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You published your website, you have some blog posts going, but still…crickets.

How do you improve your website SEO and land on the first page of Google Search?

Using these steps can increase the likelihood of Google pushing your content near the top of the search engine results page (SERP).

By the end of this post, you’ll know how to improve your website SEO before the fall through 5 easy ways!

Disclaimer: this post isn’t sponsored by Google. I highly recommend their tools because the majority are free and they can give you extensive insights. Also, some paid SEO tools I use are based on Google data and expand it just a bit.

1. Focus on one target audience

Without clarifying your message and focusing it on who you actually serve, any and all tactics will be useless or inefficient. You might get traffic or interested prospects through your website, but they might not be who you’d like to work with.

The key benefit of focusing on just one audience? You can dig deep into their needs, wants, and obstacles, and create content based on that. 

In fact, Google says that how your website content ranks on Google Search is dependent on “helpful, reliable, people-first content”.

If you need to get clear on your audience so you can craft a specific message that can attract the right people, download your free Brand Excavation Checklist.

2. Assess and optimize page load speed

In the digital world, speed matters. Neil Patel, a leading SEO expert, reports that:

• 47% of consumers expect a web page to load in 2 seconds or less and
  
• 40% of people abandon a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load

Your prospective clients expect your website to immediately load! If not, they’re back on Google, searching for a faster and more credible competitor.

Good news—this is often easy to fix.

Here are four ways to improve your website page load speed.

How to improve your website page load speed

• Check page load speed: You can use the free Google PageSpeed Insights tool to assess your website’s speed performance. Adjust your website as necessary, based on the feedback.
  
• Minimize image sizes: If you’re a creative, you might be guilty of this.
  1 MB for one photo? Not bad.
  1 MB for 5-10 photos per page on your blog with tens (or hundreds) of posts? Yikes.
  TinyPNG is an online image conversion tool that lets you minimize PNG files up to 5MB for free.
  
• Remove unnecessary plugins: Ever have “ghost” code snippets in your website that literally do nothing?
  Maybe they were there from a previous launch or for a campaign that never took off.
  Either way, remove these unused code from your website as they can be slowing down the page load time!
  
• Repeat your page load speed check until it’s within 2-3 seconds.

Sometimes, however, the page load speed is due to inefficient website design. Your website should not only be designed based on your brand, but with your people in mind.

If you feel that you would benefit from an in-depth look into your web design, book a 1-hour strategy session and get clarity within a day.

3. Hunt down and fix broken links

Broken links can harm your website’s credibility and frustrate your visitors, leading to a higher bounce rate. 

Bounce rate calculates how many people visit a page on your site and then leave.

Top Design Firms conducted a survey which found that 42 percent of consumers will “bounce” out of a website because of poor functionality.

Poor functionality may cause search engines like Google to refrain from recommending your website on the first page, reducing your website’s visibility and traffic. 

How to fix broken links on your website:

• Manually: Thoroughly sweep through your website by clicking through each page to identify and fix any broken links.

• Automate the process: Consider using online tools like the Broken Link Checker (Google Chrome plugin) to efficiently find broken links and resolve them.

4. Increase backlinks to your website

Backlinks are website links that refer to your website. The more reputable websites refer to your website or blog posts, the more it can significantly enhance your website’s authority and organic search rankings (i.e. without the use of paid ads).

How to increase your backlinks for free:

• Connect with fellow creatives
  
• Guest post on relevant blogs
  
• Collaborate with industry influencers – you might need to pay for this if you’d like influencers to review (and endorse) your product/service
  
• Sprinkle links to your other posts on your website
  
• Leverage your social platforms to share your expertise and attract inbound links

5. Monitor website traffic analytics

Real talk: compliments about your website may feel great but they don’t mean as much as uncovering hidden problems like bounces, rage clicks, etc.

Dive into website traffic analytics to understand your audience, popular content, and user behaviour (aka what they actually do/don’t do on your website).

Google Analytics is a free tool that can help you track key metrics such as page views, bounce rates, and session duration.

Using tools like Google Analytics can help you make data-driven decisions so that your website and content strategy is rooted in real data, not just assumptions.

Bonus: Seek customer feedback

Just as we started with your customers, it seems fitting to end with them as well. 

Reach out to your clients and visitors for their honest feedback about their user experience on your website.

You can do this through customer surveys: simple and targeted questions to gain valuable insights into pain points and areas for improvement.

Now, this might sting a bit. But remember, the more detailed the feedback, the better you can improve the website experience for your customers.

Use the feedback to refine your design, content, and user experience to better meet your audience’s needs.

Sometimes, though, you might need help translating user feedback into actionable items—let alone, a professionally-designed website.

Still unsure? Here are 5 signs you might need to redesign your website ASAP.

If this sounds like you, apply for a free 20-minute discovery call to see if a custom design might be best for you.

Alright, you’re set to improve your website SEO with these five tips. Let me know which one you end up applying!