{"id":4009,"date":"2020-05-29T12:00:59","date_gmt":"2020-05-29T12:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpmudev.whitespark.ca\/website-optimization\/"},"modified":"2024-10-28T16:05:16","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T22:05:16","slug":"website-optimization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/blog\/website-optimization\/","title":{"rendered":"Which elements of my website should I improve to increase local rankings?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It&#8217;s shocking how many small business websites don&#8217;t even have the basics in place for website optimization. How often have you seen a website homepage title tag that is just &#8220;Home&#8221;? Are they trying to rank for &#8220;Home&#8221;? Probably not.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Performing a quick audit of the most critical elements of your website can uncover missed optimization opportunities, and improve your site\u2019s ability to rank in both the local pack and organic results.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For our <a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/google-my-business-management-service\/\">Google My Business Management Service<\/a> clients, we focus our website audit on these core areas:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Title tags<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Homepage content<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Product and service landing page content<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Site speed<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Inspect and Update Your Title Tags<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/blog\/a-beginners-guide-to-technical-seo-for-local-businesses-part-1\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The page title is one of the most keyword sensitive areas of a web page<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and is the #1 most important on-page element to optimize for rankings. If you want to show up in local results for your targeted keywords, you need to ensure that your page titles (title tags) on your homepage and product\/service landing pages incorporate the <\/span><b>keyword + city name<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Start by drilling down to the main keywords you would like to target. Here\u2019s our simple and effective process for creating your keyword list:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Go through your website and list your main services and products. Note your homepage and product\/service landing pages\u2019 current title tags and target keywords. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Find out how customers are already searching for your business and which queries your site is already ranking for. To do this, go to <a href=\"https:\/\/search.google.com\/search-console\/welcome?hl=en\">Google Search Console<\/a>: Search Queries and look at your Historical Query results. In Google My Business: Insights, look at your Queries.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Get national search volume for your broad keywords (i.e. \u201cplumbers\u201d not \u201cSeattle plumbers\u201d) by running your list through<a href=\"https:\/\/ads.google.com\/home\/tools\/keyword-planner\/\"> Google Ads Keyword Planner<\/a>. The national search volume will help give you a sense of local search volume, at least in terms of what keywords are most searched.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Add any good keywords suggested by Keyword Planner that aren\u2019t already on your list.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Assign and reassign keywords to your website pages. If you don\u2019t have an existing page that works with some keywords, create new pages targeting those terms.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Build a list of &#8220;content ideas&#8221; for the terms you weren&#8217;t able to assign to the main pages of your website. These could be blog posts or resources later.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Further resources if you want to take your keyword research efforts to the next level<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Will Scott of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.searchinfluence.com\/\">Search Influence<\/a> recommends that you take your keywords to the next level with semantic topic research. Doing this can improve your ability to rank for the anchor topic, and for a larger set of search queries. Check out his thoughts on semantic keyword research outline from his presentation at thisw <a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/blog\/tips-tricks-localu-advanced-workshop-santa-monica\/\">LocalU Advanced Workshop<\/a>. It is a great reference material for when you have more time to dig deeper into semantic topic research.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This <a href=\"https:\/\/moz.com\/blog\/can-seos-stop-worrying-keywords-focus-topics-whiteboard-friday\">Whiteboard Friday episode<\/a> also goes into more detail on how to expand your keywords into targeting topics.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Optimize your page titles using your keyword list<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now that you have created your ultimate keyword list, use this data to make an informed decision on what pages should target which terms. One of the most common errors we see when it comes to title tag optimization or rather lack there of, is businesses not removing the default &#8211; home &#8211; page title. This is both a missed opportunity and a sad sight to witness in search results.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-65390\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Title-Tag-Example.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"65\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Don&#8217;t do the above! Here\u2019s a very helpful chart of <strong>page title formulas for local businesses<\/strong>, created by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pigzilla.co\/\">Dani Owens<\/a>, that we recommend you use for your homepage and main service and product pages. When it comes to your homepage title tag, it\u2019s a good practice to incorporate your Primary Category from your GMB profile into the title tag.<\/span>==<b>Pro Tips<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you\u2019re using WordPress consider adding the free <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yoast SEO plugin<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> so you can seamlessly edit your page titles. For SquareSpace sites check out this <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/kickpoint.ca\/how-to-change-title-tags-and-meta-descriptions-in-squarespace\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">guide from KickPoint<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on how to change your title tags, and for Shopify sites, check out <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitaldarts.com.au\/shopify-seo-title-tags-meta-descriptions\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">this article<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Refresh Your Homepage Content<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/blog\/tips-tricks-localu-advanced-workshop-santa-monica\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stop under-utilizing your homepage<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">! Site visitors often land on the homepage and what they see will impact their first impression. When reviewing your existing content, does it answer the following questions?