SEO Tips for 2021 – How to Optimize Your Website – Part 2
The technical setup of your website is incredibly important for the overall performance of your online presence and brand visibility. On average, it is good to review your website every year to make sure that it is up to current online standards. Making sure that your website is safe and secure, performing well, and up to Google standards is becoming increasingly important. If your website is built on WordPress, it is recommended that you have Managed WordPress hosting, an SSL, and that plugins are updated regularly. Below are some technical aspects of your site that will not only impact SEO but your conversion rate and overall digital performance.
1.Hosting – Speed is everything online. The faster the user experience, the lower the chances are of people leaving your site quickly (Bounce Rate). A page load time of under 2 seconds is optimal. But how you get there is heavily dependent on your host. If you use WordPress as your CMS, we recommend SiteGround for hosting. SiteGround is known for having some of the fastest WordPress hosting speeds of all web hosts. Integrating SiteGround hosting with a Cloudflare CDN will also help page load times. Make sure that you have performance hosting, this will impact not only your SEO but your CRO, sales, and overall user experience.
2.SSL – An SSL is a given for site hosting today. An SSL (Secure Site Layer) is essential for site security. Not having an SSL is not only bad for your users but bad for you, as Google penalizes sites without an SSL. Make sure that your hosting plan includes an SSL.
3.Image Optimization – Large and burdensome images slow down site performance. Are you using an image compressor or resizer? That is a great start, but it is still best to resize and optimize your images before they are added to your site’s media library. Stay away from PNG images and use smaller file size JPGs. When images are uploaded, make sure to add the image description and alt tags immediately, this will give Google the information it needs from your images.
4.UX and CRO – User experience and Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) are key aspects of a website that play a direct role in SEO, overall site conversions, and sales. Make sure to add a CRO tool like Hotjar to your site in addition to Google Analytics and Google Search Console to make sure that you are getting the Behavior Flow information you need. A website is never finished, rather a tool that is constantly tweaked, updated, and managed to increase quality content and inbound traffic. The right tools will help ensure that the layout and design of your site is helping you and not hurting you.
5.Social Media for SEO – Social media is essential for any company, be that B2C or B2B. Social media is a great way to drive relevant traffic to your site. Social media helps promote your brand, provides a channel to push out press releases, and communicates your brand messaging to your audience. Having a presence on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn can help your brand drive traffic, leads, conversions, and sales in a way that is beneficial to overall SEO.
6.Quality Link Building – Everyone understands the importance of external follow links pointing to your site but internal linking is just as important. How are people navigating through your site and what is your anchor text strategy? Anchor Text Analysis is essential to how users move through your site and how Google views your site. Using an Anchor Text Analysis tool or WordPress plugin can help automate this process.
All of the above will help your site and search presence. Need help? We would love to help you rank higher on Google and drive more sales. Just fill out the form below and a Fire Source Media representative will contact you.
