The Right CMS Can Boost SEO Performance

The Right CMS Can Boost SEO Performance

Posted on April 15, 2013 0 Comments

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There are several important factors to consider when choosing a content management system (CMS). One that’s imperative is whether the CMS advances SEO strategies, since your site won’t do you much good if it can’t be found. Sitefinity CMS by Telerik is a powerful platform for a host of reasons, but particularly because of how well it embraces SEO. If you’re an SEO strategist, or a company with natural search engine optimization objectives, Sitefinity will be your best friend. Why, you ask? Because it enables you to do many things that an SEO strategist needs:

Own Your URLs

  • Customize Page URLs: Easily edit page URLs and directories and rename them as desired to include high-ranking keywords.
  • Set Vanity URLs: Set vanity or branded URLs (companyname.com/ProductLaunch) that are shorter, more memorable and better for SEO.
  • Easy 301 Redirects: To enable Google to continue to follow your retired links, it’s important to set-up a 301 redirect—or permanent redirect—from the original URL to the new one. Sitefinity makes this super easy.
  • Sitefinity’s Extension-less Page URLs: The extension-less URLs are not only clean and readable but they ensure you’ll have no problems with future technology changes.
  • URLs for Localized Content: The unique URLs for your localized (or translated) content will help users identify which section of your website they’re visiting. Furthermore, this will ensure that search engine bots can easily crawl all language versions of your site, and access unique URLs for each page.

Cover SEO Essentials

  • Easy Tag Fields:  Input title tags, meta descriptions, meta keywords and header tags—all in one single step. There’s also a built-in spellcheck to help minimize mistakes.
  • Keyword-Rich Image Tags: By using templates, Sitefinity makes it easy to add or edit alt tags to attract search engines. Tags also enhance the overall user experience by helping screen readers.
  • Detailed Link Tags: Enhance your search engine ranking—and credibility—by establishing interconnected links between your own pages, as well as those of partners or others. The link tool in Sitefinity is an easy way to add or edit links.
  • Clean Code: When you start with clean code, your job as a developer will always be easier. Sitefinity follows SEO best practices, so you’ll always be on sound footing as long as you know the dos and don’ts of SEO.
  • Hide Pages You Don’t Want Searched: By simply clicking a checkbox, you can block search engines from crawling any specific page you want to hide. Sitefinity knows that not all pages are good for SEO and allows you to hide any page you choose.
  • Functionalities that allow you to quickly filter pages with missing SEO-critical content, such as meta tags: If you have multiple pages and you or your agency are not sure which ones might be missing page descriptions or tags, no worries. Sitefinity has a handy filter capability that allows you to view pages without descriptions/tags so you can easily add them.
  • The ability to use workflows to enforce the entry of SEO-critical information, such as alt tags for images: Setting alt tags for images is one of the most common things to forget. You can boost your SEO results by adding optimized alternative text to all your images and Sitefinity even allows you to create a workflow that demands alternative text.
  • Expanded SEO features: Coming soon to Sitefinity 6.0 are additional SEO enhancements that will add to the power of the platform and facilitate SEO updates.

Web Content Management Benefits

  • Manage Your Social Presence: These days, your content not only has to be discoverable, it has to be sharable. Updates to search engine algorithms (such as Google’s Penguin and Panda), means a merger of your search engine marketing and social strategies. Sitefinity can boost your SEO performance through integration of your published content with your social media outlets. Post to Facebook , Twitter, blogs, and more all directly from Sitefinity’s interface.
  • Mobile-Friendly Content: Sitefinity is one of the only CMSs that embraces mobile, and specifically Responsive Design. With Responsive Design, you can generate superior mobile experiences for an unlimited number of devices, all sourced from the same content. This is ideal for SEO since Google loves Responsive Design and recommends it because it produces one URL for your website instead of many (one for mobile, one for desktop, etc…). This means higher traffic to your URLs (fewer addresses means more traffic to each), which equals more credibility from Google.

Things to Remember:

  • Not all graphically-talented web firms understand SEO. Start with a firm that understands SEO and your overall marketing goals, and will design your site from the ground up to maximize SEO results. Not every pretty site will pop for SEO, so plan accordingly.
  • A website requires constant attention, so plan on frequent updates to keep things fresh, and more importantly, relevant. You want your pages to consistently perform well under SEO scrutiny, and good content is the answer.

Want to find out more about Sitefinity’s web content management solution? Contact ZAG Interactive, a Platinum Sitefinity Partner staffed by Sitefinity Certified developers.

Michelle Kay Brown is the director of marketing at ZAG Interactive, a full-service digital agency in Glastonbury, Conn. She can be reached at mbrown@zaginteractive.com and 860-633-4818. 

Michelle Brown

View all posts from Michelle Brown on the Progress blog. Connect with us about all things application development and deployment, data integration and digital business.

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