Methodology

Ultimate Checklist For Static Website

Team 2day

• 9 min read
Ultimate Checklist For Static Website
Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters / Unsplash

A static website basically refers to a collection of web pages wherein the provided content is fixed and is the same for all users. These static websites are HTML documents that are stored as files and are available through the web server over HTTP. The most beneficial thing about the usage of static websites is that it is user-friendly and is easy to create. They don’t require any web programming or any kind of database design. These static websites can easily be built by creating HTML pages and then publishing them to the web server. Technically, these static websites are stored in the form of CSS, HTML, and JS files on the server.

ADVANTAGES OF USING A STATIC WEBSITE

  • Static websites are built and deployed easily.
  • The duplicity of the basic codes in the static web page can be done to keep the elements consistent.
  • Static websites are secure and hence, users can easily rely upon them.
  • Static website takes less time to load and therefore they are fast in nature.
  • Complex software is not required to build a static website.
  • Static websites are economical as less cost is required to build the same.
  • The design and layout of every webpage of Static website can be changed.

Checklist For A Static website:

  • Each page should contain a title tag -All the web pages in a static website should necessarily contain a title tag. This title tag is used for defining the <title> of the document. The content of the title is the most important part as it is used in the field of search engine optimization (SEO). So, it's very crucial to add and optimize title tags on every webpage. Therefore, the title tag specifies information about every element.
  • Each page must contain a meta description tag - A meta description is a snippet of information which can be seen below the link of the search results. In HTML, a meta description tag is a snippet of in total 160 characters which is used to summarise the content of a web page. The most important thing to remember about Meta tags is that Meta tags are not at all visible on the webpage content but these tags can be found in the source code of the static webpage.  The meta description tag should be between 50-160 characters.
  • Each page must have an OG tag - OG tags stand for Open Graph meta tags. OG meta tags are used when you want to add a website title, description, or even images. One of the ways to easily venture into the world of the OG is to add the Open Graph meta tags to each webpage.
  • Every page should necessarily contain Twitter tags - Every page should contain a Twitter tag because these tags increase the engagement numbers to the next level. These tags can drastically increase the number of non-followers who are tweet readers and this attracts the users to your page. These tags work extremely well and can be used with titles, descriptions, and even images.
  • Every Page must have at most one H1 tag. -  H1 tag stands for header tag. This tag appears as a heading in the body of a webpage. In total there are 6 different header tags (H1, H2…..H6) but H1 is the most important one. These H1 tags are bold tags that stand out from the other content of a webpage. The hierarchy of these tags should be in an accurate manner. Every page should have H2 and H3 tags in the correct hierarchy. This hierarchy means that H2 should be used after H1, H3 should be used after H2, and so on. These tags give the user information about the content available on the webpage.
  • The minimum length for content on each page is 200 words - In order to meet the best SEO practices, at least 200 words on each page is a necessity. Less than 200 words on a webpage make the content of little value to the readers or even to the search engine. Content with 200 words on each page along with the right SEO. It really makes it so easier for a search engine crawler to classify the content. So, each webpage should at least contain 200 characters which is the minimum length.
  • Each page should contain an internal and external link - Internal links refers to the hyperlinks on one page of your website which directs the reader to another target page on the same website, whereas an external link refers to a hyperlink that directs the readers to a page linked to a different website. Therefore, each web page should contain internal and external links. This will in turn increase the website audience.
  • Images on the webpage should be optimized and contain Alt tags -The primary purpose which alt tag provides is accessibility. The words, therefore, provide alternate content to those people who cannot see the picture. This alt tag is basically used to tell what the picture is all about and define the image as specifically as possible. Also, image optimization is necessary as it optimizes all the images with relevant content to increase the traffic of the webpage.
  • The website should contain a soft 404 page - Each website should contain a soft 404 page. This 404-error page specifically refers to a page not found and this will direct the user to either the home page of the website or any other page customized which is mentioned. This page basically means that it is an HTTP status code that cannot be found on the server and therefore, every website should contain a soft 404 page.
  • All pages must have a favicon - Favicon stands for favorite icon and each webpage must contain a Favicon as it is a small icon that is used in a webpage to specifically refer to a website that is displayed in the address bar. These are like bookmarks and help the user to save time as they allow the users to browse and use the website without any difficulty. So, these Favicons are a must.
  • SSL should be enabled on the website -SSL stands for Secure Socket Layer. It is a security technology that is used to establish a connection that is secure. This connection is established between the web server and web browser. Using this network-level security protocol, all the users can safely surf the website and even share personal information. This makes the website reliable.
  • The website should redirect HTTP->HTTPS - Without the Secure Socket Layers, the website will definitely be insecure to users and won't make the webpage reliant for the users. Therefore by using SSL, the webpage is made reliable and accessibility become necessary. It will redirect the users from HTTP to HTTPS.
