By Mari Rogers
It's a common issue that many working in the search engine optimization (SEO) industry have dealt with: customers who don't realize the value of a well-crafted website.
"I know I should have a better website," they'll say, "But right now, I'm more concerned about getting traffic to it." The issue here is not understanding that, quite frequently, the two concepts are linked to each other. For this reason, Semify uses an Onsite Report to deliver feedback on client website performance.
The quality of a website impacts search traffic and SEO in several key ways. First, Google algorithms rely on many factors to determine search ranking. Some of what it judges is the website itself. Google can tell if the content is quality, original, and fresh. A barrage of dead links on a page you haven't updated for five years, for example, isn't something Google will want to promote. Similarly, if your product descriptions are copy/pasted straight from a manufacturer, this is going to downgrade you in potential rankings.
Having a quality website also matters because, quite simply, it's something consumers care about. Websites not designed with the consumer in mind have high bounce rates—this is when the visitor leaves without doing anything, like completing a purchase or requesting more information.
Some of the top factors influencing bounce rate include the purpose of the page, whether or not there are ads on the page, how often the relevant audience lands on the page (if you rank high for irrelevant keywords, for example, you'll have a higher bounce rate), and loading time. In fact, 40% of visitors will abandon a website if it takes more than three seconds to load.
For these reasons, Semify issues a series of recommendations in the form of the Onsite Report. This way, the clicks that clients receive don't just go to waste because of easily fixable website issues.