When it comes to search engine optimization of a website, all of its crawlable web pages should be optimized to their full potential. No web page should be treated like it is insignificant. Not optimizing a webpage can lead to a low SEO ranking for the whole website.
Search Engine Optimization of some web pages can generate comparatively better results for the website. This doesn’t entail that you should leave the rest of your web pages the way they are. Every single webpage on a website should be treated and optimized like a landing/splash page.
If there are some web pages present on your website that you don’t want the search engine bots to crawl. Make sure that you de-index these web pages from search engines.
How to de-index a Web page
A de-indexed web page is not crawlable for search engine robots. Since these web pages are not indexed, they don’t impact the search rankings of a website.
There are a couple of techniques that you can use to de-index a specific web page from the search engine. Let’s explore some of them.
- By Including a “noindex” metatag in your web page’s HTML code.
- By returning a “noindex” header in the HTTP response.
- By using a ROBOTS.TXT file.
- By wrapping up the web page.
- By using Google webmaster tools.
Web pages you should consider de-indexing
De-cluttering your website by removing duplicate and low-quality web pages can boost its rankings. You should consider cleaning up your website and getting rid of web pages with low-quality content or are simply not helpful to you anymore.
According to Britney muller, she de-indexed 75 percent of MOZ’s website and saw a 13.7 percent increase in the website’s organic traffic.
Following are the kinds of web pages that should be de-indexed from search engines
- Advertisement landing page.
- Out-dated web page.
- Web page with low-quality content.
- Duplicate web pages.
- Web pages for website admin.
- Web pages featuring the privacy policy of the website.
Now that you have learned how to de-index a web page, Let’s move onto the different kinds of web pages and how they should be optimized.
Types of webpages
You’ll learn about different types of web pages and what roles they have in structuring a website.
1.Home Page
The home page is the main page of a website. It is the starting point of a website. Whenever you search a website through its URL address, the homepage of that website is opened by default.
If you type in https://moz.com/ in your search bar and press enter
This is the home page that loads up.
The Root directory of a website contains its home page.
A home page is generally named index.html because a browser considers any HTML file called index.html, the starting point of a website.
The file name of the home page can be skipped from the URL of a home page because It loads automatically from the root directory.
2.Menu Page
In basic terms, a menu page contains a list of important links. It is used to navigate the website. Many website developers do not create a separate menu web page for their website; they integrate the menu controls within the home page. If you have a website that is divided into several sections. You should consider adding a separate menu web page so the homepage is not slowed down due to cluttering.
3.About Page
The About web page of a website contains information about it. For example, it can have some personal information about the owner of the brand, and It can also include the story of the website’s origin. About pages are present so brands can connect to their audience on a personal level. About pages can also contain product descriptions and the benefits of those products. The about page can usually be accessed through the navigation bar of a website.
If you got to https://neilpatel.com/about/
This is the about page you’ll land on.
3. News Feed Page
If you upload content very frequently on your website. The feed page should be the way forward. Users can scroll through all the content that is being uploaded via the news feed page. The news feed of an informational website will differ from a social platform. The newsfeed should have consistency in fonts, text sizes, and color scheme.
4. Search page
Many websites provide a separate search page for users to easily search what they want from the sea of the content present on a website. You can insert the search functionality within other web pages of your website as well. For example, websites like ahrefs contain a separate search page for keyword-related searches.
5. Blog Page
Blog web pages are present in almost all websites in various categories such as e-commerce, corporate, and education. Therefore, incorporating a blog page into a website can help drive more traffic to it.
Blog pages can contain information about the usage of a product, its reviews, and customer testimonials.
Some websites pay bloggers to write sponsored blog posts for them, and then they upload these blogs on their website’s blog page.
Here is an example of Neil Patel’s blog page.
6. Article Page
An article page typically features informational content with a more formal tone than a blog page. This page is created so visitors can view an entire article on a page. These kinds of web pages are usually added to a text-based website. An article page should have an eye-catchy design to keep its visitors engaged.
These pages feature bigger text sizes and fonts for better readability. On any article page, the content hierarchy is very important and should be organized according to its relevance.
Article pages also contain attractive and informational images for a good viewer experience.
These article pages can prompt website visitors to take some action by using the call-to-action technique.
7.Portfolio pages
Websites that are selling some product or service must have a portfolio web page. These web pages contain information about the products and services being offered to the visitors. In addition, compelling product images are added to this portfolio.
If a website sells a service such as photography, the portfolio web page should include photos that the service provider had recently captured of an event.
If a website sells t-shirts, its portfolio should include high-quality t-shirt images. Furthermore, these images should be professionally photographed for maximum benefit.
Many platforms also provide an option for their users to create and publish their portfolios free of cost. These portfolios are made with the intent of finding clients or customers.
8. Product web page
E-commerce websites use this kind of web page to provide users with information related to their products. It contains all images of products that have many variations like colors and sizes. This page also includes product reviews. An add to cart and add to wishlist option is a must.
This page should have a simple and aesthetically pleasing layout. Carefully choose fonts and colors for the product web page because a boring design can cause loss of website traffic.
A functional, readable, and beautiful product page can compel users to take action, so don’t forget to add a “Call to action” to this web page.
9. Landing page
A landing web page contains an answer to a specific query, and It presents clear and focused content. The visitors will land right on this web page when they click on the search results provided to answer their search query.
Most of the time, it is used for advertisements. However, these pages are handy for big e-commerce websites so potential customers can land directly on the landing page of a product they are interested in.
Landing pages are designed in a way that they urge customers to take action.
Order of Web pages from most to least important for SEO of a Website
- Home Page
- About Page
- Product Page
- Portfolio Page
- Blog Page
- Article Page
- Landing Page
Bottom Line
Remember, your main focus should be the people who visit your website and not the search engine robots. If you skip optimizing a particular web page just because the search engine rankings will remain unaffected, your website users may have a bad experience while they are on that page.
Every website page that is visible to the visitors should provide some form of value to them. Therefore, no web page should be considered insignificant when it comes to website optimization. Learning about the role of specific web pages in your website’s search engine rankings can help you organize them accordingly.
Have you ever considered de-cluttering your website by removing extra web pages? If not, then this may be the right time to start.
What kind of web pages do you prefer to use on your website and why?
