It’s hard to keep up on all the algorithms that Google and other search engines put in place and require of websites these days. If you are a business owner you don’t have time to keep track of all these updates – and even if you could – updating your websites is most likely not your forte. Here are 2018 Website Best Practices that you can bring to your marketing team to ensure they are in place and updated.
HTTPS
Google wants to make your website as secure and safe as possible and so with that comes methods to secure your site and have a positive response from Google. “We’re also working to make the Internet safer and a big part of that is making sure that websites people access from Google are secure.” Depending on who is hosting your website it could be a simple call and upgrade. With this upgrade, it can increase your rankings as well as ensure your site is more private and secure. It’s in your websites best interests to stay on the good side of Google and this is one way of doing so that is easy and quick and not too complicated!
Mobile Friendly
As of January 2017, around 29 percent of online traffic in Canada was generated from mobile phones. With this in mind and with these stats only going up in the months to come, a mobile-friendly site is a MUST! If you do not have a site that is mobile friendly you are losing 30% of your traffic! It still amazes me how many sites are NOT mobile friendly. Having to zoom in to see information or not having a menu that is easy to navigate causes the user to leave your site which increases your bounce rate which in turn effects your SEO in a very negative way. If you want to keep your SEO on Google’s good side it’s imperative you have a mobile-friendly site.
Fast Loading Site
It’s essential that your site loads FAST! One easy way to optimize your site load time is to ensure your images are optimized and sized properly. You can have high-resolution photos that load quickly – you just have to size them right. By saving them for web or compressing them you can have beautiful images without having a negative impact on your user. Another way to increase your sites load speed is having a dedicated server. If you are hosting with Go Daddy, Host Gator or WIX than you do not have a Virtual Private Server or a Dedicated Server. The default may be to go with the cheapest option but it can cause issues and you could lose clients because of it. We suggest finding a VPS or Dedicated Server to ensure private, fast and safe hosting that will result in long-term benefits including SEO.
Response Design
This is different than mobile friendly because this ensures the ease of Google to crawl your site all at once and not several versions. From a SEO standpoint, Google strongly recommends responsive design. This design shrinks or grows depending on the size of the device and it ensures an excellent user experience which is what Google is wanting to see from websites these days. This positive experience and proper build help your ranking with Google when it comes to SEO.
These are just 4 simple adjustments you can make and adjust on your website to increase your ranking and user experience which in turns directly impacts your bottom line in 2 ways.
- SEO –following googles algorithms and recommendations will help you rank and get your website found organically when someone searches for your product or service. Depending on the competitive nature of your services or business ranking organically could be quicker and easier then you think. When a user finds you on page 1 they will usually click through, in turn, a potential client finds you!
- User Experience – by ensuring that when a potential client visits your website the site loads quickly and is easy to navigate will result in them sticking around to find out more about your service or business. The user will be closer to contacting you! These turn into a warm lead and if the website and Call To Actions are set up correctly – a new customer!
If your business needs assistance or is lost when it comes to ranking and SEO give Metron a call. We are always happy to assist and help companies find their way around the web. Click BELOW to learn more about our FREE WEBSITE offer!
