As an SEO professional, it is crucial to develop a fundamental understanding of website development. Why? Because possessing the relevant knowledge and skills can lay the groundwork for achieving greater success with your website and brand.
Within this guide, I will explain the concept of website development and its various types. Additionally, I will delve into the details of HTML, followed by an exploration of the synergies between web development and SEO.
What Is Website Development?
Web development refers to the process of designing and maintaining websites using technologies such as HTML, PHP, JavaScript, and content management systems (CMS). It is essential to differentiate web development from web design, as the former focuses on the technical aspects of a website, while the latter deals with its visual aesthetics.
Understanding how web code functions are beneficial. However, thanks to modern CMS platforms like WordPress and Wix, web development has become accessible to individuals without coding backgrounds. Nevertheless, having a basic understanding of web technologies remains valuable as it enables developers to troubleshoot issues and create customized solutions.
Web development holds significance because it directly impacts revenue by creating high-performance online experiences.
Web Development Vs. Web Design
Web design primarily concerns itself with the visual appearance and user interaction of a website. On the other hand, web development involves the technical aspects of website creation.
Although there may be some overlap between the two fields, with some web designers possessing development skills and vice versa, they are distinct disciplines.
Categories Of Web Development
There are multiple kinds of web development. But they all fall into two categories:
- Front-End Development.
- Back-End Development.
Front-End Web Development
This involves the creation and implementation of the visual and interactive elements that users directly interact with on a website. Front-end developers typically work with technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to design and develop the user interface and user experience.
Front-end web development revolves around creating the components and features that website visitors interact with directly through their web browsers. In technical terminology, a web browser is commonly known as the client, which refers to the device executing the website’s code.
For this reason, front-end development is often referred to as client-side development. Having a solid understanding of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript is essential for front-end web development. These foundational technologies form the basis for creating engaging and interactive web experiences.
Back-End Web Development
This focuses on the behind-the-scenes functionality of a website. Back-end developers are responsible for building and maintaining the server-side infrastructure, databases, and application logic that enable the website to function properly. They often work with programming languages like PHP, Python, Ruby, and frameworks like Node.js or Django.
Back-end web development pertains to the coding and functionality that operates on the server side of a website, encompassing scripting languages and web frameworks. Back-end development is also known as server-side development since it deals with the operations occurring on the server behind the scenes.
For instance, PHP is an example of a back-end language that enables a web server to retrieve specific webpage elements from a database. Back-end development commonly involves programming and scripting languages such as PHP, JavaScript, and Python. These languages play a crucial role in executing server-side operations and handling data processing tasks.
Websites Coding Language – HTML
HTML serves as the fundamental component of websites, acting as a means to communicate to computers how a webpage should be structured. HTML is a coding language that operates on relatively straightforward rules.
If you’ve ever played board games like Monopoly, chess, or Checkers, you already have an understanding of how games are played using rules and game pieces.
Similarly, HTML operates on a similar concept. The HTML elements and their attributes serve as the game pieces, while the rules dictate how they should be utilized. These rules enable individuals to create webpages that can be rendered by web browsers, ensuring a visually appealing experience for website visitors.
What does HTML Stand for?
HTML, an acronym for HyperText Markup Language, is a crucial element in web development and is relevant to anyone involved with websites. Gaining proficiency in the fundamentals of HTML is vital for web developers and individuals working in various capacities related to website management.
HyperText
HyperText, in simpler terms, refers to links that connect various webpages. In the 1990s, the term HyperText gained significance as it represented a method to establish a globally interconnected information network.
HyperText links played a crucial role in connecting webpages within a website and also linking websites to one another. This created an expansive network of interconnected information, much like the structure of a spider’s web.
The metaphor of a spider’s web was coined by Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the Internet. This association explains the naming conventions of webpages, websites, and search engine spiders.
Markup Language
Markup language provides a structured means of conveying formatting information and defining the various components that collectively compose a webpage.
In essence, HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is a link-driven system that facilitates the creation of webpages and websites interconnected with other webpages and websites.
HTML Webpage Components
HTML is composed of elements, which serve as the fundamental building blocks.
Elements can be enhanced and customized using attributes.
Certain elements represent significant sections of a webpage.
Visualize these major sections as analogous to the playing board, where all the website’s content and interactions take place.
The Major Sections Of A Webpage
<HTML>
Tells the browser that this is an HTML page.
This element encompasses the entire webpage.
<HEAD>
This specific section is designated for metadata.
Metadata refers to information that is not directly visible on the webpage but serves browsers and search engines.
An example of metadata is the meta description element, which offers a concise summary of the webpage utilized by search engines in their search results.
Moreover, this section includes links to essential resources required for constructing the visible components of the website, among other functionalities.
<BODY>
The <BODY> section represents the visible content of a webpage, and it always follows the <HEAD> section.
Major elements within the <BODY> section are identified by both opening and closing “tags,” indicating where an element starts and ends.
