Five Things That Can Affect Your SEO!

Five Things That Can Affect Your SEO!

When we begin focusing on the details of SEO, many of us begin to lose sight of the larger picture. Search engine optimization relies on more than just keywords and backlinks, so it’s important to build a functional, reliable website first. The first step to netting traffic is making sure all of your content is hosted on a strong platform.

When searching for results, people gravitate towards fast and easy sites. To draw in these people, a strong website is necessary. If you’re not sure where to start, here are five things that can affect your SEO and google ranking.

  1. Domain name. When people think of website domains, they usually think of “.com” first. A TLD, or top-level domain, is what a user types in the root zone of a URL. Most websites use generic top-level domains like com, org, or gov. These URLs are inherently more valuable than a website with a different TLD. To increase traffic and make your site easy-to-find, pick a URL with a generic top-level domain.
  2. Inaccessible databases. When a user encounters a server error or database connection failure, they’re less likely to return to your site. If you are using a WordPress site, caching any popular posts can allow users to access your content without a connection — preventing errors. However, a reliable server should solve this issue entirely.
  3. Loading speed. We’ve all exited a site that took too long to load. Chances are, if your website is slow, many people will navigate away before the content appears. To avoid this, build your site with speed in mind. Avoid large images, big scripts, and other elements that might bog down your loading time. A sleek, well-designed site will always load faster than a cluttered one, so take a minimalist approach when designing your site.
  4. Bad hosting. If you’ve invested in shared hosting services, you share your site with other entities. If they populate your web space with spammy content, it can lower your Google ranking significantly. If you share a host with someone else, make sure to check your online neighbors and avoid signing on with untrustworthy hosting services.
  5. Downtimes. The only thing more irritating than a slow site is an unavailable site. People don’t usually return to websites if they’re broken the first time, so avoiding downtime is a necessary precaution. Google also removes and flags sites from their index if they’re down for long periods of time. To keep your site up and running, make sure to use a reliable web host.

From designing your site to choosing a host service and URL, there is more to search engine optimization than content. There are many things that can affect your SEO success. While quality posts can garner traffic, your site is the foundation for this content. Find a reliable host before building your site and focus on functionality.

Making sure your website is well-oiled can help things run smoothly and give your customers something to come back to. If your site is easy to navigate, visitors will be encouraged to check out other posts, share your content, or bookmark it for future reference.