Your agency's website is one of the most powerful tools you can use to market your brand online. However, a well-designed website also needs to support SEO best practices in order for you to get the best results possible.

In this article, we'll outline how to create an SEO-friendly website for your digital marketing agency. You'll learn some of the best practices to implement when designing each page and provide the tools you need to get the job done efficiently and affordably.

How to Create an SEO-Friendly Website?

Creating an SEO-friendly website is no rocket science. According to Moz, satisfying search intent is the primary goal of Google, and therefore it should be the primary goal of SEOs. It is followed by user experience. So SEOs should focus on creating a fast and responsive website that answers user queries in minimum steps.

You can also use our Sites Tool to make a professional and SEO-friendly website. These websites are specifically designed for digital marketing agencies to convert more clients. You don't need any developers to create a website when you use this tool.

Here are some of the proven tips to develop an SEO-friendly website:-

1. Focus on Improving Your Website Speed

A fast, responsive website is one of the most important things for a marketing agency to possess. Digital marketing and advertising is an extremely competitive field that grants users hundreds, even thousands, of unique options. If any of your pages take longer than a couple of seconds to load, then you've already lost to your competition.

Studies indicate that conversion rates can drop by as much as 20% as page loading speed increases from 0-5 seconds. Compounding this negative result is the fact that Google's search ranking algorithm utilizes page speed and responsiveness as a ranking factor. Faster websites generally demonstrate lower bounce rates, greater retention time, and, therefore, rank higher than slower websites.

Fortunately, there are many solutions to ensure that your agency's website remains lightweight and quick. You should be certain to utilize Google's PageSpeed Insights tool to diagnose any speed-related errors that are impacting your website. It's as simple as entering your URL and allowing Google to render a list of errors and suggestions for optimizations.

Many modern website builders and CMSs feature built-in tools and plugins that help to improve loading times. This can help you to implement “lazy loading,” which describes the process of deferring the loading of content that is not immediately visible in the user’s viewport. This allows the website to load critical content first while loading additional images, videos, or texts later or as necessary.

A second tip is to compress images to an appropriate size that allows for faster rendering without compromising quality. Seldom is a full-size, high-resolution image imperative for general viewing, especially when those images are commonly viewed from a mobile device. Stick to image formats such as JPEG and PNG for faster rendering. The former generally allows for slightly higher quality at the cost of some speed, while the latter is built for maximum efficiency.

Finally, be sure to minify any HTML, CSS, or Javascript located on your website. When a browser attempts to communicate with a server and access your site, it reads each line of code one by one. The more information there is to process, the longer it will take to load the content.

We mentioned above how “lazy loading” can communicate which assets are vital to load immediately to a browser within these lines of code. However, you can further improve your speed by making sure to eliminate any redundancies in the code or chunks that are dead and no longer being used. This can commonly happen if you used a third-party tool at one point but are no longer relying on it. Even if your developer initially needs to write the code in a specific way to ensure functionality, they should take efforts to minify it as much as possible afterward.

For even more tips on how you can improve your page loading speeds, click here.

2. Keep it Mobile-Friendly

Another important Google ranking factor in addition to page speed is mobile readiness and responsiveness. More than half of the entire world’s web traffic now comes from a mobile device, whether it be a cellular phone or tablet. However, because these machines are generally less powerful and rely on 4G, 5G, or Wi-Fi connections, your website needs to accommodate this.

Google once again can be our ally as we can use Google Search Console to check our domain for any health errors. Included in this free error report are factors that are negatively impacting mobile performance. It will also include direct feedback as to what you can do to correct the unique errors that are affecting your website’s performance.

To avoid mobile-friendliness issues when designing your site, be sure to implement media queries in your CSS. A media query essentially identifies the content on your website that you wish to load based on the device being used to access it. This can greatly improve load times and performance by eliminating the process of loading unnecessary data that won't actually be used during the mobile experience.

