Your website serves as the face of your brand online. It needs to project professionalism and competence. But technical issues can undermine all your other efforts for SEO in Geelong. An under-performing website means losing business opportunities and falling behind the competition.
So what technical mistakes hurt your SEO rankings the most? How can you identify and fix them? This guide will answer all that and more! Let’s dive in.
Using a Generic Page Title
The page title tells search engines and visitors what your page is about. A custom, keyword-rich title improves click-through rates. But generic titles like “Welcome to my Website” don’t describe the page’s content well. As a result, search engines can’t effectively index and rank your pages.
How to fix it:
- Research to find relevant high-search-volume keywords
- Incorporate the primary keyword for every page in the page title
- Keep titles under 70 characters to avoid getting cut off in SERPs
Failing the Mobile Friendliness Test
Google has been prioritising mobile-friendly pages in rankings since 2015. Despite this, many websites still have poor mobile UX and fail the mobile-friendliness test. Your web design in Geelong needs fully responsive design and mobile-optimised content to rank well.
How to fix it:
- Test your site using Google’s mobile-friendliness tool
- Make sure text and buttons are large and taps don’t trigger other elements
- Eliminate horizontal scrolling/zooming or interstitials
- Optimise for faster speeds on mobile networks
Not Using HTTPS Protocol
Google has made it clear that HTTPS is a ranking signal. So not securing your website with SSL certification hurts visibility. Furthermore, HTTP sites generate browser errors about unsafe connections. This damages credibility regarding security and privacy.
How to fix it:
- Obtain an SSL certificate to make your site HTTPS
- Update old links/resources that use HTTP to redirect to HTTPS
- Ensure proper implementation without DNS errors or misconfigurations
- Enable HTTPS by default for new pages
Subpar Site Speed Performance
With an attention span of just 8 seconds, users expect lightning-fast site speeds. Unfortunately, over half of web design in Geelong take over 3 seconds to load on mobile. Poor page speed leads to high bounce rates which impact search visibility.
How to fix it:
- Use performance testing tools like Google PageSpeed Insights
- Compress images and enable browser caching
- Minify CSS/JS files and eliminate render-blocking resources
- Upgrade to faster web hosting/CDN
Thin or Low-Quality Content
Informative, useful content has better chances of getting featured in search results. But shallow, duplicate, or auto-generated content gets demoted by search algorithms. So publishing mass-produced or block-copied content harms rankings.
How to fix it:
- Perform in-depth keyword research for topic ideas
- Create detailed guides, listicles or how-tos for readers
- Get user-generated content like customer reviews
- Update old articles by adding fresh information
Improper HTML Markup
Search crawlers parse HTML tags/attributes to understand page content. Erroneous markup blocks this indexing process causing pages to underperform. It also leads to display issues negatively impacting user engagement.
How to fix it:
- Validate HTML pages using the W3C markup validator
- Properly structure markup using head and body hierarchy
- Use appropriate attributes for semantic HTML elements
- Improve accessibility with ARIA roles and microdata
Botched URL Structure
Search engines weigh URLs heavily when crawling and indexing web design in Geelong. Unintuitive, overly complex URLs hamper the process causing pages to disappear from SERPs. They also accumulate fewer backlinks due to lack of shareability.
How to fix it:
- Keep URLs short and keyword-rich using hyphens as separators
- Create a logical information architecture via URLs
- Set up 301 redirects for changed or old URLs
- Include target keywords but avoid excessive parameters
Missing XML Sitemaps
Sitemaps act as a guide helping search bots efficiently crawl your website. Without sitemaps, scrapers may miss out important pages leading to visibility issues. Dynamic sites and frequent content updates make them even more critical.
How to fix it:
- Create an XML sitemap covering all site pages/posts
- Update the sitemap frequently as new content gets added
- Include last updated timestamps for each URL
- Submit sitemaps to Search Console for indexing
Failing to Optimise Images
Images enhance visual storytelling for engaging visitors. But oversized, poorly optimised images slow down load times significantly. Without alt text descriptions, crawlers also struggle to grasp image context. This leads to lower rankings.
How to fix it:
- Use image optimisation tools to reduce file sizes
- Set width and height attributes for faster rendering
- Compress JPEG images to under 100kb, PNGs to under 500kb
- Add concise but descriptive alt text for every image
- Use keyword-rich file names denoting the image subject
- Include images in sitemaps along with other content
The Bottom Line
Your website is the gateway to the world for your business. But often overlooked technical issues can derail your success. By identifying and correcting them, you can unlock rapid SEO in Geelong wins driving traffic and revenue. The solutions only require some technical diligence without significant financial burdens. So dedicate resources towards running regular technical SEO audits to stay ahead in rankings.