Have you considered a seasonal tune-up for improved page ranking for your website on search engines in the Bay Area? If it has been a while since you’ve thought about your website and the various components of it, now would be a great time to make some much needed changes that could recharge your rankings. The following are some ideas you can use to breathe new life into a tired website.
- First and foremost, make sure your domain registration is still good. Some companies are so used to having their domain name that they don’t think about it expiring. Even if it isn’t close to the expiration date, renew it add as many years as you can. It would also be helpful to set a reminder to renew your domain as that date nears.
- Broken or poor quality links can be the bane of an otherwise great website. Google’s recent algorithm changes, fondly known as Penguin, focused on penalizing websites for poor quality or bad links. Take some time to verify the internal links on your website which help visitors navigate through your site. If you find links that are broken or no longer go where they should, fix them. If links to external sources are no longer valid, either remove them or find another page on the website to link to instead.
- Take advantage of Webmaster Tools. Major search engines like Google and Bing offer reports which highlight errors on your business website. Do what you can to clean up any errors – duplicate content, HTML code errors, not using meta tags properly, among others – so it will be easier for search engines to crawl as well as visitors to find what they are seeking.
- How long has it been since you updated the CMS on your website? Do you have plugins that are out of date? This task in itself can help improve your website on search engines because it can affect SEO, but that’s not the only reason to update. Updates may also include patches which help your website to run smoother or faster, as well as provide an opening for hackers to access your website.
- If you don’t already have them, and use social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter, add linking icons to your website for each social media page. While search engines won’t specify the importance of social media, it is obvious from the popularity of these networks that they are increasingly popular with users. Being active on social media platforms encourages users to share, tweet or like the content you provide as well as providing an excellent means of communicating with followers.
- How quickly does your website load? If you don’t know, you can find out by using a Page Speed Test tool. There are a variety of them available on online. You may be surprised at what the tool finds. One problem many websites have is that their images are too large. There are tools available online to optimize the images which will help speed things up.
- How often do you update the content on your website? If you want to improve the ranking of your website on search engines in the Bay Area, one of the quickest and easiest things you can do is develop a schedule for adding new content to your site and sticking to it. New content positions your company as experts, improves brand awareness and encourages readers and search engines to visit your site. Focus on developing awareness and trust in your company rather than simply talking about your products. Let visitors know how what you have to offer can benefit them.
Search engine optimization continues to be important, but have you reviewed SEO tools recently? Google and other search engines offer analytics tools, so be sure you take advantage of them. Review your keyword list. Are they still valid or have your products and services changed which would require new keyword research? If your current keywords are no longer valid, they could be hurting instead of helping your website on search engines in the Bay Area.