What might an expert local SEO specialist have a gander at when looking at the home page of a local business website? This is a rundown of some of the most important aspects of your homepage to examine in order to make recommendations that will improve your local search engine optimization efforts.
1. Shall We Redirect?
Whenever you access the main site address (e.g. “www.example.com”), sometimes the page would automatically direct you to a different URL (like “www.example.com/wp/home/index.php”). The configuration of your website is dependent on your system administrator, internet service provider, or web developer.
A redirecting main page is usually not favorable for search engine optimization, especially depending on the way it is implemented; even well-known brand websites can make this mistake, as I discussed a few years ago in my article ‘Coke vs. Pepsi, the Redirection Challenge’.
If the homepage of your website needs to be directed to a different page, it is best to keep the number of redirects to one instead of being required to go through several links before arriving at the final destination. You’d like the relocation to take place with a 301 server status code.
You might want to use a server header check program in order to analyze your homepage if it is redirecting. If the redirected URL fails to give a 301 status code, you should fix this immediately. Be cautious while making adjustments, as altering status codes and transforming the homepage to a different page may be complex!
2. Evaluate The Visible Text On The Homepage
Web pages can be highly deceptive when it comes to text as they can contain text that people can see when they look at the page but that search engines may not easily be able to detect. Animations and image graphics are common culprits.
It is a breeze to identify which text can be seen on the homepage. To select everything on your webpage, press the keyboard commands CTRL+A on a computer or ?+A on a Mac.
This will emphasize the words on the page, making it conspicuously evident what is standard writing and what is not. You can also see a saved copy of your homepage on Google and click the Text-only link.
At minimum, the homepage should have the following items reflected somewhere in the plain text on the page:
- The business name
- The category or type of business that consumers would search for (ex: “Plumbing”)
- The name of the city, and possibly the district name where the business is found
- The street address
- The phone number
Ideally, the homepage should incorporate descriptive text for associated keywords, but these essentials should be included, at the least.
3. Evaluate Your Homepage Title Tag
Does the title include the name of the business, its classification, and the primary city/town it caters to?
The heading of your page is one of the most important aspects for SEO, thus it should accurately reflect what your customers would type in the search bar to discover your business.
When consumers want to locate a business, they primarily seek out the name and type/category of that business. These points should be included in the TITLE concisely.
There is significant discrepancy among SEO experts about how many keywords should be utilized that pertain to what type of business. Back in the past and even now for certain situations, inserting over three of the main key phrases into the headline could be very fruitful.
In general, I would advise selecting a single keyword to most accurately represent your venture: for instance, go with “Department Store” instead of “Women’s Clothing, Men’s Clothing, Jewelry, Shoes, Linens, Dishes.” Other webpages and sections on your site can be used to aim at more minute topics and alternate phrases.
You can locate the title tag by viewing the webpage’s source code and locating the words between thetags. An alternate choice is to take advantage of a utility such as the On-Page Optimization Tool.
If upgrades to your title tag are warranted, try the Moz title tag preview device available at https://moz.com/blog/new-title-tag-guidelines-preview-tool
4. Check Under The Hood For The Meta Description Tag
Meta Description text is vital because although it has no bearing on page rankings, it can grab the attention of internet users searching for businesses that are similar to yours, and therefore draw them towards your site instead of competitor sites. The description of Meta is not shown in the local-pack outcomes, but it appears on the natural search results.
The text should describe your business — what it does and perhaps what differentiates your company from others. Don’t use up all of the description space; aim to use no more than 155 characters, while also making sure it is concise and straightforward. Do not utilize the area to reiterate your business name, which is already in the headline.
It is possible to observe your active Meta Description by inspecting the source code of the webpage, or you could benefit from an application like the Web Developer Toolbar. If you would like to generate a new description, this snippet optimizer tool may be of assistance.
5. Has The Logo Been Optimized?
I once labeled logo optimization as a secret SEO system, as many small companies fail to take it into consideration. The logo image needs to have good ALT text.
There is no need to connect the symbol displayed on the main page to the main page. Jakob Nielsen, a specialist in usability, believes that having a link to the home page on the home page is one of the most violated homepage design regulations. I, however, don’t think it’s that serious an issue, but it could be rather annoying or potentially unclear.
Sites usually have a navigation header which usually contains a logo, and the logo is usually linked. This requires the usage of a link title element in order to ensure it is linked properly. The file name should be detailed in order to make the most of the Schema.org logo Specifications.
6. Check For Structured Local Data
I have previously discussed the advantages of employing the organization structure for regional search engine optimization. Make sure to use the local business or organization structured data to label the company name, address, and contact details.
You ought to use the Google Structured Data Testing Tool and the Operator Toolbar to verify the accuracy of your code. ” The Structured Data Testing Tool will display a warning that can be disregarded: “Error: This info won’t show as a rich snippet in search results since it appears to be about an organization.”
Despite the fact that there is no visible representation of the organization data in rich snippets, Google and search engines in general still make use of the Schema information available. Therefore, any error pertaining to the same should be disregarded.