With this in mind, you should tailor the appearance and layout of content to fit smaller viewports. This includes further optimizing images, condensing content (or temporarily hiding some of it via lazy loading), or eliminating media outright to keep the mobile design minimalistic and fast. A simple design and theme are essential for getting the most out of your mobile performance.

3. Optimize Your URLs and Meta Descriptions

The content on your website, your page URLs, and even your meta descriptions all assist Google's algorithm in understanding the purpose of your website. The better it understands the information on your website, the more confidence it has, and the more likely it will share your domain as a search result to inquiring search engine users.

In accordance with SEO best practices, you must manually optimize the URL for every page on your website. URLs should follow a consistent, organized structure, make sure of the primary keyword, and be free of any unnecessary characters and clutter. The poor URL structure will often contain dates, numbers that reference the page or post, and other unwanted characters that make it difficult for both the user and Google to read. However, an optimized URL might look something like this:

www.dashclicks.com/blog/best-seo-practices-in-2021/

This made-up website URL tells us everything we need to know about the specific page we are visiting and the pathway taken to get there. The use of “www” and “.com” are standard, necessary protocols, with our domain name taking center stage. Then, we describe the pathway by indicating that the active page is under our “Services” category. Finally, “Local SEO” describes the primary content and keyword for that page.

If you were to further optimize the rest of the URLs for this website, you would want to follow a similar structure to keep things uniform and efficient. If you utilize web pages that contain similar content for desktop and mobile viewing, be sure to address the primary version of the page with a canonical tag. This tells Google to only crawl the primary web page, which avoids a penalty for duplicated content.

Meta descriptions also communicate the content on a page to Google and the user. These are the brief descriptions that appear underneath a website on a search engine results page. You must manually enter an optimized meta description for each web page, or your CMS will like auto-populate the field with an excerpt it finds on-page.

While there is no “limit” on meta description length, Google will truncate anything longer than 160 characters. This cuts your idea off mid-thought and generally looks less appealing than a clean, concise description. Try to keep your description less than this character limit. Additionally, a meta description should help communicate what a person can expect to find when clicking the link. It should not be clickbait, dishonest, or misleading. You should use it as your opportunity to advertise and intrigue your potential visitors.

You can learn how to write the perfect meta description here.

4. Protect Your Website and Your Users

Yet another ranking factor for Google is upgrading your website from the HTTP protocol to HTTPS. This is the process used between your website server and a browser to access and download information. Google promises to elevate the rankings of websites that feature an encryption protocol over those that do not.

HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) is the standard protocol used across the web. HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) indicates that an encryption protocol has been added to the process. This is done by purchasing an SSL certificate to protect any data transferred between your website and the end-user.

You can upgrade your website to HTTPS by purchasing an SSL certificate for your website. This verifies ownership of the domain and ensures that any data transmitted is being sent to the correct server. It also encrypts any data being sent to protect it from threats online. There are a variety of SSL certificates to purchase depending on the size of your brand and your needs, but a basic SSL certificate will suffice for most small businesses. eCommerce websites will want to consider purchasing a more sophisticated SSL certificate to protect sensitive data used in financial transactions.

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5. Feature Keyword-Optimized Content

When most people think of SEO, they think of keywords and keyword ranking. Featuring keyword-optimized content throughout your entire website is a foundational component of any strong SEO strategy.

After you design your website, you will need informational content for users to consume. This content should concisely describe your brand, your various services, your unique value proposition, and anything else that can assist the reader in making informed decisions as a consumer. The average word count is roughly 500-700 words per page, but more will work to your benefit so long as the content is of high quality. The longer the content, the more opportunities there are to use keywords and describe your business.

Not only is this information empowering for your visitors, but it also helps Google understand the nature of your business. Marketers use keywords that exhibit high search volume and match the content with consumer intent. Focusing on the right keywords and ensuring that your content falls into the hands of the right kind of consumer is key to boosting the amount of content on your site.

