We know that making your site accessible also improves your search engine optimization (SEO), right?
But did you also know that you can use Custom Policies to ramp up your website visibility and rankings?
DubBot has a variety of Custom Policies already prepared and waiting for you to utilize when you're ready to take your website to the next level. Here are 2 of those policies:
- Non-descriptive link text (add manually)
- Open Graph Tag Checks (import from DubBot Policy Library)
Non-descriptive link text
Non-descriptive link text does not convey the purpose or meaning of what the user will find when they click the link. In other words, link text needs to describe what the user will find on the corresponding webpage so the user can decide if they want to click on the link.
For example, I have a page that outlines how to add ALT text to your images. A non-descriptive link might be "AltText" or just the URL https://example.com/alttext.
A descriptive link would read "How to add ALT text to your image." Now, the user has a good idea of what is on the corresponding page and can decide whether to click the link to continue.
See WCAG 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context) (Level A) for more details on how link text affects accessibility.
Long Page Title
The purpose of a page title is to signal to your users what the page content is all about. A page title functions like the "main idea" or the subject of an email.
In the following screenshot, notice that the page title, which appears in the browser tab, is also the text on the page itself.
What role does the page title play in boosting your SEO? Search engines use page titles as the clickable link in the search results.
Search engines like Google use the words in the page title "to help rank the webpage for relevant search queries within their web index."
So, how long is too long for a page title? "Keeping it under 70 characters is considered the best practice."
The W3C has a success criterion, SC 2.4.2 Page Titled (Level A), that details "page title" and its importance to accessibility.
Open Graph Tag Checks
Open Graph meta tags are code snippets that control how your web pages are displayed when shared on social media. Adding Open Graph markup to your HTML helps your content look better and function better, leading to higher click-through rates.
Your website has unique content, and you have individual goals for that content. Creating custom policies for your SEO will enable you to identify specific content optimization opportunities.
For information on additional custom policies for SEO best practices, see the Help Center document titled Policy Set - SEO Best Practices.
