Underneath all the pictures, text, and calls to movement in your website lies your web site supply code.
Google and other serps “examine” this code to determine wherein your webpages have to appear in their indexes for a given seek question.
This is a brief guide to show you a way to examine your very own internet site supply code which will make sure it’s miles search engine marketing-pleasant.
I will also cross over some other conditions in which knowing a way to view and observe the right elements of supply code can assist with different advertising efforts.
How to View Source Code
The first step in checking your internet site’s source code is to view the actual code. Every net browser allows you to try this effortlessly. Below are the keyboard commands for viewing your web site supply code for each PC and Mac.
PC
Firefox: CTRL + U (Meaning press the CTRL key on your keyboard and hold it down. While retaining down the CTRL key, press the “u” key.) Alternatively, you may visit the “Firefox” menu and then click on “Web Developer,” and then “Page Source.”
Edge/Internet Explorer: CTRL + U. Or proper click on and choose “View Source.”
Chrome: CTRL + U. Or you can click on on the weird-looking key with three horizontal lines in the higher proper hand corner. Then click on “Tools” and pick “View Source.”
Opera: CTRL + U. You also can proper click on the web site and choose “View Page Source.”
Mac
Safari: The keyboard shortcut is Option+Command+U. You can also proper-click on at the website and choose “Show Page Source.”
Firefox: You can right-click on and pick “Page Source” or you may navigate in your “Tools” menu, choose “Web Developer,” and click on on “Page Source.” The keyboard shortcut is Command + U.
Chrome: Navigate to “View,” click on on “Developer,” after which “View Source.” You also can proper-click and choose “View Page Source.” The keyboard shortcut is Option+Command+U.
Once you realize the way to view the supply code, you want to realize a way to look for matters in it. Usually, the same seek functions you operate for regular net browsing observe to searching to your source code. Commands like CTRL + F (for Find) will assist you speedy test your supply code for crucial search engine optimization factors.
Source Code Title Tags
The name tag is the holy grail of on-page SEO. It’s the maximum essential factor for your source code. If you’re going to take one aspect faraway from this text, be aware of this:
You recognise those results Google gives whilst you’re attempting to find some thing?
All of those outcomes come from the title tags of the webpages they’re pointing to. If you don’t have identify tags in your supply code, you could’t display up in Google (or in every other seek engine, for that matter). Believe it or now not, I’ve genuinely visible websites without name tags!
Now, permit’s do a brief Google search for the term “Marketing Guides”:
You can see that the first result is for the KISSmetrics weblog section on advertising and marketing publications. If we click on that first result and view the page source code, we are able to see the title tag:
The identify tag is certain through the outlet tag: <title>. It ends with the ultimate tag: </title>. The identify tag is typically near the top of your source code within the <head> phase.
You can see that the content material in the title tag fits what is used inside the headline of that first Google end result.
Not only are title tags required that allows you to be included in Google seek effects, however Google identifies the crucial keywords for your identify that they think are applicable to users’ searches.
If you need a sure webpage to rank for a particular concern be counted, you’d higher make certain words that describe the challenge be counted are within the title tag. To examine extra approximately how keywords and identify tags are important on your typical website online architecture, test out this put up.
There’s one last factor to do not forget: each web site on your website need to have a unique identify tag. Never replica this content.
If you have got a small website, along with 10 or 20 pages, it’s smooth sufficient to check every identify tag for area of expertise. However, if you have a larger internet site, you’ll want a few help. This is a simple 4-step procedure:
Step #1: Open Ubersuggest, enter your URL, and click seek.
Step #2: Click “Site Audit” in the left sidebar.
Step #3: Review Top SEO Issues.
After landing on the website online audit review, scroll all the way down to the fourth phase of consequences (it’s the closing one on the page) to review Top SEO Issues.
This is where you’ll find if you have duplicate title tags or meta descriptions. If not anything is displaying right here, you’re in the clear. If you notice duplicates, inclusive of the 30 pages for my internet site, dig deeper.
Step #4: Click on “Pages with Duplicate <title> Tags”
You may additionally find a principal trouble, inclusive of numerous of your blog posts sharing the equal name tag. You may also locate that it’s no large deal, including the 26 pages in my report with the name “Blog Neil Patel’s Digital Marketing Blog.”
Upon clicking at the 26 pages prompt, you see:
While the name is the equal on 26 pages, it’s not anything extra than the pages of my blog that residence the content material. It’s not the real blog posts or number one pages of my internet site.
Meta Descriptions in Source Code
Another critical a part of your website’s head section is the meta description tag. This a hundred and sixty-individual snippet is a free advertising replica that receives displayed under your identify content inside the search engines.
I’ve seen masses of web sites that absolutely ignore this tag. It’s very easy to discover for your source code:
Check to make sure it’s on all of your webpages. More importantly, check to make sure you’re not duplicating it throughout a couple of pages. Duplicating a meta description tag is not a seek engine penalty, however it’s a very massive advertising mistake.