After you're satisfied with your core web pages, you need to consider adding a blog to your website and integrating it into your SEO strategy. Rather than bloating your pages with excess content that distracts, expand your keyword strategy by writing information articles for your blog. This allows you to create additional content that focuses on a variety of topics that are relevant to your industry. Because blogs serve to inform and educate rather than sell, this can help to build trust between you and your audience and establish your brand as a reliable authority.

6. Use Internal Linking

Internal linking is another vital SEO strategy that serves to keep visitors on your website for longer periods of time. Any time that a page links to another page on the same website, it's known as an internal link.

Internal linking should be implemented naturally and suggest content to visitors that relates to the content on the page that they are visiting. For example, you may want to direct users from one service to additional related services that can help with the topic at hand. Additionally, you can sprinkle notes in blog articles that address issues or topics that are immediately relevant to the products or services you offer.

Internal linking also serves the purpose of helping Google crawl and understand your website better. When you manually create connections between pages, Google's web crawler will follow those links and process those additional connections. The more relevant data it receives, the more confidence it has in using your website as a search result for keyword-related topics.

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7. Build Up Your Backlinks

While an internal link connects two pages within the same site, a backlink is whenever another website links back to a page on your website. Backlinks are incredibly valuable for your SEO and can noticeably boost your rankings when implemented correctly.

When you build a brand-new website, it starts with no previous relationship with Google's search algorithm. Even when you utilize best design and content practices, it takes time and consistency to build the authority and confidence you need to progress upward through the ranks. However, a backlink from a website that already has authority and confidence with Google can help to boost the SEO value of your own.

You can think of a quality backlink as a vote of confidence from peers that consistently utilize best SEO practices. Google understands the nature of those websites and the brand. When that website backlinks to yours, Google then assumes that your brand is tangentially or directly related to the subject matter by association. From a user perspective, that trusted website also directs its traffic to your webpage. The more incoming traffic to your website, the better your results will be when it comes to your SEO efforts.

With that said, building backlinks requires more outreach and effort than other strategies. You will need to connect with webmasters and look for opportunities to bring your brands together. A common method of doing this is by writing guest blogs for other websites, which then allows you to boost your own website and online profiles naturally. This calls back to our reliance on high-quality, keyword-rich content that provides legitimate value to consumers. If your marketing team offers the ability to build monthly backlinks to your site, the impact on your SEO will be significant.

Get an SEO-Friendly Website for Your Agency Today!

With these tips in mind, you might be wondering where to start when it comes to building your website. DashClicks' brand-new platform offers marketing agencies the ability to create a fully-branded site instantly when you sign up and utilize our Sites application.

Every paid account owner is eligible to select from a variety of templates to use as their new agency website. These websites are low-cost, lightweight, and complete with everything your business needs to hit the ground running. When you select from our list of existing website templates, you get the following immediately:

• A 15-page website hosted by Amazon Web Services
• A ready-to-go SSL Certificate
• SEO-friendly content for every page that features your personal branding
• Personalized branding throughout the site – upload your assets and get moving
• Built-in contact forms and call-to-actions
• Daily website backups to protect you from losing any data
• Drag-and-drop web builder (no coding knowledge required)
• Built-in website analytics to track visitor activity

Among these pages includes a ready-to-go blog page, which you can use to start creating high-quality, informational content that's relevant to your industry. Simply create a new entry, start writing, and post at any time. The easy-to-navigate menus also simplify the SEO process by giving clear fields to customize your URLs, meta descriptions, search images, and more. These sites are built to be lightweight, fast, and mobile-ready for every new agency.

All you need to do is update your DNS records, point them to the new website, and your new website will be updated with your custom domain. After purchasing your new site, it's yours forever. We can provide ongoing SEO support by providing the strategies mentioned above and more, including content creation, backlink building, on-page hygiene, and keyword research.

