A well run website can be the best generator for subscribers to email marketing lists. It is nothing without visitors though and Google SEO rankings are of concern to us all. Websites need constant care and fettling but it is not something to be passed to IT and forgotten. It is a responsibility of all staff.
It should be remembered that Google wants to present the websites that the searchers are looking for. If they do not, there are plenty of alternative search engines out there. The way to increase your rankings is to cooperate with them.
We all know that keywords are important to Google and this means that everyone uses them. In order to gain an advantage we need to go one better. Google are helpful here, as always, and provide all the information you require.
What your visitor wants from your website is almost identical to what Google wants. For instance, mobile friendly sites are preferred to those that are not. Visitors want your website to load quickly, to have easy navigation together with quality content. As Google are suggesting in their listings that your site is worth visiting, they want all of the above as well. That will ensure that their customers return to them for the next search.
Think about search from Google’s point of view: they didn’t create the webpage themselves, but they are endorsing it. They need to ensure that users have a good experience on that page to keep people coming back to Google.
To improve your website’s user experience, you’ll want to focus on things like page load time, bounce rate, time on page, page views per visit, and whether or not a person scrolls down the page.
So use Google friendly alt tags and meta descriptions, place keywords but not too generously. It’s what we do on this site. This alone is not enough though. Your number one goal should be to create quality content that people can easily digest and enjoy. If you do you will satisfy the search engine’s ranking algorithms, helping your content to organically rise to the top.
Treat Google as an ally, not as something to beat.
