SEO Rule 1: Ensure safety
In the meantime, websites with SSL encryption have become a fixed standard, which must also be observed for the topic of search engine optimization. People also take this for granted. A site with an SSL certificate clearly says something about the site operator, namely that it has the security issue on its screen.
Google has confirmed HTTPS as a ranking signal and now Google Chrome even shows the following: “The connection to this website is not secure”. Would you trust such a website? I don’t think so. If you haven’t done so yet, make sure you switch to HTTPS sooner rather than later. By the way, Google sees it the same way and could punish your SEO efforts by downgrading your rankings and thus the organic visibility due to lack of security of your website.
SEO Rule 2: Optimize loading times
People don’t like to wait, search engines don’t either. Almost every user expects a fast loading page and is disappointed if this expectation is not fulfilled. And here, too, Google looks similar: Why waste valuable resources on slow pages? A slow website risks the success of your SEO work. Essentially, one should have the following points on the screen:
- Reducing HTTP Requests
- Reduce file sizes
- The correct sequence of resources
A first overview can be made with the Google “Mobile Website Speed Testing Tool”:
The beauty of this Google tool is that you get clear recommendations for action to make your site perform better.
Especially important: Take a close look at your competition. If your competitors have faster websites, they have a clear advantage when it comes to search engine optimization. You can find more information about faster websites here or here.
SEO rule 3: Optimize mobile display
How important the topic of “mobile” is in connection with SEO should be clear at the latest with the statement that Google is taking the step to “mobile first” and no longer wants to distinguish between the desktop index and mobile index.
Tool providers also follow suit and analyze a special visibility index for mobile devices. It is not yet clear when this will actually take place. However, one should be prepared for it, rather too early than too late. Also, the good old Pagespeed Insight is now called testmysite and looks like that:
Here are rules of thumb for good mobile usability and thus SEO basics:
- Fast loading time (once again)
- Recognizable font sizes
- “Sausage finger” operability
If you want to deal a little more with the topics mobile and usability besides search engine optimization, we recommend to have a look here in our blog.
SEO Rule 4: Make content accessible
People are supposed to find certain content, so make it as easy as possible for them. Also here search engines like Google want again exactly the same. Ensure a clean information architecture and a flat hierarchy of your website, because this will definitely have a positive effect on your SEO results. Practically, that means:
- Share content with search engines
- Make every content accessible with 3-4 clicks
As banal as this sounds, check whether your website is approved for search engines at all. Often it is enough to set only a small hook or to forget and already the page flies from the Google index. Keyword: noindex.
Great rankings are no easter eggs or accidents: they come about for reasons. A so-called “site query” at Google can help: The 77,000 results shown in this example correspond to the number of pages in the Google Index. If this number roughly deviates from the number of pages you have stored in your CMS or shop system, then you should go one step further and crawl your entire website. Crawling means using a tool to try to follow every single link on your site.
You can also use a crawl to find out the click depth of your website, i.e. how many clicks are required to reach your content. A very good and cheap tool (for websites under 500 pages even completely free) for crawling a website is the so-called “Screaming Frog SEO Spider”.
If you find that most of your content can be reached with more than 3-4 clicks on average, you should optimize your internal linking. A good example of internal linking with regard to SEO is a typical Wikipedia article that links to other important content within the same website:
A flat hierarchy as well as a well-structured information architecture through internal linking increases the chance of a successful search engine optimization and thus of happy visitors many times over.
