A website that sells is not just visually appealing and easy to navigate. It is also optimised for it to rank well on search engine results pages (SERPs).

Ranking high on SERPs means more visibility and consequently, more traffic. This is what SEO does and this is why business owners like you can’t opt out of this digital marketing strategy.

In our previous blog, we’ve talked about important things you should know about SEO: creating a fast website, optimising for user intent and working with a reputable SEO specialist.

So, what else do you have to keep in mind about SEO? Read on to learn more about website optimisation.

Prioritise Security

Over the years, the number of cyberattacks has been steadily increasing. What’s even more concerning is that cybercriminals are becoming more sophisticated with their hacks.

In an effort to make the Internet safer for users, Google, the leading search engine, launched initiatives to compel webmasters to make their sites more secure. Switching from HTTP to HTTPs is one of them.

“…the search engine company announced in 2014 that pages on HTTPS would get a ranking boost.”

In February 2018:

“Google announced that starting July 2018 it will mark HTTP pages on Chrome browser as ‘not secure’.”

So, when you create your site, make sure that it is on HTTPS. This is necessary to get better rankings and improve your credibility.

“When Google launched its ‘HTTPS Everywhere’ campaign, it began indexing HTTPS pages first before HTTP pages. At the same time, the search engine announced that it has begun using HTTPS as a ranking signal.”

Meanwhile:

“…90% of respondents say that it is highly likely for them to trust a website if it shows security indicators like the green padlock for sites with the SSL certificate. Most importantly, they are more comfortable to share their information or make a purchase if their data is sent via secure connection.”

Make Your Site Mobile-Friendly

As what has been repeatedly said, “the future is mobile!” Search engines knew this as early as 2015 when mobile searches outnumbered desktop queries.

In 2017:

“…nearly 50% of Internet users say that the primary device they use for browsing is their mobile phone.”

Hence, websites must be mobile-friendly nowadays. This means having a responsive design to give users an excellent browsing experience. Doing this is also necessary for the site to rank well on search results.

Why?

Just like speed and security, Google has made mobile-friendliness a ranking signal.

“…if your site is mobile-friendly, you are rewarded; if it’s not, you are penalised and your ranking suffers.”

What’s more?

The tech giant also implemented mobile-first indexing. What is it?

“…mobile-first indexing means that Google crawls and indexes the web based on how it renders on a mobile device instead of a desktop.”

“From July 1, 2019 onwards, all new websites will be indexed using mobile-first indexing by default. Here, new websites pertain to domains which Google has not detected or crawled yet.”

Suffice to say, a mobile-friendly site is the standard now. Failure to comply with this requirement can hurt your SEO efforts and even your brand reputation.

Never Forget SEO Maintenance

You have an SEO strategy. You started implementing it. What’s next? Well, you’ll need to do ongoing optimisation work or SEO maintenance tasks.

 “Why is SEO maintenance necessary? You need to know if your strategies are working or not. While it takes months to see the significant SEO results, this doesn’t mean that there’s nothing you can do until the waiting period is over.”

The truth is that there are weekly, monthly and yearly SEO tasks that website owners or SEO specialist perform to stay on top of their optimisation efforts.

“Another reason why SEO requires regular monitoring is that search engines always tweak their algorithms. You need to keep up with these changes or your site can get penalised and suffer a drop in rankings.”

Remember:

SEO requires constant and consistent work to achieve results. Slack off and you’d experience a dip in rankings!

Admittedly, optimising a site and ensuring it keeps ranking well can be very time-consuming and taxing. Hence, it is best to let an SEO specialist do this task.

As what was said in Part 1 of this blog, just see to it that you hire a real SEO expert to ensure that you get the results you want minus the hassle.

With an effective SEO strategy, your website can do wonders for your business. So, make optimising your site a priority now!

Want your website to rank high on search results? Our SEO experts in Dublin can help you achieve this! Call us now at 019609023!

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Image by Darwin Laganzon from Pixabay