Hello World – The Basic Necessities for a Simple Working Website and Search Engine Indexing

Having a basic website up and running is the first step to getting found online. Here are the key things you’ll need to have in place for a simple functioning site that search engines can discover and index.

HTML Pages At minimum, you’ll need at least one HTML page to serve as the homepage for your site. This page should introduce your business/brand and provide basic contact information. Additional inner pages can be added as needed to share more details on your products/services.

Hosting Your site’s HTML files need to be hosted online on a server so they are accessible via a domain name. Low-cost hosting options are available from companies like Bluehost, HostGator, or Namecheap. Make sure to choose a reputable provider.

Domain Name You’ll need to purchase and point a domain name (like yourcompany.com) to your hosted files. This serves as your website’s address on the public internet. Domain names can be purchased from your hosting provider or a registrar.

Basic Site Structure Include things like a consistent navigation menu across pages, contact details, social media links etc. to help visitors navigate and engage with your site. Use headings, paragraphs and other semantic HTML elements to structure your content.

Sitemaps Generate an XML sitemap listing all your pages and submit it to Google Search Console. This helps search engines discover all areas of your site for indexing.

Mobile Friendliness Ensure your site is responsive and readable on mobile devices. About 50% of search traffic comes from mobile so it’s important for discoverability.

That covers the basic requirements for a simple website that search engines can find and index. With these essentials in place you can then focus on optimizing further and adding more content over time.