Search engine optimization or SEO is used by large and small companies to increase traffic and on-site conversions. The stakes are high as Google AdWords and Bing Ads are gaining more and more real estate on the search results page, pushing organic ads down. To get traffic, your SEO campaign must shoot all the cylinders.
But here are 3 common problems that we sometimes encounter during an SEO audit that could be detrimental to your SEO efforts despite all your efforts on keywords and link building.
1. Bad speed of the page
First, the failure of the speed of the page. Google makes it pretty obvious that page loading time is important by providing tools that allow webmasters to test speed, for example
https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/?url=www.albaseoservices.co.uk
There are also some other useful tools to consult:
https://gtmetrix.com/
https://tools.pingdom.com/
https://developers.google.com/web/tools/lighthouse/#devtools that you can run on a URL to perform a performance audit.
If you find that the speed of your page is bad, what can you do? It's time to call your developer and web host:
- Can your developer integrate some optimizations when loading?
- Can the images be optimized?
- On the hosting side, are you at the base level of the server competing with hundreds of other websites for the resource?
These are things that can be solved but will probably cost you some money in development time and better hosting packages. But it might just be worth it. Google announced that from July 2018 the speed of the mobile page is going to be a ranking factor. Their research indicates that as the page loading time goes from 1 second to 3 seconds, the probability of rebound increases by 32%. In 5 seconds, the probability increases to a whopping 90%.
Think about it. Your website loses almost all of its mobile traffic. Is it worth spending money to keep those customers – and boost your rankings?
2. Failed to switch to HTTPS protocol
HTTPS is the secure version of HTTP, the protocol on which data is transferred between your browser and the website you are viewing. This means that all the data you send is secure and encrypted. Google announced that from July 2018, all sites still on HTTP when they are switched to chrome will display a warning about the site's security. This may mean that some of your customers are not visiting your website for fear. This is not good. We also already know that HTTPS is a known ranking signal. Switching to HTTPS is now a priority for all website owners who care about their traffic.
3. Believe that social media is useless
Google (or its employees anyway) has always said that social cues are not a direct ranking factor. So for many business owners, this information can make them happy that they have not wasted their time. In fact, recently, Wetherspoons announced that she was leaving all social media because it was not essential to their business. False. Social cues may not be part of Google's algorithm, but they help tremendously SEO and your traffic. JD Wetherspoons may not need to rely as much on Google as a small company whose brand is unknown.
- Social media provides a way to boost your new content – whether it's a blog, a press release or new photos of a job you have completed. This can drive traffic to your website. Siding solely on organic traffic is risky because your website can do a dive as a result of an algorithmic update and you could lose everything. It is best to have a mix of traffic from different channels.
- Shares and Likes can give Google a boost to find your content and index it, which means it can be discovered online and route traffic to your website.
- Social media will boost your brand ratings and make Google believe that your brand deserves to be associated with a particular service or product.
None of these things are visible. Your website will still be visible in Google and Bing. But that means you do not crush as much ranking power as you could by ignoring them. What do you think?