9 SEO Tasks That Have Big Impacts on Your Site’s Performance
When it comes to generating reliable website traffic, finding ways to improve your website’s SEO is essential. Though search engine optimization takes time, there are a few tasks that you can do now which could have a huge impact on your site’s performance and rankings. This is especially true if you worked with a website designer to redesign your site and are worried about seeing a dip in rankings. Consider turning your attention to your SEO efforts and taking care of these tasks as you get started.
1. Adding Alt Image Text
If your site has images used on any of its pages, adding alt image text is a great idea. Alt image text is essentially a short description of what’s happening in the image. These descriptions are designed to help visually impaired individuals better understand what’s on the page.
Most descriptions are just a sentence long, but you can do a lot with that limited text. Include relevant keywords when possible to further boost your SEO efforts and focus on creating concise and accurate descriptions with those keywords.
2. Implementing an Internal Linking Strategy
Internal links help search engines figure out and identify your site’s structure while also helping you boost authority of your page. Use this to your advantage and look for ways to incorporate highly relevant internal links into your content when possible.
If you’re not sure where to start, take a look at your blog. Within each post you create, you’ll have at least several opportunities to link to other pages on your site. Once you identify those opportunities, try to structure the anchor text to fit one of your target keywords or a natural variation of one.
Say you’re a plumber trying to educate readers about their water heater. In your blog, you encourage readers to work with an experienced water heater repair technician when dealing with repairs. You could link to your water heater repairs service page using the anchor text “water heater repair” or “water heater repair technician.”
3. Optimize for Mobile Devices
Mobile devices format websites differently, but search engines tend to prioritize sites that are optimized for both desktop computers and mobile devices. Pull your website up on your phone or tablet. If it displays all of the information your desktop site does, you’re likely in good shape.
But if you notice that the site isn’t displaying properly, tweak the settings. You may be able to optimize your site with a few clicks on your site’s content management system. But if you can’t or you’re not comfortable doing it, work with your website design team and let them handle it for you.
4. Focus on Site Speed
Site speed often impacts your target users’ experiences when visiting your stie. But did you know it can also impact your SEO? When your site is slow, your bounce rate (the rate at which people click away from your pages) can increase. This sends negative ranking signals to search engines that may end up prioritizing sites that people are spending more time on. By improving your site’s speed and fixing elements that are lagging or not loading, you’ll improve your SEO in the long run.
5. Create New and Fresh Content
Search engines reward sites that publish new content regularly. That new content shows that your business is actively involved in building your online presence and also gives you a chance to target additional keywords to reach new customers. If you’ve been neglecting your content creation efforts, start now. Create blogs that answer your clients’ most frequently asked questions and provide deeper insight into the services or products you provide.
6. Clean Up Broken Links
Broken links often tell search engines that your site isn’t up to date. And since search engines like to send traffic to sites that are active and up to date, those broken links could send you lower in the search engine ranking pages. Review your links and remove or replace any links that are broken or incorrect. This will help search engines recognize that your site is still active, current, and trustworthy.
7. Give Your Meta Descriptions Some Love
Your meta descriptions tell search engines and your site’s visitors what each page is about. It’s up to you to create them. While search engines may occasionally pull snippets of content from the page to fill out the meta description, they don’t always do so in a good or useful way. Check your meta descriptions and give them an update. Incorporate a target keyword for the page whenever possible and, ideally, keep your descriptions at around 150 characters in length. This way, they’ll be displayed properly and won’t get cut off.
8. Check Your Title Tags
Your title tags for each page on your website serve to tell readers what the page is, but they also send strong ranking signals to search engines. Check the title tags on your site and revise them if needed. Ideally, you’ll want to incorporate one of your target keywords and your business name. But keep in mind that title tags will get cut off if they’re too long. Try to keep your title tags between 50 and 60 characters long in total.
9. Refresh Your Keyword Research
Search habits can change frequently which means you’ll want to review and refresh your keyword research regularly. Using tools like SEMRush or Ahrefs, see what types of keywords your competitors are ranking for and consider targeting those keywords as appropriate. If you’re not comfortable doing this on your own, partnering with an SEO specialist may be a better fit. They’ll be able to conduct keyword research for you and can make recommendations on any updates that could benefit your site and improve your rankings.
