SEO is a term describing techniques you implement on your website to help search engines find and rank your site higher than other sites in response to a search query.
Think of the web as a giant library where books are indexed by attributes such as title, author and subject. Each book has a title on the spine to help you find it on the rack, along with information on the front and back covers so you can make a reasonable judgment about its content. Some books have a table of contents or index so you can further determine if the book is relevant to your needs.
Similarly, web pages have URLs, titles and headings, and use descriptions, site maps and keywords to describe content and provide relevant information to search engines. SEO is about ensuring your website, like a library book, will be properly indexed and ultimately, found.
Some techniques, such as setting unique page meta-titles and descriptions are simple, but powerful, and can be completed within the system. Other methods external to LVSYS, like creating inbound links to your site, require more effort but also have great impact. The LVSYS CMS treats SEO as core functionality with on-page optimization, rank monitoring, and SEO auditing. LVSYS provides tools for clients to augment SEO at every stage of development and maintenance, but it’s up to you to use them to your advantage.
In this series of training articles, you will learn about the following ways you can influence SEO within the LVSYS CMS.
Leveraging URLs for SEO
The LVSYS CMS allows you to set short, descriptive URLS containing keywords for articles and products.
Maximizing Page Titles for SEO
Page titles are a great opportunity to maximize SEO. At a minimum, set a good page title to enhance SEO.
Maximizing Headings (H1 tags) for SEO
The Headline field in articles, events, products and business listings is the H1 tag and provides a great opportunity to reinforce and maximize SEO.
Using Meta Descriptions for SEO
The Meta Description provides additional article level information so your article can be found in searches; it corresponds to the text that is displayed under the blue link in Google search results. Describe what the article is about in about two sentences or 150 characters.
Creating Inbound and Internal Links
In addition to the structural opportunities the LVSYS CMS offers, building a body of inbound or backlinks to your website is an important tactic for helping search engines differentiate your website based on how often they find it on the internet. The more frequently your website is referenced via backlinks, the faster your ranking will rise. Backlinks from other sites “validate” the value of your web pages.
