The health of your website is linked to your search rankings. For this reason, it is very important to ensure that your website health is in good order. There are a few things you can do to make sure that this is the case.
There is a free tool available from Google called Test my Site which allows you to test your website speed. Website loading speed is now a ranking factor and as 60% of searches are now from mobile devices it should be a priority to ensure that your site is fast!
When linking internally on your website it is vital to avoid errors, such as 4xx errors. A 4xx errors, commonly a 404 error, is generated when a page is not found. 404 errors most commonly occur when website content has been removed or moved to another URL.
You should make sure that users are not clicking on a link that leads to a 404. This can increase bounce rate and provides a poor user experience.
Sometimes it is necessary to redirect a page to avoid a 4xx error. When this is done it is important to implement the right type of redirect.
301 redirect – search engines are notified of a permanent address change with the 301 redirect. The value of inbound links will be transferred to the new site/page
302 redirect – used when a site must be temporarily redirected. Search engines will anticipate the site address being active again. Inbound links will continue to point to the temporarily redirected page.
Redirects should be avoided unless it is necessary to do so. To implement a redirect, you need to access your .htaccess file or plugins are available for Content Management Systems (CMS’) such as WordPress.
Is your website over http or https? If your website is currently over http then it is being marked as ‘not secure’ by web browsers such as Google Chrome. http websites do not scramble the data that you enter into a website whereas https websites will make sure your data is encrypted to keep it safe from potential hackers. The ‘s’ in https stands for secure.
Think about the implications of your website being flagged as not secure. This could lead to potential customers leaving your site because it has been flagged as ‘not secure’, which could subsequently lead to a loss of sales.
In addition to user experience, whether your website is over https or not is a ranking factor in Google search results, meaning that if your website is not over https and your competitors are, then they could rank above you.
So, make sure your website is over https by implementing an SSL certificate. The Innovation Visual team have carried out a number of successful SSL certificate implementations, so speak to our team if your website is currently over http.
This article reveals some great starting points for making sure your website is in good health. Test your website speed, improve internal link and make sure your website is over https.
If you would like to find out more about implementing the fixes mentioned in this article, then please speak to our team.