Technology moves quickly and the same applies to search engines. Every year there are new updates released to make the largest search engines smarter and more intelligent. With that in mind, each year little things change and website owners should be aware of these so they can make the proper changes to their website so rankings do not get effected. Remember, many of the tactics that worked four or five years ago no longer work today because the algorithms have greatly improved and are much more sharp. Thankfully, companies like Google make all of these changes available to the public and you don’t need to pay an SEO specialist thousands of dollars in order to adapt them. Listed below are 4 of the best tips you should keep in mind when optimizing your website in 2019. Most of these tips you can do yourself while creating content, or simple instruct your content department to keep in mind when they’re creating new content.
1. Google Search Console – If you’re not already using the Google Search Console then I highly recommend you go here and signup immediately. The search console gets hooked up to your Google account which should be the same account you have things like Google Analytics attached to. What does the search console do? It’s a free tool that allows you to monitor and maintain your website’s presence in Google. All that’s required to setup the search console is a sitemap for your website and the tool does exactly as described – Provides tons of helpful information about your site (such as where it’s ranked) inside of Google Search. The tool can help you make sure pages are indexed and give you an idea of how many views and clicks certain pages are getting for different keyphrases.
2. Optimize Your Website For Mobile – You shouldn’t be surprised to hear this one. Mobile devices are becoming more and more common today and if your website isn’t adapting to it you’ll be missing out. Search engines are smart enough to know whether your website is mobile-friendly or not and if it isn’t, you’ll be losing traffic because of it. Various reports have shown that as much as 50% of all web traffic now originates from mobile devices. That’s one reason you need to make sure you website is fully optimized for mobile traffic. Those using WordPress themes should ensure any theme they used is mobile responsive before installing it. Keep other things in mind when optimizing for mobile as well. Do all website assets load properly? Is readability and usability manageable? Mobile optimization has become one of the most important factors that Google’s algorithm now takes into consideration.
3. Maximize Social Media Use – Everyone is on social media these days and the search engines know that. Not only can social media be an excellent way to market and promote your website, it can also be a great way to increase the number of backlinks going into your website as well. Since most internet users are on social media these days, not showing up there will sometimes throw potential customers off. However, by utilizing social media websites you could be aiding your SEO efforts without even realizing it. Websites like Pinterest and Coub offer DoFollow backlinks from user profiles and that means simply signing up and setting up a profile is going to create incoming links to your website which will help with SEO.
4. Page Speed – The speed in which pages load on your website is something that’s been important for the last few years now, as mobile usage has increased. However, it’s more important now than ever before with internet access expanding to more and more countries around the world. Users have short attention spans and mobile signals can be as strong as 5G in some areas and as weak as 3G in others. With that in mind, having a website that loads quickly on all types of devices will ensure you’re customers will have quicker access to your content while also keeping Google happy. Search engines have the ability to test and check page load speeds and if you don’t think this is built into their algorithm you’d be wrong. Pay for better hosting if it’s required, but always make sure your website is loading as quickly as possible!