  • The website must have a robots.txt- Robots.txt is a text file webmaster created to instruct webpages. These texts are often used to identify restricted and even private areas of the content of a website. It creates an invite for the crawler and allows them to read the content of a particular website. Therefore, every website must have a robots.txt.
  • The website must have a valid sitemap.xml - Sitemap.xml is a file that is like a map for the website and helps the users to find the necessary information. It is available in XML form. It lists all the important pages of a website and helps the search engine to understand the website structure efficiently. It allows us to include additional information about each URL.
  • The Google Page Speed should exceed 85 - Google page speed insights should be more than 85. If it's above 85, it means that the website is performing amazingly. The speed should be greater than 85 on both mobile and desktop. It helps to make the website faster. Speed is the key factor in every website as the faster the website is, the more will be the correspondence of the audience.
  • CSS, HTML, and JS should be minified- Minification refers to minimizing the CSS, HTML, and JS codes and markup in the webpages and even in the script files. This reduces the bandwidth limit on the webpage and this, in turn, increases the speed of the webpage and even makes the webpage more accessible. All the CSS and JS files should be bundled together while creating a website and this CSS, HTML and JS should be compressed using Gzip or broccoli. The URL of the source code should be preconnected while using an external font. This gives a better user experience.
  • Google Analytics should be implemented - Google Analytics was launched in 2005 and it is a platform that tracks and reports website traffic. It tells us about the performance and accessibility of the website and collects the insights of the people who visited the website. It basically provides statistics and analytical tools for Search engine optimization.
  • Properly structured data must be used wherever applicable - structured data is a form of metadata. It is a type of code that makes it easier for search engines to display content in an organized way. It has a well-defined structure and contains a data model and makes the data accessible to the users. It is stored in databases and some examples of the structured data include FAQ, ratings, etc.
  • All other linked/indexed pages should be 200 - A web page is indexed by Google only if a Google crawler has visited the webpage. These indexes are analyzed for content and meaningful webpage and in turn stored in the Google index. This in short means that the pages of the website have been visited and analyzed.
  • The characters of the title tag must be between 20-70 characters – The title tag is an HTML code that shows the words that appear at the top of the browser. This title tag should contain between 20-70 characters as it helps to increase the audience of the website. There is no specification for the number of characters but 20-70 is the ideal number of characters. This will increase website traffic.
  • Page URL should not increase 70 characters – URL stands for uniform resource locator and it is the address of a given resource on the webpage. It is basically a web address to find a web page. A URL will lead to any page on the website.  Therefore, on a web page, the URL should not exceed 70 characters as more than 70 characters will decrease the traffic engagement.
  • No two web pages should have the same title and description – Duplicity of the titles and descriptions is not at all a good option on your website as these pages with duplicate titles and descriptions will worsen the ranking of a web page in the search engine’s page rank. So, this is something that the title and the description creator should focus on.
  • The website should not contain any unused code- The unused code like the JS or CSS should not be there in a webpage as it reduces the render-blocking behavior. This in turn reduces the speed of the page and reduces the user experience too. Therefore, for the smooth and steady functioning of the website, all the unused codes should be removed.
  • UTF encoding must be used for the whole website- UTF is an encoding system for Unicode and it can translate the binary string to a Unicode character and it is therefore used for electronic communication. UTF is the most common character encoding used across the world and therefore the whole website should have a UTF encoding.
  • Internal HTTP calls should be minimized – The usual suspects have always been a good place to start. To minimize the internal HTTP, the JavaScript files and the CSS files can be combined. Combining both these files will cut a great number of HTTP requests which will keep the HTTP calls as minimized as possible.
  • Lang tag should be used in a website – the lang attribute specifies the language of the content’s element. These attributes are used globally and can be used on all HTML elements. It is created to signal the readers to switch to another language. Therefore, it is an essential component in the structure of an HTML document. Also, it affects the aspects of user experience.
  • WWW should be used as canonical to original URL – A canonical tag is simply a way of showing search engines that a specific URL represents the master copy of any specific page. It avoids the problems which are caused by the duplicity of the content appearing on multiple URL’S. Also, WWW. Should be used as a canonical to the original URL on each page or WWW should be redirected to non-WWW.

Conclusion

The website content has drastically evolved over the years. Most of the sites which are built on the internet platform have been built by using static websites. Today, many websites contain static website pages. This gives the masters of the website a lot of flexibility in the site layout and even it provides a vast number of benefits to the users. The content on a static website stays the same. To change the website content, the website developer needs to change the source code. The content for static sites comes from the server and nowhere else.

A static website is the best option when the website only contains a few web pages. A static site is the kind of website that is easiest to create. Static websites are used to make information available to the public. Static websites are fixed. These websites display the same content for every user which is usually written in HTML.