7. Improve Your Content and On-Page SEO
Conducting a review of your SEO content and adjusting your on-page optimization can result in an astonishing hike in organic visits. If no attempts are made to craft worthwhile content and organized page architecture, then the rest of your SEO initiatives will not produce the desired results.
Content Analysis
If you don’t have high-quality content, any gains you gain from a successful SEO strategy won’t be sustained. Bring in an independent outsider to assist you in examining your material.
Your content must be original, unique, and accurate. It doesn’t matter if the topic has already been looked at by someone else; your content should still provide a fresh perspective on the issue.
On-Page SEO
The effectiveness of the most convincing material will be greatly hindered without optimal on-page SEO techniques. You can use Seobility’s SEO checker to analyze multiple websites concurrently. If you do not possess too many items, then you can handle this task manually.
It is significant to Google that a page meets the desired search objective. If a large portion of the outcomes for the keyword you are attempting to target are articles, then writing an article and including the keyword would be beneficial. The majority of the outcomes being product pages implies that the ideal solution is to use a product page.
Your keyword for the page should appear in these places:
- The title
- The META description
- Within the first few sentences
- In the ALT tag of the first image
- In the last sentence
Ensure that the web address is concise and uncluttered, with the desired key word also included.
Ensure that none of your pages have been plagiarized. You can use Copyscape to check if any of your pages have been plagiarized.
8. Analyze Your Keywords and Organic Traffic
It’s an opportune moment to analyze your organic traffic, and evaluate if your current keyword approach is successful. Think about if there are simple keywords you are overlooking and might be able to use for success.
Keyword Analysis
Many companies will attempt to target highly competitive keywords. Failure is likely if you are not implementing keyword strategies properly and if your website recently went live.
Generally, the majority of visitors to most sites come from hunting through a search engine using extensive keywords and phrases. These words are more dedicated to a particular area and have a smaller number of web searches, but they’re usually successful in turning web users into buyers and have fewer competitors.
Examining the main words that generate traffic for your site in detail can assist with this. Using Google Analytics in conjunction with the Search Console can assist you in producing your report. Moreover, with the aid of SEMrush or Moz’s keyword exploration functions, you can gain a more thorough evaluation.
Organic Traffic
Google Analytics offers the capability to evaluate the amount of organic visitors to your website. By examining more than just the most recent month, it is possible to ascertain the development trajectory throughout a broader period of time.
If you’re not seeing an upward trend, don’t fret. By executing strategies to cultivate your key terms, optimizing for improved search engine presence on page, and going through the items on this search engine optimization review list, you will witness tangible changes in the near future.
9. Add Meta Descriptions and Schema Markup
Meta descriptions and schema markups provide both users and search engines with detailed information regarding the contents of a website or individual pages, enabling them to be visible in search engine result pages when relevant.
Meta Descriptions
Your site’s meta descriptions provide information to both Google and website visitors regarding the content of your webpages. It should leave no doubt in the minds of users about the kind of material that you offer. Ensure that no two comparable pages share the same meta description, and make sure that the descriptions are brief, exclusive, and captivating.
Schema Markup
You can explain to Google the details of your website by adding code to it, through the use of schema markup. Performing this action will aid them in displaying your pages to the proper individuals.
Rather than obtaining data directly from the content, schema markup offers instructions to the search engine on how to showcase it, leading to the user having access to more details. A lot of sites overlook the use of schema markup even though it can allow Google to display more enhanced snippets within the search results.
10. Perform Citation Analysis and Local SEO Tactics
It is recommended for every company to get a citation examination to be part of their local SEO examination even if their business is not connected to local SEO. It is particularly important if you own a local business. You can get a citation analysis and tidying up done in one go, so it’s effortless to tick off from your to-do list.
Consistent NAP-W
Your contact information such as name, address, telephone number and website should be consistent throughout the internet. It would be unwise for prospects to dial an obsolete phone number or appear at your former company location. You desire to manifest in the “local block” of organization catalogs when people look for your search terms.
11. Track Results and Audit Regularly
It is not possible to merely execute the stages defined in this list and then ignore the matter. You need to keep track of the effects in order to identify which alterations are successful and what needs adjusting. SEO success is an on-going process. Monitoring your development additionally gives you an understanding of which activities are most pertinent and which ones are consuming an excessive amount of energy.
You should check up on your site routinely, as we pointed out in the start, to discover problems and SEO matters before they disrupt your rankings. Once you’ve completed your first site audit and become familiar with the process, each subsequent audit should be fairly easy to handle. Utilizing the correct tools and software to aid will expedite the process.
In order to maintain the positive impact of a full audit, it is essential to adhere to a rigorous SEO content strategy to prevent reversing progress. Pay attention to these factors in between audits:
- Optimize title tags for new pages
- Optimize meta descriptions
- Use researched keyword phrases
- Avoid cannibalizing keywords
- Keep new content unique and valuable
- Use well-formatted content
- Use captivating headlines
- Optimize unique landing pages
- Use clean, descriptive, and optimized URLs
- Watch for excessive ads
Final Thoughts
This list is not exhaustive, but it is an excellent starting point for ensuring that the most critical page of your website is in prime condition.
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