media accounts to your website. Social signals are a factor in SEO, and sharing your content on social platforms can help drive traffic. Have your web designer or developer add these links to the footer, header or other areas of your website.
Ensure your website has an SSL certificate for secure browsing. Google favors secure websites, and it can impact your search rankings. We recommend getting this through GoDaddy if you already purchased your domain through them, otherwise a platform such as DigiCert or SSL.com also is an option.
Not all SSL certificates are the same though, so don’t just go for the cheapest option. Depending on the level of verification you want for your website, you may want one of three options:
If you do not know the difference between the above SSL options, you can learn more from Cloudfare in this article on the different types of SSL certificates.
Integrate Google Analytics to monitor your website's performance and user behavior. This data can help you make informed decisions for ongoing optimization.
Create a custom 404 error page to provide a better user experience for visitors who encounter broken links. You can design a page in Webflow that guides users back to your main content.
Regularly check Google Search Console for crawl errors and address them promptly. This includes fixing broken links, resolving server errors, and addressing other issues that might impact how search engines index your site.
Develop a backlink strategy to build high-quality inbound links to your site. This can include outreach to influencers, guest posting, or participating in industry-related forums and communities.
Encourage user-generated content, such as reviews and comments, as this can enhance engagement and signal to search engines that your site is valuable and relevant to users.
Demonstrate expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness in your content. This is particularly important for websites that provide information on health, finance, and other critical topics. Include author bios and credentials where relevant.
With the rise of voice-activated search, optimize your content for conversational queries. Consider the natural language your audience might use when speaking rather than typing a search query.
Conduct regular SEO audits of your Webflow site. Use tools like Google Search Console, Google Analytics, and third-party SEO tools to identify issues, track performance, and make data-driven improvements.
Remember, SEO is an evolving field, and staying informed about industry trends, algorithm updates, and best practices is a lot for some business owners to take on. Having a professional regularly reassess and adjust your SEO strategy to ensure your Webflow website remains optimized for search engines and user satisfaction is an important part of your digital marketing. Contact Always Fresh to discuss your current webflow site's SEO and to find out what we would recommend as next steps for your unique situation.
