--- title: "A beginner’s guide: tips for creating an SEO-friendly website" canonical_url: "https://www.zone.eu/blog/a-beginners-guide-tips-for-creating-an-seo-friendly-website/" post_type: "post" published: "2024-09-16T08:32:16+00:00" modified: "2024-10-04T07:17:17+00:00" author: "Zone Blogi" featured_image: "https://www.zone.eu/static/sites/2/2024/09/A-beginners-guide-tips-for-creating-an-SEO-friendly-website.webp" taxonomies: category: - name: "Website" url: "https://www.zone.eu/blog/category/website/" post_tag: - name: "Beginner's guide" url: "https://www.zone.eu/blog/tag/beginners-guide/" - name: "SEO" url: "https://www.zone.eu/blog/tag/seo/" - name: "Web Development" url: "https://www.zone.eu/blog/tag/web-development/" - name: "Web Hosting" url: "https://www.zone.eu/blog/tag/web-hosting/" - name: "WebPage" url: "https://www.zone.eu/blog/tag/webpage/" - name: "WordPress" url: "https://www.zone.eu/blog/tag/wordpress/" - name: "Zone" url: "https://www.zone.eu/blog/tag/zone/" skills: - name: "For beginners" url: "https://www.zone.eu/blog/skill/for-beginners/" - name: "For the advanced" url: "https://www.zone.eu/blog/skill/for-the-advanced/" --- # A beginner’s guide: tips for creating an SEO-friendly website **Creating a website may seem complicated, but well-planned and search engine-optimized pages can offer enormous benefits to your business or online shop. Zone provides the best tools for creating websites independently with WordPress, particularly with the help of [Zone+ WordPress Assistant](https://www.zone.eu/zone-wp-assistant/), which allows even complete beginners to quickly and easily set up their website.** ![A beginner's guide: tips for creating an SEO-friendly website](https://www.zone.eu/static/sites/2/2024/09/A-beginners-guide-tips-for-creating-an-SEO-friendly-website-1024x577.jpg)Here is a brief guide that covers the fundamentals of website development and SEO to ensure that your page is as noticeable in search engines as possible. ## **1. Defining the goal and understanding the target audience** - **Goal**: What exactly is the goal of your website? Is it sales, information sharing, showcasing your portfolio or something else? - **Target** audience: Who is your website aimed at? Try to understand the needs, interests and search habits of your target audience. ## **2. Domain and web hosting** - [**Domain selection**](https://www.zone.eu/blog/2021/09/22/what-is-a-domain-and-why-do-you-need-one/): Choose a short, memorable domain name that is relevant to your theme or brand. If possible, [choose a domain](https://www.zone.eu/domain-registration/) that contains a keyword, not just the name of your business. - [**Web hosting**](https://www.zone.eu/blog/2022/05/24/which-web-hosting-plan-is-the-right-one-for-me/): Choose a reliable [hosting service](https://www.zone.eu/web-hosting/) that provides professional customer support, sufficient website speed and useful additional features such as e-mail, backups and so on. ## **3. Content planning** - **Keyword research**: Use tools such as [Google Keyword Planner](https://ads.google.com/home/tools/keyword-planner/), Ahrefs, or [Semrush](https://www.semrush.com/) to identify keywords that your target audience uses and that may appeal to them. - **High-quality content**: Create beneficial, understandable and interesting content. Use keywords as naturally as possible. Pages should be at least 300 words long, though they can be longer depending on the topic. - **Content types**: Content can be text, images, videos or infographics – use a variety of formats. - **Content volume**: If possible, add at least 3-5 subpages to your website (including “Contact” and “About us” pages). ## **4. Website structure and navigation** - **Clear and understandable structure**: Plan the structure of the page as logically as possible. Important pages, such as the homepage, products or services and contacts, should be easy to find. - **Navigation**: Make sure your users can easily navigate your website. A clear and understandable menu and internal linking is key! ![](https://www.zone.eu/static/sites/2/2024/09/4.-Website-structure-and-navigation-1024x796.jpg)## **5. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)** ### **On-page SEO:** - **Title tags**: Use relevant keywords, keep headlines short and informative. - **Meta-descriptions**: Write eye-catching meta descriptions that summarise the page’s content and include relevant keywords. It’s the first thing your customers see, for example, on Google. - **URL structure**: Use URLs that are easy to understand and contain keywords. - **Image optimisation**: Add descriptions to the images and use alt texts that explain what the image in question represents (use keywords in the alt text!). ### **Technical SEO:** - **Website speed**: Faster pages rank higher in search engines, so it is worthwhile to optimise the website’s loading time in a variety of ways. Web hosting, for example, has an impact on performance; Zone provides a very fast loading time and is thus an ideal choice for your site. In addition, there are various [WordPress](https://www.zone.eu/web-hosting/wordpress/) plugins available that help to simplify the page structure, such as optimising picture sizes. - **Mobile-friendliness**: Make sure your website works well on all devices (mobile, tablet, desktop). - **SSL certificate**: Using the HTTPS protocol is important for both security and SEO. ### **Off-page SEO:** - **Creating links**: Get high-quality external links from other trusted pages. When creating links, be careful not to buy random cheap links from sites like Fiverr. Excessive low-quality linking can result in a penalty from search engines. - **Social media**: Be active on social media and share your website content with a wider audience. Traffic from social media informs search engines about activity and contributes to optimisation. ## **6. Updating and managing content** - **Updating**: Keep your web content up to date. Regular updates show search engines that the page is active and relevant. Update content and create new content regularly. - **Analytics**: [Google Analytics](https://www.zone.fi/blogi/google-analytics-wordpress/) and [Google Search Console](https://search.google.com/search-console/about) are useful tools for tracking website traffic and search engine results. ![](https://www.zone.eu/static/sites/2/2024/09/6.-Updating-and-managing-content-1024x684.jpg)## **7. Publishing and monitoring the website** - **Publishing a website**: Once your website is ready, publish it and submit the sitemap to [Google Search Console](https://search.google.com/search-console/about) (find the sitemap by adding /sitemap.xml to your domain). - **Monitoring and optimisation**: Continuous analysis and optimisation is key to long-term success. ## **8. Common mistakes and how to avoid them** - **Keyword overload**: Avoid filling your website content with too many keywords (keyword stuffing). This can also lead to penalties from search engines. [Yoast SEO](https://yoast.com/wordpress/plugins/seo/), for example, helps to avoid mistakes related to this. - **Poor mobile experience**: Neglecting mobile optimisation can negatively impact SEO and user experience. - **Poor internal linking**: Make sure all your pages are easily accessible and internal linking is clear. ![8. Common mistakes and how to avoid them](https://www.zone.eu/static/sites/2/2024/09/8.-Common-mistakes-and-how-to-avoid-them-1024x682.jpg)## **Summary** Website development and search engine optimisation are multi-step processes, but when done well and with dedication, the results can be very beneficial. On your way to a successful website, keep these three essential principles in mind: user-friendliness, high-quality content and technological fluency.