HTML Site SEO (NO CMS)

[ArthurRadtke]

I have got a client site, which is dated (2007) and has not been shifted to any recognised CMS yet. It is HTML based. Is it possible to SEO on such a site? Is it even worth it?

If it is possible to do SEO on this, any suggestions will be highly appreciated.

Thank you.

[webtheoria.com]

Sometimes plain HTML based website are easier to optimize. Make sure you add the necessary meta tags, google analytics, headings, etc. you could manually create friendly urls with htaccess! also manually create a robots.txt file and even an xml sitemap which you should find many online portals that could create one for you. Because you will be working on just the code, don't forget to check if there is any broken links!

yes you can still work just fine the html websites!

[Shakur]

Hi  ArthurRadtke,

In theory, a well-coded and optimized HTML site will perform as well as pages from a well-designed CMS site in organic search rankings.

Some of the most important HTML elements to achieve SEO success.

HTML title tag: They have always been and remain the most important HTML signal that search engines use to understand what a page is about. Bad titles on your pages are like having bad book titles.

Meta Description tag: If the HTML title is the equivalent to a book title, the meta description is like the blurb on the back describing the book.

Header tags: Header tags are a formal way to identify key sections of a web page.

Structured Data: The result of structured data often translates into what is called a ‘rich snippet‘

Hope it helps you.

[wanatop]

Congratulations! You get the chance to do a good optimization both SEO and WPO.

The only problem with static pages is to go hand can be costly if there is much volume of content, in which case you can go about doing search and replace, or make a calendar of changes to be improving slowly website.

[TimHolmes]

Absolutely!!!!!

If you think about it logically, what does a CMS do. It uses templates and stores content  which is then output to the page - this webpage is HTML and is the basis of pretty much all webpages. Just because a site is HARD coded in HTML without the use of a CMS that compiles  it for you does not mean it cannot be optimised.

If you ever look into the source code of a page output via CMS to the browser, you can see all the components usually utilised to give your a strong well optimised site, however if HARD coded you can probably go even further depending on your skillset to provide even more optimisation on a more bespoke level.

Don;t delay get stuck in

[MChuckGreen]

You can certainly SEO a website that doesn't use a CMS.

The important question is, given the nature of the site, the budget and goals of the client, and the resources you have to work with, is a hard coded HTML website the most practical solution?

Content management systems like WordPress, Drual, and HubSpot exist to make it easy to build and manage a website. Why? Because the overwhelming majority of individuals and businesses who need a website do not have extensive technical resources to be able to create and maintain a complex, highly-customized website.

I'd be willing to bet that your client fits this bill, which means you can probably help stretch their marketing budget further by using a CMS to make your job easier.

[ArthurRadtke]

Thank you for all the wonderful responses. It was really helpful. I have been in touch with my client and we are moving the site to WP shortly.