In the past, search engine optimisation specialists would put a lot of effort into ensuring that your website had as many links as possible, and that your site was peppered with all manner of keywords. This method was fine back then. It is not fine now. You see, Google has put an incredibly strong emphasis on ranking websites based upon user experience. On this page, we are going to take a little peek at a few of the ways in which the user experience can have an impact on how you appear in the search engines. Now, this is not to say that getting as many links, relevant links I hasten to add, back to your site is ‘out the window’. That is still something important, what we mean is that you also need to put a bit of effort into ensuring your website actually runs fine.

• Site speed is one of the biggest ranking factors. People get incredibly annoyed if a website does not load fast for them. Nowadays, even a website which takes a couple of seconds to load is a complete ‘no go’ for many people. Google recommends that your site loads in less than ten seconds. If it does not, you are not going to rank highly. This can normally be put down to poor web page coding, huge images or simply cheap hosting! We can help you fix all 3 of these problems!
• If you have too many adverts on your website, it is likely that you are going to receive a penalty in the search engine rankings. This is all down to an update that Google released in February 2014. You do not want adverts distracting your website visitors. Yes, Google understands that you need adverts. They are a company that makes a lot of money from them, after all. However, do not go overboard here. A couple on your page should be sufficient if you need more than that to make your website work for you? maybe things need to change.
• Perhaps the biggest impact in recent years is known as the ‘Panda update’. This update meant that website owners need to put a greater focus on the quality of content that they have on their website. This means absolutely no keyword stuffing. Nothing like that at all. When people carry out a search through Google, they need to know that the content they are getting is good. As a result, Google will give you a decent ranking if you have top notch content, not stuffed with keywords (you can use them naturally) and it has to be unique too. Basically, hire somebody to write your content, and pay them a decent wage, if your getting things done for peanuts? you can expect monkey business!
• You also need to have responsive design on your website i.e. your website needs to be able to be read on mobile devices. More searches than ever are being carried out on mobile devices nowadays. If your website does not look on them, you will not appear near the top. Thankfully, if you need your website redesigned to meet the latest standards in both responsive web design and search engine optimisation, you can always get in touch and let us guide you through the process

In simple terms
Ensure that the user experience is as good as possible. Your position in the search engines, providing you combine with external SEO, will rise up quite quickly. If you would like help improving your website user experience please get in touch using the form below, or give us a call on 01268 951 199