A beginning tag looks like this:
<example>
An ending tag looks like this:
</example>
Here is a macro-level outline of a webpage:
<HTML>
<HEAD>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
</BODY>
</HTML>
Inside the <BODY> element, you will find various other elements that define the visible content of the webpage, such as paragraphs, images, and links. Attributes modify elements, often providing additional information.
For instance, an image element <IMG> can include an “alt” attribute that supplies alternative text. This alternative text describes the image’s content to visitors utilizing assistive technologies like screen readers.
Similarly, a paragraph element can have a “class” attribute, which applies specific formatting to the text within the paragraph, such as customized font size.
Difference Between An Element And A Tag
The terms “element” and “tag” are sometimes used interchangeably, but there is a distinction between them.
The actual code snippet of an HTML element is known as a tag because it typically consists of both a start tag and an end tag. For instance, the TITLE element, which conveys information about the webpage’s content, appears as follows:
<TITLE> Words that describe what a webpage is about.</TITLE>
In this example, the HTML code for the title is referred to as the TITLE element.
However, the individual code snippets themselves, <TITLE> and </TITLE>, are called tags, specifically the start tag and end tag.
Tags serve to name the element and indicate where the element begins and ends, specifically for those elements that require both start and end tags.
Although elements are often referred to as tags colloquially, technically speaking, HTML elements are officially called elements, not tags.
Therefore, only the code snippet itself is specifically referred to as a tag.
More about Tags and Elements
A historical reference on HTML tags from W3C.org discusses tags specifically in relation to their use as beginning and ending tags, focusing on the syntax of HTML code. It does not refer to elements as tags.
According to the definition provided by Mozilla developer pages, a tag in HTML is used to create an element.
It is important to note that elements and tags are not interchangeable terms. Tags denote the start and end of an element in the source code, while elements are part of the Document Object Model (DOM), which represents the structure of the webpage in the browser.
While the misuse of the term “tag” when referring to HTML elements might seem insignificant, it is considered good practice in web development to use precise and accurate jargon to ensure clear understanding when referencing any aspect of web development.
The CSS
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is another essential component in web development, responsible for determining the visual appearance of a webpage.
CSS files encompass style-related information, including details such as fonts, border sizes, and colors.
In earlier versions of HTML, style information was embedded directly within the HTML code. However, with the introduction of HTML 4, style sheets were introduced, enabling a clear separation between style data and content-related data.
This innovative approach of using CSS allows for the styling of an entire website through a single file, providing consistency and ease of maintenance across the entire site.
Difference Types Of Web Development
While it is possible to build webpages from scratch using HTML, it can be inconvenient for publishing sites regularly.
To address this, the most commonly adopted approach for website creation is utilizing a content management system (CMS).
Content management systems come in both open-source and closed-source versions, providing options for website developers to choose from based on their specific needs and preferences.
Examples of open-source CMS:
- Drupal.
- Joomla.
- WordPress.
Examples of closed-source CMS:
- Duda.
- Shopify.
- Squarespace.
- Wix.
WordPress And Web Development
WordPress has emerged as the most popular platform for creating various types of websites, including e-commerce stores, news sites, informational sites, and local business sites.
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With WordPress, you can select a template that suits the desired appearance of your site and begin publishing content. However, if you want to customize the template to match your exact preferences, some template editing may be required.
It is not mandatory to possess knowledge of HTML, CSS, or PHP coding in order to make edits to a WordPress template. Although WordPress is designed to be user-friendly, having web development skills can be beneficial when creating alternative templates (referred to as “child templates”) and implementing additional functionalities beyond the capabilities of the chosen template.
To simplify the process of building websites with WordPress, third-party WordPress site builders exist, offering intuitive interfaces and tools.
Closed-source content management systems, in general, prioritize ease of use, thereby reducing the need for extensive web development skills when working with those systems.
How Web Development And SEO Work Together
In the realm of SEO, web development has become increasingly vital. Page speed has a direct and indirect impact on search engine rankings for webpages. Optimizing page speed often requires a comprehension of the technical aspects of web development that influence how webpages are displayed in browsers.
Chrome Developer Tools, not Chrome SEO Tools, is the tool provided by Chrome for debugging website performance.
While some SEO professionals may attempt to enhance site performance by installing WordPress plugins, the truth is that web development skills are more effective in diagnosing and resolving performance issues.
Web development provides solutions for scaling essential SEO elements such as structured data implementation, automated meta descriptions, and code optimization to ensure optimal crawling of the website by search engines.
From the front end to the back end, web development plays a significant role in effectively optimizing a website for search engines.
Website development plays an important role in achieving online success.
Gaining knowledge in web development goes beyond simply knowing how to fix issues. It also equips you with the ability to identify problems and have a general understanding of potential solutions.
By learning the fundamentals of web development, you empower yourself to foster greater online success, as it enables you to navigate and address challenges more effectively.
Would you like to read more about the in-depth website development guide for beginners-related articles? If so, we invite you to take a look at our other tech topics before you leave!
