Integrating Foleon Docs into your SEO strategy

Balancing Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and audience engagement is crucial for a successful content strategy. Foleon Docs add value because they're engaging, responsive, and trackable. In this article, we show you how to create engaging content with SEO in mind. 🤖

Foleon Docs in your wider SEO strategy

Why you create Foleon content ✍️

What's your primary objective, creating content for search engines or increasing engagement among your audience? They’re both super important, and you need to find a strategic way to balance both and make them work together in your favor.

Let’s start by understanding the value and purpose of using Foleon Docs as part of your broader content strategy. Foleon Docs are web-based formats created to engage your audience and scale your content strategy by offering readers a better way to consume your content.

Ranking vs. Engaging ⚖️

In the current digital content landscape, it’s typical for content marketers to fixate on "writing for SEO," mistakenly prioritizing search engines over actual readers.

Instead of considering the user experience or finding ways to move readers through the funnel with content, we’re focused on content length, keyword density, and adding various keyword variations and local modifiers solely for potential SEO benefits.

This leaves you with a host of content that may rank well on Google, but does it convert? Does it engage? And does it provide any additional insights into your target audience?

We’re not saying that SEO isn’t necessary; it is. However, the best way to increase the success of your content strategy is to ensure you create high-quality, engaging content for people, not just search engines. And that’s where Foleon Docs come in.

Foleon Docs scale your content strategy 🚀

You’ve undoubtedly already got a great website with an array of content and a solid SEO strategy.

Foleon Docs don’t replace your website or your blog; that’s not their purpose. Think of them instead as an additional communication medium like email or social media. They expand and enrich your online presence.

Much like attending an event is a great way to gain exposure for your brand and generate new leads, Foleon Docs do the same. They add to your overall communications mix and content strategy.

This, in tandem with your website and blog content, contributes to a healthy content strategy that ranks with Google and engages actual people. With Foleon, you scale your content strategy as a whole.

Doc and page settings

Search engine visibility

Since Foleon Docs are used for many different kinds of content, they're optimized for security. By default, search engine visibility is switched off to avoid making any sensitive information public.

But you can change this setting if you want to and let search engines crawl your content. This means your content won't be publicly available in search engines unless you want it to be.

Do you want your content to appear in search results publicly? In the Doc settings, scroll down to the Global Doc settings and toggle on search engine visibility. You can also set this as default when you set the Global Doc settings in the dashboard.

 

Canonical URL

In the page settings, you can set a canonical URL for each page. 

This is used to avoid possible duplicate content penalties since Google does not appreciate duplicate content. It's a search engine-friendly URL that you want search engines to treat as authoritative when your content is visible on several URLs.

Let's say you have a case study or blog post on your website but also want to put it into your Foleon Doc. In the canonical URL field, you can tell Google which of the two (identical) pages they need to index. Typically, you'd take your website URL since its SEO ranking has more authority.

Meta description

In the page settings, you can set a meta description for each page. 

It will appear in search engine results and on social media, so make sure it’s a compelling text that people will want to click. We advise keeping it under 155 characters and writing a unique meta description for each page of your Foleon Doc.

Hosting your content

Hosting on a custom domain

Generally, search engines prioritize company domains over subdomains, e.g., foleon.com vs. docs.foleon.com, especially with branded search. This is because search engines favor a website with a history of established site traffic and engagement. That being said, highly engaging content on subdomains can enhance the overall visibility of the parent website, as it sends positive signals to search engines.

We recommend hosting on a custom subdomain (e.g. content.mydomain.com). Since you have likely owned mydomain.com for a considerable time, the custom subdomain for Foleon content will benefit from the accumulated domain authority, backlinks, and trust signals that your main website has already established.

This improves your search engine rankings and visibility, whereas a free Foleon domain would keep the content isolated from your main site’s SEO advantages.

Additionally, we recommend using one domain for multiple projects. For a successful setup, you need to add a unique base path to the URL. The base path helps structure your content, which search engines like Google appreciate. By using a base path, you can improve your Doc's SEO because it allows search engines to understand the hierarchy and relevance of different sections within your domain.

Self-hosting

As search engines prioritize company domains over subdomains, e.g., foleon.com vs. docs.foleon.com, you can consider self-hosting Foleon content on your primary domain if that suits your SEO strategy. 

This allows you to create a Foleon Doc and park it on your website rather than on a sub-domain (e.g., www.mydomain.com/foleon-doc).

Placing Foleon Docs on your primary domain means that they will contribute to the domain authority of your main website, potentially increasing your rankings. This can be a great option if your primary goal is to use Foleon Docs to boost your SEO strategy.

Creating your content

Writing search-engine-friendly copy

Search engines determine what your website is about through the text, metadata, and images on it. That's why incorporating keywords into these elements is important. Decide what keywords you want to be "found" on, as they are the words your customer types into the search engine.

Reflect on the most important keywords in the text. Write the text first and foremost for the reader and not for SEO. But most of all, implement keywords in headers.

First, think from your customer's point of view and consider the questions your customer asks the search engine about your product or service. Write down all the words you think are relevant to your website or business.

Optimize your images

First off,  we recommend writing alt text for your images. Alt text — also known as alt tags and alt descriptions — helps screen-reading tools describe images to visually impaired readers. Next to that, it allows search engines to crawl better and rank your website. 

If you select an image in the media library, image data will appear on the right-hand side of the screen. Here, you can change the image's name in the media library. Next, you can add alt text in the image alt field. In the example below, we've described the image as a "Modern office building."

You can also consider resizing images. The faster the website, the higher the ranking on Google. 

Other topics to consider

Structure — design with accessibility in mind 🗂️

Create a clear website structure to help your visitors find the information they need. Give each keyword group its own page, and make sure all pages are accessible via hyperlinks or navigation.

Speed ⚡️

A slow website causes potential customers to drop out before seeing your website. Check the speed of your website with Google Pagespeed. Reduce the resolution of large images with tools such as Photoshop or ReSmush.it. Just make sure the image remains sharp.

Hyperlinks 🔗

Hyperlinks to other pages allow your reader (and, therefore, search engines) to continue reading and visit other relevant pages.

Link to websites you trust — these don't have to be popular. Make sure the page you link to tells more than your page. Preferably, link to pages on your own website.

Authority 🗣️

Provide links from other websites to your Foleon Doc. Your authority grows when other relevant, popular, and quality websites link to you.

In this regard, a major news site provides more value than an average personal blog link. In addition, the topic of the linked website is important. For example, a link from a design blog has more value for a furniture store than a link from a financial service site.

Security 🔒

If you're hosting your content on a custom domain, you must secure it with an SSL/TLS certificate to ensure it's safe for your audience.

To secure your custom domain, Foleon generates an SSL/TLS certificate — for free — and automatically renews it. The certificates we obtain for your Docs are issued by Let’s Encrypt.

Technique 🤖

Foleon Docs have a strong web structure and code output, leading to a 40% higher Google lighthouse evaluation score. This positively affects SEO and may improve your ranking in search engines.