It’s not uncommon for a company’s website to be costing them customers and a higher ranking in the Google search results. That’s why, if your website is a few years old, it’s wise to invest some time in a website checkup. Here are four reasons why:
Reason #1: To Evaluate Usability
Visitors won’t stay long or return if a website that is difficult to navigate or confusing to use. This is also a bad sign in Google’s eyes. As a result, Google will rank your website lower in its search results.
Reason #2: To Review Content
Content that is thin and uninformative, outdated, redundant and/or inconsistent will cause visitors to exit your website. Google won’t be impressed either. Content is king to Google. Poor-quality content will leave Google no choice but to rank your website lower in the search results.
Reason #3: To Assess On-page SEO
Your website’s usability could be top-notch. Its content could be rich and informative but if you’re not following the Google-recommended best practices for on-page SEO (search engine optimization), your website will have a hard time showing up in the Google search results. In some cases it won’t show up at all.
Reason #4: To Confirm HTTPS
An SSL certificate adds the letters “https” to the beginning of your website’s URL and lets visitors know that your website is secure from shady characters who will try to steal passwords and credit card information.
Even if your website doesn’t have a password-protected area or require someone’s credit card information, it should still become an “https” website. Here are the two reasons why:
Ranking on Google: “https” is another factor Google considers when ranking websites. If your website’s content is as good as a competitor’s, but they have the “https” designation, they will most likely rank higher than you in the search results.
Customer Trust: “https” is a trust signal. Most website browsers will indicate when a website doesn’t have an SSL certificate. For example, on Google Chrome the words “not secure” are displayed before a website’s url.
Interested in conducting a checkup of your website? Contact Mike Friskney at Tap-In Marketing.
Photo Credit: wuestenigel
