Are you looking to improve the SEO of your website, but aren’t really sure where to start? Did you start to implement some SEO years ago, but now it’s a bit outdated? It might be time to undergo an SEO clean-up.
Before you undergo the SEO clean-up, it is best to understand exactly what SEO is and know what you should be including in your SEO clean-up strategy.
What is SEO?
SEO stands for search engine optimisation. This is an area of digital marketing that focuses on increasing your rankings on search engines. By doing this, you will increase traffic flow through to your website, and increase leads or sales.
Unlike paid advertising or Google ads, the results of SEO aren’t seen overnight. SEO services in Brisbane is a long-term investment. However, the investment is worth it when you are ranking on page one of search engine results.
If you’re not a digital marketer, you may find your SEO will get neglected and won’t be consistently updated. This means you may find your website will go from being optimised to being outdated.
This is where an SEO clean-up strategy comes in.
So how do you start an SEO clean-up, and what do you have to do?
Audit your website
Before undergoing the SEO clean-up of your website, you need to undergo an audit of your website. This will allow you to look at what actually needs to be cleaned up and create a plan. Once you have undertaken this initial audit, you can begin your clean up.
1. Website structure
Make sure your website is structured properly. A well-structured website can help to improve your rankings on search engines.
You need to review your:
- Menu: is your menu easy to navigate? Do users know exactly what they need to click?
- Content: is the content written well? Is there enough content on each page? Do you have a keyword that you are targeting on each page?
- Call to action: is there an easy user flow on your website? Do the users know what buttons they have to press on which page?
2. Optimise images
Your on-site optimisation isn’t just about content – images also need to be optimised. If your website is not visually appealing, you may risk losing potential customers. People may leave your website before taking any action, which will negatively affect your bounce rate.
You will need to make sure your images are properly compressed. Images that are too large and not compressed can cause the website to have a slower load speed. A slow page speed will also cause people to leave your website before it loads, which will negatively impact your SEO.
You also need to make sure your images all include alt text. Not only can you incorporate your keywords into the alt text, but it also helps to improve your SEO. Alt text is important, as search engine crawlers cannot view images; they rely on the alt text to know what the image is of, and if it is relevant to the page it is on. Furthermore, the alt text will appear if the image cannot be shown, and people will be able to read the alt text. Those who are visually impaired also use the alt text while visiting websites.
3. Backlinks
Backlinks are links that appear on other websites and are linked to pages on your website. If the other website has a high domain authority, this can help to improve your traffic flow and your own domain authority.
However, if the link is considered bad, this can be detrimental to your SEO efforts. Make sure you do not have any links pointing to your website that could be considered spammy or in breach of Google’s guidelines.
If you notice you have spammy links pointing to your website – don’t worry! You can disavow these links using the Google Disavow Tool.
It sounds like a complicated process, but it is fairly straightforward.
To disavow backlinks, simply:
- Select which backlinks you wish to disavow
- Create a list of links you wish to disavow
- Upload this list as a .txt file to the Google Disavow Tool
4. Links on your own website
You also need to review the links on your own website.
Make sure that none of the links on your website are broken – this means they will be going to a 404 error page. If you find any broken links, make sure to remove the link, or change the link to a page that is not broken.
5. Meta titles and descriptions
Make sure that all of your meta titles and descriptions are up to date. Make sure that you do not have any duplicate content – each title and description need to be unique in order to help improve your rankings.
You can use tools such as Screaming Frog SEO Spider Website Crawler which will allow you to download all of the pages on your website, as well as the meta titles and descriptions. This will easily allow you to view all of the descriptions and identify if there are any issues.
Once you have undertaken your clean up, make sure that you use tools to ensure there are no longer problems. There is no point undertaking a clean up if it actually hasn’t done the full job. You can use SEO tools such as SEMrush or Ahrefs to identify any errors with your website.
Remember – you need to make your SEO clean-up a regular occurrence. Undergoing this process monthly will make sure your website has the best possible chances of converting a viewer into a customer.
Need help with your SEO? Contact Patch Agency’s digital marketing experts in Brisbane today.
