As a business owner in the 21st century, you’re already aware of the impact SEO can have on your organic search rankings, and ultimately your bottom line. That’s why it can be especially frustrating when, despite your best efforts to keep up with local SEO tips, you find that your organic website traffic is either at a standstill or actually on the decline! How can this be? We’re here with a few common practices that can have a negative impact on your SEO, and what you can do to fix them.
Slow Site Speed
Have you ever lingered on a web page that was loading so slowly, you thought there may be an issue with your Internet connection? Most people don’t have the time or the patience to wait around on a slow-loading page, which can lead to high bounce rates and a dissatisfying user experience that may leave a bad taste in your target audience’s mouth.
First and foremost, be sure to test your page’s load time with a free testing tool like WebPageTest.org. You should be aiming for a load time of .5 seconds or less- if it’s anything above that, check for underlying factors such as large images, inefficient code, or even a poor web hosting service and correct them.
Broken Links and Missing Images
It can be annoying to a prospective client to click a link on a website for more information…only to be directed to a broken page. Indeed, broken links or images can lessen your site’s user experience, leading to a negative impact on your SEO.
What to do: Conduct regular site audits to ensure that all links are in working order and that none are pointing to pages that are broken. This will not only increase your clients’ satisfaction with your site but also allow Google’s page crawlers to navigate more smoothly, leading to higher search rankings. Try the Chrome plug-in Check My Links to audit internal and external links on smaller sites or a service like Ahrefs for larger, more complex websites.
Negative Blog Comments
When it comes to marketing, word of mouth is still the most powerful tool in your advertising arsenal. But what about those inappropriate or weird comments that sometimes show up on your blog posts from dissatisfied customers, bots, or straight-up trolls looking to stir up trouble? Leaving negative comments about your brand or products on your website’s blog can also be detrimental to your SEO, as it causes the Google algorithm to flag your site as questionable, diminishing your authority and legitimacy as a company.
What to Do: Step One is to moderate the comments section on your website’s blog by turning on notifications that enable you to see each comment the moment it is posted. This allows you greater freedom to delete spam or other inappropriate comments before they have a chance to be seen. Installing a spam filter to weed out the comments left by spambots is also a big help. Additionally, consider instituting a formal commenting policy on your blog, or simply turning off the commenting functions altogether if you find it isn’t being used by anyone other than bots.
Contact Echero Today!
Take time to follow these SEO tips to correct these commonly-overlooked factors that can impact your rankings, and you may find that it’s a real game-changer! Contact us today!
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