Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) has the potential to make or break your business’s online presence and there’s no doubting that Google is the overwhelming leader when it comes to online users’ search engine of choice. Google processes over 40,000 searches every second and importantly, a startling 75% of users will never scroll past the first page of results.
It’s clear that if your website isn’t ranking highly in Google results, you are missing out on the opportunity for hundreds, if not thousands of online users to engage with your brand and potentially convert into customers, donors, service-users or followers! It’s therefore integral to stay abreast of any changes to Google’s SEO policy to ensure your website isn’t missing out on exposure.
Most will be aware that factors such as content quality, content length, use of good links and even the age of your domain will all contribute to a website’s SEO ranking but Google is constantly evolving its ranking factors to ensure users receive the very best online experience.
So, what should you know about some of Google’s recent SEO announcements?
Your website must be mobile friendly.
In 2014, mobiles surpassed desktop devices in terms of the number of total global users. It’s probably no coincidence then that last April, Google announced that it would start using mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal, meaning when users search Google via their smartphones or tablets, websites with poor mobile compatibility will suffer in the rankings.
This means your website must have a responsive design to ensure the same content can be displayed differently across varied platforms. This should not only be a priority for SEO purposes, but also to ensure that people accessing your website can enjoy a user-friendly experience.
If you’re interested to find out whether your website is mobile friendly, Google has developed this helpful testing platform which will enable you to easily determine if your website makes the cut – try it out here!
Your website must be secure.
Google is now taking site security into account, meaning websites with SSL Certificates are more likely to rank highly in the search results. What does this mean? Your website server should be effectively ‘padlocked’ from end to end, keeping your website’s content secure. This is particularly important for websites with logins and purchase platforms.
If you’re interested in finding out other important factors contributing to a site’s SEO ranking, Search Engine Land has put together a useful ‘Periodic Table of SEO Success Factors’, which provides a relatively thorough examination of the topic!
With an in-house web design and development department, Brilliant Logic can work with you to design and build a website which is not only visually appealing and user-friendly, but also passes the all-important SEO ranking test. Contact us today to find out more about our web development expertise.
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