Tips for Updating Your Website without Killing Your Rankings
Whether you offer a product or service, having a well designed, organized and functional website is instrumental for success in our technology-driven world. Unfortunately, many businesses shy away from making the necessary updates to their websites because they are afraid they will lose their prominent position in current search engine rankings.
As a San Diego SEO company with more than a decade of experience, we can tell you that this is one of the worst things a business can do! And with Google placing more emphasis on user experience in their ranking algorithm, a poorly designed website could actually hurt your rankings in the long run. Knowing that it’s always better to do things the right way, we’re offering some insider tips as to how you can update your website without killing your rankings.
Website Design
Review your website design and be honest about it’s ease of use. Would users be able to quickly identify the products or services that you offer? Are there clear navigation labels that can direct the user to pages of interest? Are you using vibrant (and professional) pictures and a consistent color scheme that is aesthetically appealing? These things all play a part in user experience and can help to keep a user engaged and browsing the pages of your website. As a result, Google will find your website more relevant and is more likely to allow you to keep your high ranking position in search results. Click here for more information about website design and development and the ever increasing need for responsive websites!
URL Structure
The URLs of your website should accurately and concisely describe what is on the page. The cleaner the URL structure, the easier it is to navigate for both customers and Google crawlers. As many SEOs know, using words to describe product pages and services are always better than numbers. For instance “www.website.com/product/holiday-sweater-red” is always going to be a better option than “www.website.com/product/H1-1253-3350”.
If you are changing your URLs to better reflect your products or services, just be sure to redirect your old URLs to your new URLs. You don’t want cached URLs of your website to show up in Google search results that lead to broken or missing pages. This will most definitely have a negative impact on your rankings.
Content
Content is king in today’s SEO world so make sure that your content is relevant to the user. Gone are the days when keyword stuffing would allow websites to attain and maintain high rankings. Even if you have a high-ranking page that is overflowing with keywords, take the time to revise the content. If you use relevant terminology, keyword synonyms, and information that would be helpful to the user, Google will reward you. Also, don’t be afraid to take this time to add MORE content to your website. Adding a blog is a great way to do this, and will provide Google with more content to cache, better increasing your chances for positive rankings.
For more tips on how to maximize search engine optimization and increase your online visibility, reach out to Saba, Inc. We are a full-service internet marketing company in San Diego that offers SEO, PCC, web design and development and mobile app development. Call us at 828-277-1717 and find out how we can help you increase your rankings today!
