Do you remember? How did we sometimes have to wait longer than a minute in the time of dialing into your internet connection until a website was fully loaded? Fortunately, that time is far behind us. You can click here to find the best options now.
Now it’s all about speed. If your website is not fast enough, a competitor is quickly found. It is only logical that Google has included the speed of your website in the list of ranking factors. Many bells and whistles can considerably slow down your website. Therefore, think carefully about what you need and what you don’t. You can also make your website faster by optimizing your images and by using a CDN. Useful tools to check whether your website is fast enough include Google PageSpeed Insights, WebPageTest.org and Pingdom Tools.
Make sure your website looks perfect on a mobile phone
Where until recently the starting point of a website was the desktop version from which the mobile version was derived, it is the other way around nowadays. ‘Mobile First’ is the strategy that is entirely based on the mobile user.
There are still considerable differences from site to site in mobile use. But in general, you can say that about 60 to 70% of all visitors come via a mobile device. That means that your website just has to work nicely on a smartphone or tablet.
The buttons must be large enough and you must be able to read all the text clearly. In addition, it is important that images and videos are shown properly. Be honest with yourself: is the mobile version a stripped-down version of the desktop website? Or is it a variant that stands on its own?
Example of this SEO tip
The Railways used to have a mobile website: m.ns.nl. Do you remember? This was a stripped version of the desktop website. But the vast majority of people use the NS site on their mobile because, for example, they want to look up when their train leaves.
The Railways website now looks perfect for mobile. The buttons are clear and everything works as it should now that the trains run again on time.
Link to other websites with relevant content
This SEO tip is unfortunately all too often overlooked. But it is recommended by all authoritative SEO specialists. By regularly creating links to related content with authority, you make your own content more valuable. You also give a signal to Google in which category the search engine should place your content. Finally, by linking to others, you can get links back to your content in an accessible way. Of course, you have to watch what you do. A link from a sales page to your direct competitor may not be useful. But a link in a blog article to a consumer test or an interview in a newspaper is often a powerful link that will help you score better in the search engines.
Link to your own related content
In addition to external links, internal links are also of great importance. Make sure you have a good site structure where you know what you’re most important pages are the so-called cornerstone content. Where possible and relevant, link to this most important content on your website. This way you point out to your visitors and Google what omissible content is on your website.