Build SEO-Friendly Websites for Prospects

In addition to claiming your new website, a membership will grant you access to our InstaSites application, which allows you to instantly create similar websites for your prospects. You can modify these websites to your liking at any time and only need to purchase when you successfully convert your prospect into a customer.

Our InstaSites selection features well over 200 website templates that span 60+ unique industries. These sites use the same technology that allows you to automatically personalize each site with the prospect's name and branding. Our easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor requires no coding knowledge and allows you to make some final editing touches that can secure the sale.

The number of pages included varies based upon the template, but each includes all the SEO-friendly content a site needs to get started immediately. These sites utilize the same system and processes as our agency websites, making it convenient and simple to get your clients moving. It makes your workload easier, and the speed and quality are guaranteed to impress any prospect.

If that's not enough, our InstaReports software allows you to instantly create reports for your prospects that explicitly outline site health errors with their existing site. Quickly compare these issues with the immediate conveniences offered by our ready-to-go websites and start securing more deals than ever before. Our platform offers everything a marketing agency needs to improve its online presence, secure new clients, and fulfill services all in one location.

Conclusion

Creating an SEO-friendly website requires strategy and commitment to see the job done correctly. Each page not only needs to be well-designed for a high-quality user experience but also needs to be fast and responsive for mobile devices. You can look into addressing these issues immediately by utilizing free tools mentioned above, such as Google PageSpeed Insights and Google Search Console.

Improve the security of your website by purchasing an appropriate SSL certificate that meets your brand's needs. Google promises an SEO ranking boost for site owners that utilize HTTPS and protect their visitors according to their own standards. Not only do you receive this direct boost, but a secure website is immediately visible to visitors and establishes the trust you need to acquire new and returning visitors.

You can further boost your site's SEO value by ensuring that each page is complete with high-quality, keyword-rich content. You can continue supporting your core website pages by investing your time into a blog that features informational or newsworthy content that interests visitors and is relevant to your industry. When building this content library, be sure to utilize internal links whenever possible. Then, begin your commercial outreach to connect with other website owners that can provide you with valuable backlinks over time.

Finally, note that building an SEO-friendly website is not a one-and-done process. Google's algorithm changes almost daily, and this varies from having minimal to substantial impacts on how a website's health and value is ranked. Continue to monitor your website regularly, utilize Google's free tools to check for errors, and implement the necessary changes to ensure that each page is healthy and SEO-friendly. With consistent practice, any new digital marketing agency website can work its way to the top of search rankings.

Site speed is definitively a ranking factor for your site in Google search results. It also affects the user experience, audience retention rate, and, ultimately, your conversion rate.

To what degree does a fast or slow page impact your sales? In this article, we will dive into why and how site speed is impacting your conversion rate and what you can do to stop losing valuable business online.

Why Google Made Site Speed a Ranking Factor?

Google’s mission statement provides a clear-cut vision for how they go about selecting factors to rank websites on their search engine. It goes as follows:

“Our company mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”

As technology rapidly changes and improves, so, too, does the way we browse and access information daily. The devices and connections that people have access to, however, are not consistent around the world. While one visitor on the west coast may have access to lightning speeds with Google Fiber, others might be in a remote location where they’re limited to strict data caps.

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In addition to this, users are no longer restricted to LAN-line desktop computers. According to a study based on five trillion website visits in 2020, 61% of that traffic was from mobile.

While providing your users with a speedy, satisfying experience was always important, the challenge has grown because of how audiences engage with content online. Because these new devices rely on more lightweight technology and variable connection strength, we need to rethink the way we optimize websites and deliver content to the public.

Google recognized this and decided to encourage webmasters to make improving the user experience for all users a priority. Website developers would now need to prioritize optimizing both desktop and mobile versions to provide their audience with useful information in a fast, user-friendly manner.

