SEO for the front-end developer

Front-end development and search engine optimization (SEO) are just as inseparable today as the owner and his Lagotto Romagnolo. Will the owner find the truffles without his truffle dog? I didn't think so! The same goes for SEO. If the front-end developer does not take search engine optimization into account, the website will be hard to find for potential visitors in search engines such as Google.
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What is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)?
SEO in short for Search Engine Optimization. In Dutch, we also call it search engine optimization. SEO is a collective name for everything that contributes to the organic higher ranking of web pages in search engines such as google. SEO is very important because it allows you to attract people to your website without paying for ads.

Do you want to rank high in search engines with your website? Then the necessary attention will have to be paid to On Page SEO, Off Page SEO and Technical SEO. You can leave the first two to your team's marketer. After all, On Page SEO is about optimizing the content on your website. Off Page is about getting quality external links. As a front-end developer, you will have to pay a lot of attention to technical SEO.
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Front-end development and technical SEO
As a Front-end developer, you are responsible for the structure and structure of websites. Google analyses this structure and structure. The websites that are technically well put together are rewarded with higher positions in Google's search results.

Every search engine optimization process starts before the website even goes live. When developing a website, you should immediately take technical search engine optimization into account. What to consider for optimal technical SEO? We list 10 key elements and explain them:

• The indexation of the website‍
  A clear sitemap ensures that Google's spiders can crawl smoothly across your website. This means that the search engine can quickly explore your website and then index it. An additional advantage of a good sitemap is that it will increase your loading speed. So always create XML and HTML sitemaps for the pages you want indexed. With a Robots.txt file, you can specify which pages do not need to be indexed.‍
• Mobile first indexation‍
  Is your website mobile-unfriendly? Then you can almost forget about a good ranking. So always make sure you have a mobile first design. ‍
• Website speed
  Nowadays, it's possible to add endless cool features to your website. Think 8k videos, animations and razor-sharp images. All these options are awesome! However, there is a downside. These files can sometimes be very large and will therefore affect the loading time of your website. Google attaches great importance to a fast website and therefore includes this in the indexation. A fast website has a positive influence on your rankings in Google and is therefore very important. ‍
• Short and clear URLs
  A search engine friendly URL is short, descriptive, and consistent. Always make sure that URLs are not unnecessarily long and that they contain the correct search term. Avoid punctuation as much as possible. 
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• ‍Prevent duplicate content
  If the content of one page is similar to that of another page, you may experience cannibalization. In many cases, having duplicate content is detrimental to your SEO results. Fortunately, there are several solutions. For example, you could merge pages and redirect the article that doesn't score well with a 301, and you can also use canonical URLs.‍
• Redirects
  If a URL somewhere on your website shows a 404 message, you'll need to take action right away. By applying a redirect, you tell both the visitor and the search engine which new URL is the replacement for the old URL.‍
• A secure website
  Always request an SSL certificate from your provider. Not only does it make your site more secure, but it also contributes to better indexation by search engines.‍
• Semantic code
  ‍By using semantic code in your HTML code, your website will be easier to read by crawlers and spiders. This is very important for SEO, because it will make your website better indexed.
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• Navigation
  Google attaches great importance to an SEO optimized navigation menu. After all, it helps you understand your website. Always ensure a logically structured website with a main page and logical links to subcategories. Make sure that the main menu is always visible and that navigation within the website is user-friendly.
• Optimize images
  As you've read before, it's always a good idea to keep the file size of images as small as possible. In addition, it is important to provide images with an alt tag. You enter an alt tag as the title of an image. The idea is that you provide a summary of what is shown in the image. For search engines, this is very important information, as they cannot “read” the image themselves.