A really simple website to demonstrate speed, security and search engine optimization

Expanded Content

We use quite a comprehensive stop word list (opens in new tab). In Search Engine Optimization terminology, stop words are the most common words that most search engines avoid, for the purposes of saving space and time in processing of large data during crawling or indexing. This helps search engines to save space in their databases. For example, StackOverflow said in a 2008 podcast (opens in new tab) that "One of our major performance optimizations for the "related questions" query is removing the top 10,000 most common English dictionary words (as determined by Google search) before submitting the query to the SQL Server 2008 full text engine. It's shocking how little is left of most posts once you remove the top 10k English dictionary words. This helps limit and narrow the returned results, which makes the query dramatically faster."

I could have cheated a bit and avoided using contractions but, in my humble opinion, there's a time and a place for formal writing, and the internet is not (sorry, "isn't") that place. Nor is the internet a place for sesquipedalian prose - "Never use a long word where a short one will do" - George Orwell. But it is, it would seem, a perfect place for loquacious ramblings; an unintended consequence of search engine algorithm design which has served to dumb down writing quality and promote keyword cramming. Maybe I'm being cynical and things are changing for the better with each algorithmic tweak. Maybe.

Anyway, if you run a website of any kind, please use the links I've provided above to test your site. A few, relatively simple, changes will potentially make the difference between a decent search engine ranking on page one and being consigned to the dark and lonely confines of page two - who looks at page two these days!?

Up to this point the word count for this content is over three hundred, great! But, there's a problem. Some search engines disregard a number of common words like 'and', 'at', etc. That makes sense but, it does make it even more difficult for me in this particular case, to try and reach the magic goal of three hundred words without descending into complete waffle.

If you're interested in this kind of stuff and perhaps concerned that your website might be sub-optimal for search engine inclusion, then please do head over to Instant Site Audit. We're developing that site to enable you to instantly get an assessment of your site's security, speed and search engine optimization health.

You can enter your web page address and in just a few seconds the clever little algorithm will run almost fifty different (non-invasive) tests on the page and then give you a score for Page Speed, Page Security and Page SEO (search engine optimisation). That will give you a really good idea as to whether or not you need to take action to improve your page load speed to give your visitors a better experience, tighten up on security settings to reduce your site vulnerability and keep those nasty hackers out, or to improve your site content and HTML code to maximise your chances of your page getting a decent ranking in the search engines.

You can optionally (for a small one-off cost) download a PDF report which will provide all the details you need - written in plain English - to help you to fix or improve your web page in each of those three areas.

So there we have it, three hundred (non-common) words of meaningful, relevant and engaging content which is hopefully sufficient to satiate the appetite of even the most ravenous and pedantic of search engine bots.

Of course, getting the basics right like the speed, security and on-page SEO is critical, that's really only the beginning, or foundation, of your search engine optimisation journey. So you've carefully crafted your site content to meet the niche you're targeting and included the keywords that people are searching for. Your content answers people's questions and it's structured so that search engines can understand it. BUT, that doesn't mean it'll rank. To outrank the rest of the sites with those qualities, you'll have to establish "authority". The most effective way to do that is by earning links from authoritative websites, building your brand, and nurturing an audience who will help share, promote and amplify your content above the noise of all the other websites in your niche.

Google ranks links and quality content as two of the three most important ranking factors for SEO. Trustworthy sites tend to link to other expert, authoritative, and trustworthy sites. Your next job is to build quality links to your site. You can do that by; asking your customers and partners to link back to you, publish a blog, create unique resources, get involved in your niche community (get active in forums, Facebook pages etc.). And remember, once you've created quality content, keep it fresh, relevant and newsworthy by regularly reviewing and updating it.

Good luck with your website and thanks for making it all the way to the end!

P.S. For UK english readers, I apologise (or should it be "apologize") sincerely for the use of "optimization" throughout this page; it's a compromise which I was unable to avoid due the proliferation of the American spelling of "optimisation" across the internet.