The process to optimise a website is one that brings many opportunities, as well as risks. You may already have a site established that you are looking to remodel. You could also be making your mark on the internet for the first time as well. How can you be sure that you are doing all you can from a search engine optimisation perspective? How do you know search engine rankings are as high as possible? It all comes down to taking calculated risks that can reap the most significant gains.
Timing of the Risks
When does it make sense for you as a business owner to take a risk? You take risks when you calculate out the probability of those risks to likely reap significant benefits. If the risk exposure is low, and the potential gains high, what do you have to lose? It just comes down to risk versus reward, and when the return on investment in comparison to the risk is high, you have to make a move.
You may have a site that is already ranking decently on Google, but not high enough that you get the traffic you like. You want more! Take a risk that your rankings go through a minor hit in the short-term with a remodelling equating to long-term gains. Make a list of all of the risks you think you may take, consider the rewards, and start to execute on the likely wins.
1. Test Out Meta Information
One of the best ways Google measures quality sites and content is with click-through-rates. The click-through-rate is the rate at which someone finds a listing, clicks on it and goes to the website.
Meta information can help people realise your site exists, help to get you more attention. Google wants relevant listings, but also those that are appealing to readers. If you do not have anyone clicking on your links, it is time to test out different meta information schemes. See what works and enjoy the benefits once you find the right formula.
2. The State of the URL
What is the state of the URL structure of your site? If Google cannot crawl your site and all of its pages quickly, how is it supposed to get readers your quality content?
Poor site structure can be detrimental to the success of a website. If a user cannot easily navigate through a site and crawling is not easy for search engines, it will do you no good!
Do not be afraid to change up the URL structure. Test out the waters with new ways of doing things and see the benefits you get as a result. Optimise all of the URLs. Make them easier to find and also make the pages more keyword friendly. URL links should have the keywords a particular page on your site is pushing.
3. Focus on the User
The user interface of your site is pivotal. It needs to be a site that someone can hop onto and easily get around, finding the information that they want. If you have a website that is hard to navigate, people are not going to stay! They may read the one piece of content they found on Google and then disappear for good.
Take a look at the information you have, things like the length of time on a page, the bounce rate, etc. You want to try to improve these numbers to help your site, and also it’s standing with Google. Test the waters to see if you can make it easier for users to enjoy your site and its content.
4. Go With a New Design
You may also want to think about going with a brand new website design. Incremental upgrades over time may make sense for you, but are they going to give you the revolutionary gains you seek? You want to increase your user base, keep readers on your site longer and convert them into revenue dollars.
A brand new website design, a full overhaul, can improve a lot. It will help with organic rankings, grow your business, keep readers clicking on the site more, etc. Going with a full-blown web design overhaul is much simpler and less expensive than you think!
5. Backlinks Have High Value
Believe it or not, backlinks still carry a lot of value in the search engine optimisation space. Google penalises sites that have poor quality backlinks or no backlinks at all.
The search engine giant will reward you if you have high-quality backlinks. They will recognise the site as being more credible, reliable. Do not give up on backlinks. Instead, try a renewed approach to go for quality and enjoy the benefits to come really!
You always want to have an idea in mind when it comes to making changes to your website. Don’t change for the sake of change. Make a change with potential benefits in mind. You want to make gains, increase revenue, traffic, search engine rankings, the whole pot. Take calculated risks into account and make the moves necessary to position your site for growth today, and years down the road!