A lot of people gloss over the meta description, however you certainly should put some idea into it due to the fact it is study with the aid of search engine users. Think about what reproduction could assist pull in extra site visitors and boom click-throughs.
H1 Headings in Source Code
H1 headings convey a touch on-page search engine optimization weight, so it’s a terrific idea to test your pages to ensure you’re the usage of them nicely. For each web page in your internet site, look over the source code to peer in case you spot this tag:
You don’t need more than one set of H1 tags appearing on any given webpage. In different words, don’t try to purposely increase your search engine marketing with the aid of inclusive of a couple of H1s. If you over-optimize your website, it will harm you ultimately.
Use your H1s for what they’re intended for: the biggest heading on the page. On your private home page, this might be your price proposition.
Nofollows in Source Code
If you have interaction in link constructing, then checking your oneway links to peer if they may be nofollowed is a have to.
But before I cross in addition, I have to talk a touch about what “hyperlink juice” is.
In the world of search engine marketing, getting every other website to hyperlink for your website is a first rate fulfillment. That link is visible by means of engines like google as an endorsement. Search engines component within the range of links that factor for your website whilst they’re ranking your website in their engines. “Link Juice” is a non-clinical term for the so-called energy that the link gives your website or web site in question.
Nofollows are an characteristic that may be coded right into a hyperlink to prevent the link juice from flowing to a website. This is a completely commonplace thing you’ll see inside the links gift in the remark section of blogs.
To find out if your one way links are passing hyperlink juice, you should check to see if the links have nofollow attributes interior them. If they do, then the link you worked so tough to get isn’t doing a lot for you for the reason that nofollow attribute basically tells Google to disregard your website.
In the image above, rel=’external nofollow’ is in the anchor link. Even although a person can click via at the hyperlink, no hyperlink juice is being exceeded.
Some humans suppose that Google definitely does depend a few link juice from nofollows, but to be conservative in your back-link counting, you ought to assume not anything is getting exceeded.
Alternatively, you could want to “web page sculpt” some of your own webpages. Some SEOs agree with it’s a terrific concept to restriction what pages you ship your inner link juice to in order that extra crucial webpages get most people of the site’s typical hyperlink juice. You can try this via nofollowing some of your inner website links. For instance, you would possibly need to nofollow all the links for your privateness policy or different uninteresting / boring pages.
Google will let you know to disregard this practice, and I relatively agree. It’s form of a tedious, pointless venture, and your energy is better spent on developing brilliant content material alternatively.
Image Alt Tags in Source Code
Empty photo alt tags are very common search engine optimization boo-boos. Image alt tags describe what your pics are to robotic search engines like google.
If you run an e-commerce website, you virtually need to make certain your alt tags are filled out. A proper concept is to make sure that the product emblem call and serial number are inside the alt tag description.
Picture alt tag in source code
Above is a screenshot of an image tag with the alt tag buried interior it.
You shouldn’t use alt tags for ornamental pix. That can be seen as an over-optimization and will earn you a penalty. Just ensure you’ve got your alt tags stuffed out for:
Images of Merchandise
Diagrams
Infographics
Your Website Logo
Screenshots
Photos of Team Members
Verify That Your Analytics Are Installed Properly
One final splendid cause for checking your source code is to make certain you’ve got Google Analytics installed on every web site of your internet site.
Checking is quite simple. For Google Analytics, just view the supply code of your webpages and look for the letters “UA.”
If you discover an instance wherein the “UA” is accompanied through a 7-digit wide variety, then you definitely have confirmed that Google Analytics is set up on that one page.
Also, preserve track of how frequently “UA” shows up on your website. Sometimes, your analytics tracking code will be inserted more than once by chance, which makes no sense. If that’s the case, you must have your developer do away with the more times.
Next, you want to test the ultimate webpages to your web site to peer if your analytics code has been inserted on every page. If you don’t have your analytics monitoring code on each page of your website, you’re now not getting a complete photo of what’s going on on your web page, which kind of makes analytics vain.
This may be a frightening assignment when you have an massive internet site. It even can be not possible to test manually.
I like to apply xml-sitemaps.Com to get a textual content document of all the URLs my website has within it. This gives me with an stock tick list which allows to keep song of which URLs might want a few extra attention (like having analytics set up on them).
It’s additionally a exceptional device for being alerted to replicate content material problems and different strange things that is probably lurking on a web server.
Even xml-sitemaps.Com will give you best 500 outcomes free of charge. You may need to ask your developer to offer you a URL inventory so you have a complete map of your big website.
Additionally, you can need them to create a script or software to carry out those exams for you so you don’t need to do them manually.
Conclusion
Knowing the way to study primary supply code is critical for anybody constructing a website. It allows you create SEO-friendly webpages and websites, as well as pick out pre-present search engine optimization problems that harm your web page’s position inside the SERPs.
If you’re having trouble fixing search engine optimization troubles or want assist with SEO in widespread, our organization can assist.