Get Your Website Ready For SEO with These Four Tips

There’s no doubt that getting your new website into the search index is a challenging task. Plus, if you’re not aware of some SEO tips and tricks, things will get doubly tricky. If you don’t understand some of the SEO’s best practices, your website will remain invisible – no one will know if you exist. No visitors, no clicks, no sales!

What is search engine optimization – SEO isn’t rocket science. Yes, it takes some time and effort to master the subtle nuances that come with it, but you don’t have to devote your whole life to learning the basics of SEO to make sure your website tops Google’s search results.

So, if you want to get your website ready for SEO, do it with the following tips.

1. Table of Contents

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   Review the functionality of your website

If your website isn’t huge and can be checked manually, try going through every page with the sole intention of checking the website’s functionality. This comprises calculators, download features, contact forms, etc. If manual checking isn’t an option because your website has a lot of pages, use the following tools:

• Broken links checker: This will determine if there are any non-functioning links on your website’s pages.
• Cross-browser testing tool: This will test your website on various web browsers.
• Error page checker: This will identify pages that don’t display a 404 error and doesn’t have any content.
• Responsive web design testing tool: This will test your site on various mobile devices.
• Sitemap generator tools: These will automatically notify the search engines after the sitemap has been created.
• Website speed test: This website will allow you to find any problems with your website’s speed. Since Google also considers a website’s speed as part of its ranking factors, fixing it as soon as possible is recommended. Reach out to your developer before a prospect finds someone else.

2. Use quality company photos and product images

If you have an e-commerce website or any website for that matter, don’t even think of selling a product with low-quality images. Yes, internet users will visit your website, but if they see bad visuals, it will be a huge turnoff, and they won’t wait for a second before bouncing to another. However, if your website has eye-catching visuals littered all over the place, that’ll lure them into buying something.

The quality of pictures that your website has directly impacted the visitor’s buying decision. For instance, images taken from bad angles, and those too in low resolution, won’t spark much interest in a product. However, high-quality pictures taken from great angles will help to stir a stronger desire for the product.

3. Optimize your mobile website

Optimizing your mobile website isn’t something that you can push for later; it’s a must. Why? Because mobile devices translate to increased consumption levels. Now, mobile devices are outstripping desktops, and that’s happening pretty fast. Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Don’t overcomplicate mobile checkout because users aren’t as patient when navigating from cellphones compared to desktops. Try enabling both 1-click checkouts (for existing customers) and guest checkouts, facilitating a better user experience like using a visual calendar (not numeric dates) and reducing the number of fields in a form.
• Make sure every page has a ‘call’ button.
• Enable users to continue checkout on another device. Ask your mobile-browsing customers if they want to save a shopping cart and checkout from another device at a later time right from where they left off.
• Display the most important content first because a mobile screen doesn’t have as much space as a desktop. Single focus and keeping things simple are crucial to boosting your sales.

4. Fix your website’s design

Studies report that 46% of visitors determine the credibility of a business by its website. How does a business build credibility in the digital space? By posting genuine and informative content on an SEO-friendly website for it to rank higher on SERPs. To prepare your website for SEO, it should primarily focus on the following aspects:

• The website should have intuitive, easy navigation. Yes, be creative, but don’t overdo it. Your users have expectations; they want to see some things in some specific places. For instance, a horizontal menu is a norm. If you place the menu at the bottom of your website, visitors will have to scroll down to access it.
• The website must have good contrast between background colors and text. Plus, the font size must be readable. Users shouldn’t have to pinch in and out too often to read.
• The website should have a logo, a color scheme, and a clear identity.
• The website should have elements that exude credibility and trust. These may include customer reviews, associations, certifications, third-party reviews, media mentions, partners’ logos, etc.
• The website should have good quality graphics and images – we’ve already told you why.
• The website’s layout must be structured well and should highlight your most important offerings. Place the primary CTAs and key selling points of the products at a position where they get attention.
• If some of your products are on sale, display them in an area that’s easy to access, for instance, a pop-up, sidebar, the home page, or menu bar (for mobile users).

Conclusion

By following these tips, you’ll set a healthy foundation for your website to receive more organic traffic. But remember, search engines won’t instantly rank your website up – it’s a lengthy process. It takes time for search engines to start ranking your website after they’re done crawling all over it and indexing it. Patience is key!