Do you want to improve your organic search results? Do you want to show up when someone does a local search for your company on Long Island?
If you answer yes to these questions, then there are some important SEO factors you need for your website.
Googles standards change so often, that it is difficult to keep up. However, there are some basic concepts that we here at SEO Long Island can help you stay on top of.
1. SEO Requires High-Quality Content
High-quality content might be a mystery to some. There are many opinions as to what makes your website content “high-quality.” However, it is best to stick with Goggle’s standards, even if it means changing your regular content-writing routine.
Regular blogging to your website is a great way to continuously add new, fresh content. The problem that we see companies run into is being able to keep their blogs interesting, as well as making them long enough.
While running your business day to day, high-quality content tends to be an obvious factor that is often overlooked.
2. Website Speed Improves SEO
An online presence is important. But having a FAST online presence is even more important.
One reason website speed is important is that internet users have a very short attention span. They want to find what they need quickly. If your website fails to load or the images don’t show up correctly, they will navigate away from your page and towards your competition.
Another reason is that Google prefers speedy websites. Websites that pass the Google PageSpeed Insights are treated as websites that not only have a great user experience, but are also healthy websites. This health grade is determined by clean coding and optimized images or other files.
3. Mobile-Friendly is a Must
When we say mobile-friendly, we don’t just mean mobile responsive. Mobile responsive web development became a hot topic during Google’s “Mobilegeddon” update. Many companies panicked and had their webmasters make their website mobile responsive.
However, this panic made for some sloppy websites. Your website may scale to the device size, but how does is render? If it is not clear and easy to use, this will affect your SEO.
When a site is not user-friendly, they will navigate away from your page and thereby increasing your bounce rate. Bounce rate is a signal that tells Google how useful, relevant, and the overall interaction user has with your website.
4. Social Media Signals are Important
Although Google hasn’t officially added social signals into their algorithm, there is an obvious correlation. When your content is shared, liked, tweeted, and engaged with, it will boost your site visits. When there are more visitors on your site or increased traffic to a particular page, Google will see this content as valuable.
Furthermore, when you have a social media presence, it shows a user that you are an active and involved company. Social media pages that are updated regularly, have a good amount of followers, and also have customer reviews will show potential customers that you care about your business and customer service.
5. How Is Just as Important as Where You Show Up
Showing up in the first 5 spots in Google is important. But did you ever look at how you show up?
The title and the description below are important signals that help a person decide which link to click on. These are called the “meta title” and “meta description.” This part of the snippet you can (and should) set on all your pages. This is often overlooked by businesses or is not done well enough.
Conclusion
This is just a short list of facts and factors that will affect your websites SEO. While these may seem like small things, they can actually make or break your website visibility.
As SEO experts, we have researched and implemented these facts for many companies across Long Island. Companies that want to stay competitive and relevant in the web world will need to stay up to date with the ever growing factors that affect organic search results.