<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What is your website about?\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What does your business do?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How are you different from the competition? What is your company\u2019s value proposition?\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What is your main product or service?\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What problems are you solving?\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Does your company have a tagline, slogan, or mission statement?\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When was your business established?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How long has your business operated in the community?\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Your homepage content should answer the above questions, appeal to your ideal customer, and tell\/show them why your business can solve their problem. In most situations, your homepage is the ideal website URL to link to from your Google My Business listing. It&#8217;s important that the page your GMB listing links to contains your top keywords and related content. <b><i>This can improve your listing\u2019s ability to rank in the local pack<\/i><\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Other elements to consider incorporating on your homepage:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Headers (H1, H2, H3..) and sub-headlines throughout the content make it easy for visitors to scan the page and find what they\u2019re looking for.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Links to your main service\/product landing pages help visitors navigate to the information they need.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unique visual media, including images and videos, such as photos of your staff, your business, and your products and services. This media should showcase your business, try to avoid stock photos.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Customer testimonials, link out to any case studies, any other social proof.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Easy to use menu.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Footer that includes contact information, hours, and links to social sites.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.broadmeadphysiotherapy.com\/\">Broadmead Orthopaedic Physiotherapy Clinic<\/a> is a fantastic example of how to optimize your homepage content.<\/span><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Example-of-homepage-content.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"\" height=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Improve Product &amp; Service Landing Page Content<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Your product and service landing pages deserve the same attention you just gave your homepage.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Elements to incorporate on your landing page:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Showcase photos of products or services, and include before and after images where applicable.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Add reviews and testimonials specific to that product or service. This also is a way to include unique user-generated content.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Include additional trust signals that are relevant to your business to encourage site visitors to become customers:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Product or service guarantees. Give customers peace of mind about the investment they are making in your company.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Share any associations or business memberships that you are part of. This can be anything from your local communications business association, specific industry related associations, or even meet-up groups.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">News and mentions. Have you been featured in a local newspaper or magazine for your specific product or service? Share this with your visitors!\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pringlelaw.ca\/practices\/impaired-driving\/\">Here&#8217;s an example of a service landing page<\/a> that takes content and topic to a very in-depth level.<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Service-Landing-Page-Example-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"\" height=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Optimize Site Speed<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A slow site will hurt your rankings and your conversions.\u00a0You need to optimize your site to load fast for Googlebot and visitors, especially for mobile visitors. Mobile devices can have a slower download speed compared to desktop and this can translate to a slow website being even slower when visited on a mobile device. Google recently updated the factors for <a href=\"https:\/\/web.dev\/lighthouse-whats-new-6.0\/\">how they measure and score site speed<\/a>, and this will continue to evolve over time as well, which is another reason to keep informed on site speed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThe average bounce rate for pages loading within 2 seconds is 9%. As soon as the page load time surpasses 3 seconds, the bounce rate soars, to 38% by the time it hits 5 seconds!\u201d\u00a0This will also have a negative effect on conversion rates.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/royal.pingdom.com\/page-load-time-really-affect-bounce-rate\/\">Source: Royal Pingdom<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Start by checking how fast your current site is by using <a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/speed\/pagespeed\/insights\">PageSpeed Insights<\/a><\/span>and <a href=\"https:\/\/gtmetrix.com\/\">GTMetrix<\/a>. These tools will give you actionable lists to improve your site speed, which you can share with your web developer. Here are some common recommendations:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Increase your site speed by compressing your<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/web.dev\/uses-optimized-images\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> images<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (learn more on <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/web.dev\/fast\/#optimize-your-images\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">how to optimize your images<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gnu.org\/software\/gzip\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">text<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> while maintaining their visual quality.