Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has become one of the most important skills one can possess. This power tool helps you build a better reputation online and improve your website’s visibility. However, you may think that optimizing your website may be an effortless task and that you will have a better place on the internet if you put in a little work.
Although you should always strive to improve your web page, consider the factors influencing your optimization process. These requirements change every once in a while, and there is no definite guide to help you improve your website’s visibility.
However, we will present five general factors that will influence search engine ratings that aren’t likely to change soon.
1. Content Quality
Every search engine has advanced algorithms to detect quality content and push it to the top pages. If you want more traffic on your website, optimize your content first. The content should be relevant to the page, concise, grammatically correct, and coherent.
Moreover, the content on your page should be plagiarism-free. You shouldn’t copy content from other websites with a similar niche because the search engine may “punish” you and place your page on some of the further pages.
When creating content for your page, you should learn what can make your site stand out and what might be an issue. To improve your content, you should use backlinks that will lead to an eligible source where people can get informed about the topic. Avoid spammy backlinks from websites selling their products or services unless you are linking your website or have a partnership with another firm.
2. Website speed
You may have encountered websites where you cannot open pages properly or wait for the page to load. When you come across sites like this, you may feel discouraged from using them and may be bothered by the low speed.
If you want your website to appear at the top of every search engine, you should put in the time and work to make it as fast as possible. All your windows, products, and pages should load quickly, with no trouble. If you have a website, you can use some of the available speed-testing tools to see whether you should improve this factor.
Moreover, maintain your website and frequently check the traffic to remove any cache that may cause your website to slow down. Speeding up your website will lead to a better customer experience, thus creating a better reputation for your page.
3. Advertisements
The way you place your ads can significantly impact your online visibility. You may have seen websites with pop-up ads that take up the whole screen and found them irritable. This type of ad is called an intrusive interstitial, where the advertisement takes up the entire screen.
If you want to improve your SEO, you should remove intrusive interstitials – search engines can find them, as the name suggests, intrusive and distracting. People using the website won’t be able to see the content if an ad takes up the whole screen. Search engines will also “punish” such behavior and ban you from the top pages.
If you allow ads on your website, you should place them correctly. You can place your ads at the top of the screen or in the middle of the content to ensure better optimization. Ads shouldn’t be distracting to the audience.
4. Mobile version
A couple of years ago, major search engines, such as Google, decided to rank or assess websites from a mobile version first. How your website looks on a mobile device will influence your internet visibility. Thus, when creating your website, you should make it mobile-friendly.
However, you should ensure that your website looks good in mobile and desktop versions to provide a higher ranking. You cannot only make a website for a mobile device and expect it to have a high ranking.
We advise you to create a desktop version and adapt it to the mobile environment before you release it into the online wilderness. That way, you will ensure that everything works properly and contributes to your website’s ranking. You should also test your website before you let other people use it and see whether it is mobile-friendly.
5. User experience
Search engines will rate your website based on the user experience. This category includes both the visual and the practical aspects of your website. For example, you can create a visually pleasing homepage where the windows don’t work, and it will take some time to open any page.
On the other hand, you can create a website with exceptional speeds and functionality, but it isn’t visually attractive. Thus, you should combine these two when creating a website to provide the users with the best experience.
Moreover, make the navigation on your website as simple as possible so that everyone can easily find what they are looking for on your page. We advise you to test your site by, for example, creating a survey where people will rate how easy or difficult it was to use your website.
Conclusion
If you want to strive in the online environment, you may look for ways to build a better reputation for your website. You should deal with SEO if you wish for better internet visibility, and we have explained some factors that will influence search engine rankings. Your website should meet the requirements previously mentioned to climb to the top of the ladder.