10 SEO Factors You Can’t Ignore
Despite what some say about SEO being dead, an SEO strategy is a critical part of your online presence. Without a well-constructed SEO strategy, your customers won’t be able to find you when conducting their searches. Let’s say you provide residential painting services in the area. When people search for terms like “residential painting,” “house painting near me” and “professional residential painting services,” you want to rank for these keywords. If you don’t, your audience will end up finding your competitors, but not you. Not only does an organized SEO strategy benefit your rankings, but also it gives your brand discipline, persistence and consistency.
Let’s take a look at 10 SEO factors that you can’t afford to miss out on.
1. Clean Code: Always follow the best practices for CSS and HTML. This helps Google crawl your website and index your pages.
2. Site Architecture: Roughly 40% of visitors will leave your website if they don’t find what they’re looking for in 3 seconds. Provide users with a good experience through simple, clean site architecture.
3. Internal Linking: Keep users on your site longer through internal linking. This provides visitors with an enhanced user experience that can guide them through the buying funnel.
4. Mobile Optimization: Your site needs to be optimized for mobile just as it is for desktop. If it’s not, you’re missing out on a huge audience, and you could be penalized by Google. Take Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to see how mobile friendly your site is.
5. Site Speed: Forty-seven percent of users expect a website to load in 2 seconds or less, while 40% will abandon a website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. Keep your design simple and images small so that load time is fast.
6. Secure Site: Secure your site with HTTPS. Google has confirmed that doing so can lead to improved rankings, and it provides users with a secure connection.
7. Local SEO: People regularly use the search engines to find local information, so it pays to use local SEO to help people find you. Make sure your name, address and phone number are consistent across all postings, listings and profiles.
8. Social Media Integration: Social media offers SEO value by building an engaged audience. Choose a few platforms where your audience is most likely to be and focus on building a strong presence.
9. Write Content: Content is one of the most valuable components of SEO. It leads to more indexed pages, more brand visibility, strengthened relationships with customers and more.
10. Link Building: Focus on building strong links that come from reputable sources. If you suspect spammy links, conduct a link audit and request that bad links be removed from your site.
Devising an SEO strategy can be confusing, but don’t let that deter you. SEO is a crucial part of your online presence that will separate you from your competitors. Call WSI Star Web today at 888-853-4449 to amp up your SEO strategy.