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Review your current website hosting company. Did you cut costs by going with the cheapest provider? This could mean your site is on a slower server.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reduce file sizes and load files by incorporating plugins to your WordPress site. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/kylemfaber.com\/website-performance\/speed-up-wordpress\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here\u2019s an awesome guide to making your WP site faster<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Implement HTTP-caching methods to improve page load times for returning visitors.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cPage speed is one of the most overlooked and yet most important factors in customer attention, retention, and ultimately, converting browsers to buyers. Ensuring that you\u2019re taking measures to increase page speed or reduce lag can be the difference between failure and success.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Krista Seiden &#8211;\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Analytics Advocate, Google (<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/unbounce.com\/page-speed-report\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">source<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>More resources to get your site up to speed<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Download Dani Owen\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/3lj2u1keh5v3kanri461tjcc-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Whitespark_-A-Beginner%E2%80%99s-Guide-to-Technical-SEO-For-Local-Businesses.pdf\">Beginner\u2019s Guide to Technical SEO For Local Businesses<\/a>.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you use a WordPress site, check out Kyle Faber&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/kylemfaber.com\/website-performance\/speed-up-wordpress\">5 Ways to Make WordPress Faster<\/a>.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For the tech savvy DIY-er don&#8217;t miss Ahrefs <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/advanced-pagespeed-guide\/\">How to Improve Page Speed from Start to Finish [Advanced Guide]<\/a>.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Bonus Optimization Tip: Ensure Critical Business Information is Published and Current<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now more than ever, due to COVID-19 customers want to be informed about what\u2019s happening at your business. Are your doors open to customers? Are you operating at reduced hours? What safety measures are in place? How are you supporting your customers at this time? Use your website\u2019s most visited pages, such as your homepage and contact page, to share these important details. While sharing critical updates does not directly impact your local visibility, it impacts customer experience, your business&#8217; reputation and can establish trust with future and current customers.\u00a0<\/span><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Target-Critical-Information-Example.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"\" height=\"\" \/><strong>Optimization opportunities not to miss out on<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/blog\/covid-19-special-announcement-schema-markup-for-local-businesses\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Add a special COVID-19 announcement<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> update by using structured data specifically created for this purpose.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Keep your <a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/blog\/whitesparks-guide-to-optimizing-google-my-business\/\">GMB listing optimized<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/blog\/keeping-gmb-accurate-during-covid19-pandemic\/\">share updates with clients<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/google-my-business-management-service\/\"><strong>get our GMB experts to manage your Google listing and do the work for you<\/strong><\/a>! With our Google My Business Management Service, we will even perform a mini local audit of your website and help you find ways to increase your local rankings.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google has a <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/services.google.com\/fh\/files\/helpcenter\/retail-playbook.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Retail Playbook<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that provides additional onsite recommendations for communicating updates, managing emerging needs, traffic, and more. If you have more time to invest in updating your website, check out this resource for more ideas.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For many local businesses facing COVID-19, their websites have become their storefronts. With ongoing closures, restrictions, and major changes to operations, some businesses are unable to open their doors right now and are pivoting their business to offer curbside pickup, delivery services and online stores<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0 Having an accessible website that ranks locally can help your business weather the storm. If you\u2019ve been putting off reviewing your website for opportunities to improve your traffic and rankings, now is the time!<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Have a local question? Send it our way.<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That\u2019s it for this edition of Whitespark\u2019s Local Mailbag, but if you have a local search question that you need help answering, leave it in the comments or\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:localq@whitespark.ca\">email our team<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s shocking how many small business websites don&#8217;t even have the basics in place for website optimization. How often have you seen a website homepage title tag that is just &#8220;Home&#8221;? Are they trying to rank for &#8220;Home&#8221;? Probably not. Performing a quick audit of the most critical elements of your website can uncover missed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4015,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"0","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"Performing a quick audit of the most critical elements of your website can uncover missed optimization opportunities &amp; improve your site\u2019s ability to rank.","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"classification":[],"class_list":["post-4009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4009"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4009\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4014,"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4009\/revisions\/4014"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4009"},{"taxonomy":"classification","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/classification?post=4009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}