Getting to page 1 of Google is a must for any business seeking to tap into a constant stream of new customers. There's so much false information and false promises out there that it's essential to have a grasp of the basics so you can identify the good from the bad.
The common selling point of many SEO (Search Engine Optimization) spruikers is back links. It's no secret that Google ranks the importance of a website based off how many other websites link or point to it. The more websites pointing to yours, the more important Google views your website.
But always remember that back links aren't the be all and end all. If you have a rubbish website no amount of back links will help you climb the rankings. The great thing about Google is they tell website owners exactly what the want and how they want it.
When I say rubbish website there are many things that can make a website rubbish, from irrelevant content to poor functionality. Today when I say rubbish I'm focusing on 2 things, loading speed and usability.
Introducing PageSpeed Insights
Simply enter your website in the space provided and Google will tell you what changes you need to make to your website. It looks at your site from 2 angles, both mobile and desktop, and will give you a ranking out of 100 for speed and user experience.
Google understands that the speed of your website is important because from all the data they collect they know that if someone visits your website and it takes too long to load, they'll click the dreaded 'back' button and go to another site that loads nice and quickly.
Much of the feedback is generally about the efficiency of your website such as the JavaScript and CSS. A great web developer understands this and will design the website to be both functional and efficient. Often poor ratings in these areas is just laziness.
Another common item in the speed section is browser caching, meaning whether you've got it set so that browser (Firefox, Chrome, IE, Safari etc) can remember elements of your page. A simple htaccess file takes seconds to create and can improve your speed rating with Google by over 10% which clearly gives you a big advantage when it comes to climbing the rankings.
A big problem with many sites is their use of images. Good quality images are great for your business but they also take up a lot of the bandwidth from your site by being downloaded every time someone accesses your site. Don't rush out and get rid of your images - compress them! You can have the same images on your site that don't require the current high rate of downloads, compressing images can often save 50% download time of the images and best of all it's really easy to do. This website allows you to drag and drop your images and it will then compress them accordingly.
Don't expect 100/100 with Google as some elements that are required for your site to function will slow it down. The sites we create to get found online typically rate at around 99/100 for user experience and 90/10 for speed, this is one of the reasons we're so good at getting businesses found online.
Do you want more customers for your business? Make and inquiry via our website and we'll happily give you a simple plan to implement.
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