Let Denver Website Designs Help
If you’re worried about your site’s SEO, these tips can help you boost performance. But if you’re like most business owners, you have better things to do than worry about site maintenance, content creation, and updates. Denver Website Designs is here to help. Contact us today to learn more and let our team take the stress out of maintaining your website.
Go Back 1. Adding Alt Image Text
If your site has images used on any of its pages, adding alt image text is a great idea. Alt image text is essentially a short description of what’s happening in the image. These descriptions are designed to help visually impaired individuals better understand what’s on the page.
Most descriptions are just a sentence long, but you can do a lot with that limited text. Include relevant keywords when possible to further boost your SEO efforts and focus on creating concise and accurate descriptions with those keywords.
2. Implementing an Internal Linking Strategy
Internal links help search engines figure out and identify your site’s structure while also helping you boost authority of your page. Use this to your advantage and look for ways to incorporate highly relevant internal links into your content when possible.
If you’re not sure where to start, take a look at your blog. Within each post you create, you’ll have at least several opportunities to link to other pages on your site. Once you identify those opportunities, try to structure the anchor text to fit one of your target keywords or a natural variation of one.
Say you’re a plumber trying to educate readers about their water heater. In your blog, you encourage readers to work with an experienced water heater repair technician when dealing with repairs. You could link to your water heater repairs service page using the anchor text “water heater repair” or “water heater repair technician.”
3. Optimize for Mobile Devices
Mobile devices format websites differently, but search engines tend to prioritize sites that are optimized for both desktop computers and mobile devices. Pull your website up on your phone or tablet. If it displays all of the information your desktop site does, you’re likely in good shape.
But if you notice that the site isn’t displaying properly, tweak the settings. You may be able to optimize your site with a few clicks on your site’s content management system. But if you can’t or you’re not comfortable doing it, work with your website design team and let them handle it for you.
4. Focus on Site Speed
Site speed often impacts your target users’ experiences when visiting your stie. But did you know it can also impact your SEO? When your site is slow, your bounce rate (the rate at which people click away from your pages) can increase. This sends negative ranking signals to search engines that may end up prioritizing sites that people are spending more time on. By improving your site’s speed and fixing elements that are lagging or not loading, you’ll improve your SEO in the long run.
5. Create New and Fresh Content
Search engines reward sites that publish new content regularly. That new content shows that your business is actively involved in building your online presence and also gives you a chance to target additional keywords to reach new customers. If you’ve been neglecting your content creation efforts, start now. Create blogs that answer your clients’ most frequently asked questions and provide deeper insight into the services or products you provide.
6. Clean Up Broken Links
Broken links often tell search engines that your site isn’t up to date. And since search engines like to send traffic to sites that are active and up to date, those broken links could send you lower in the search engine ranking pages. Review your links and remove or replace any links that are broken or incorrect. This will help search engines recognize that your site is still active, current, and trustworthy.
7. Give Your Meta Descriptions Some Love
Your meta descriptions tell search engines and your site’s visitors what each page is about. It’s up to you to create them. While search engines may occasionally pull snippets of content from the page to fill out the meta description, they don’t always do so in a good or useful way. Check your meta descriptions and give them an update. Incorporate a target keyword for the page whenever possible and, ideally, keep your descriptions at around 150 characters in length. This way, they’ll be displayed properly and won’t get cut off.
8. Check Your Title Tags
Your title tags for each page on your website serve to tell readers what the page is, but they also send strong ranking signals to search engines. Check the title tags on your site and revise them if needed. Ideally, you’ll want to incorporate one of your target keywords and your business name. But keep in mind that title tags will get cut off if they’re too long. Try to keep your title tags between 50 and 60 characters long in total.
9. Refresh Your Keyword Research
Search habits can change frequently which means you’ll want to review and refresh your keyword research regularly. Using tools like SEMRush or Ahrefs, see what types of keywords your competitors are ranking for and consider targeting those keywords as appropriate. If you’re not comfortable doing this on your own, partnering with an SEO specialist may be a better fit. They’ll be able to conduct keyword research for you and can make recommendations on any updates that could benefit your site and improve your rankings.
Let Denver Website Designs Help
If you’re worried about your site’s SEO, these tips can help you boost performance. But if you’re like most business owners, you have better things to do than worry about site maintenance, content creation, and updates. Denver Website Designs is here to help. Contact us today to learn more and let our team take the stress out of maintaining your website.