By Dave McAnally Courtesy of IMEDIA CONNECTION.
- If a site has a transactional goal then that should be apparent from the onset
- If you aren’t reflecting the goals and purpose of your site (especially in a highly competitive search result), you’re losing out to those that do
- Just because a website has a good ranking doesn’t necessarily mean it will generate a click, deliver engagement, or produce a sale
Getting high rankings on competitive keyword terms is a large part of what search engine optimization (SEO
) aims to accomplish. However, just because a website has a good ranking doesn’t necessarily mean it will generate a click, deliver engagement, or produce a sale.
Unfortunately, there are many simple things that are either overlooked or just not considered that ultimately serve as a detriment to otherwise very solid SEO initiatives.
The following are 10 common issues that seem to arise when companies are optimizing their websites.
Stay informed. To learn more about improving your brand’s search initiatives, attend the iMedia Brand Summit, Sept. 11-15. Request your invitation today.
1. Treating social media as an independent exercise
Your audience is going to spend three times as much time on Facebook as it does on Google. Social media (particularly Facebook) cannot be abandoned or left alone in a world with real-time search results. You know who thinks social media must be optimized for search? Google, that’s who. So does Bing. Activity on your Facebook page will translate directly to more page real estate in search results for your brand. With Open Graph, you almost have to go out of your way to silo these practices, so why not align your digital activity with how your users spend their time online?
In this case, Specialized has more than 18,000 fans on Facebook but no updates to its Fan Page in more than four months. As a result, other websites related to the keyword “Specialized” are getting page one real estate on Google when the brand, Specialized, could be capturing multiple positions.
2. Too broad of a navigation palette syndrome (TBNPS)
Getting that coveted No.1 spot for a competitive term is one thing, but getting the full click-through rate value of that listing is another. Look at this site:
Auto Parts Warehouse actually ranks No. 1 on Google for “Auto Parts.” But while other websites on this results page feature site links (separate links to interior pages presented in the listing above the main site), Auto Parts Warehouse does not. And every bit of real estate on page one matters. The problem here is that, according to my spider, there are 651 links on the homepage. At Resolution Media, we generally discourage more than 100 links for an entire sitemap, let alone your homepage. No wonder search engines aren’t identifying key access points on this site!
Granted, there’s no silver bullet in this regard, but sorting the homepage by brand, product type, and year, and having sub-navigation therein, could create a much more powerful and enticing user experience right in the search result.
3. Fail to plan (and plan to fail) for traffic fluctuation
So let’s say you crack the first page for a high volume query. Your title is enticing, your description reads like a dream, and the URL even has some keywords in it. Everything lines up to drive the maximum click-through rate. But what happens if it works so well that Google starts sending more traffic to your site than the site is equipped to handle? I’m talking about the network stability. What can happen is something like this:
The highlighted area in this chart represents a brand’s launch in five new markets with offline marketing for the site and an aggressive paid search campaign. A tax on your server/network can slow down your site, which limits its search optimization capabilities because page load times impact rank (on Google). Additionally, you’re seriously hindering the experience for users on Smartphones or mobile devices who may not have the luxury of a WiFi connection.
I’ve always advocated for keeping IT/Server Admins in the loop with your traffic forecasts. The more they know about the potential SEO volume, the better they can ensure the site is properly load-balanced, the CMS isn’t overly taxing, and the network connectivity is equipped to accommodate both users and search engine spiders.
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