But, you’re not on your own to figure out how to improve your site. Google provides helpful tools such as Google PageSpeed Insights to help website owners bring their user experience up to par.

Does Site Speed Impact Conversion Rate?

We know that site speed is a factor when it comes to your overall search rankings, but does it have a direct impact on conversion rate? Let’s take a look at how sites of varying load times change user behavior.

From the moment a user clicks on your website link search engine results pages, you’re on a timer. A study by Pingdom discerned that the bounce rate of visitors nearly doubled when a page load time moved from two seconds to three. The bounce rate continues to nearly double with every second that you add to your page load speed. With that in mind, the average load time across all sampled websites was just over three minutes.

However, that number drastically changes when browsing by mobile. Google reports that the average load time for a single mobile page is as long as 15.3 seconds. That’s a long time to ask a customer to wait for every page on your website when they are attempting to gather information or make a purchase. You likely do not need to consider anything other than how frequently you, yourself, bounce from a page in favor of a quicker one.

With that in mind, you can’t expect your users to convert if the average load time of your website is unable to keep people browsing. The numbers back this up. A popular study performed by Walmart demonstrated almost a 90% decrease in their conversion rate as page load speeds increased from one to five seconds. When you consider that most web traffic comes from mobile devices, which already happen to be slower on average, slow speeds will not help you when it comes to driving sales.

Your online sales process works under the same principles as an in-person sales interaction. If a customer can quickly locate a better experience with another business, they will do so. If your website makes it more difficult than necessary to access information or complete checkout, users will quickly bounce away to a competitor’s website.

All of these statistics support Google’s reasoning for utilizing site speed as a ranking factor. While a load time that’s greater than five seconds will drastically increase your bounce rate, Google will also rank your site lower than your competitors. The further you are down the rankings, the less likely it is for your audience to access your website at all, let alone become a conversion.

What Can I Do to Improve My Site Speed?

The good news is that optimizing your average website load time is a doable task for all website owners. Most slow-to-load websites feature common problems that can be resolved by adhering to the best practices for SEO. If your Google PageSpeed Insights test is reporting errors and a less than adequate loading speed, here are some of the things you can do to make things faster:

1. Place a Greater Emphasis on Image Optimization

The more content you have on a page, the more requests a browser needs to make with the website server. A large number of high-resolution images will require the visitor’s device to download a large amount of data before the content can appear on the screen. However, your images won’t just load slow, but they will delay the appearance of other content on the page unless you take action.

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While you may be proud of that high-pixel image taken from an expensive camera, you generally want to use a compressed format such as PNG or JPG. PNG image files will generally provide the fastest loading times. However, JPG is still advisable for situations where you truly need to maximize the image quality without adding too much strain on your site’s server.

For image content such as icons or special widgets, try to use something lightweight such as CSS sprites, which can effectively condense those HTTP requests into one request for all of them. You ultimately want to reduce the number of HTTP requests as well as the amount of data that needs to be exchanged with each request.

2. Enable Browser Caching on Your Site

Each time a user visits your site, their browser must make every HTTP request available to download all of the files present on the page. However, you can improve the experience for returning visitors by enabling browser caching on your site. You may have experienced this while browsing the web yourself when you receive a prompt asking for permission to temporarily store your information.

By allowing browser caching, you can take advantage of a small amount of space on the visitor’s hard drive to temporarily cache your website assets. This means that the visitor’s browser will not need to complete every single HTTP request on every subsequent visit. This not only improves load times for that specific visitor but will ease the stress on your website server and improve performance for all of your web traffic.

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3. Avoid Redirects Whenever Possible

Avoiding redirects is not always possible, and, in some cases, is not advisable. You may need to redirect users to the mobile version of your site or to alternate page versions that utilize the upgraded HTTPS protocol. However, too many redirects are a guarantee to increase your website load times across the board.

You must address any additional navigation that exists on your website. Look for opportunities to simplify any redirects and create a direct page-to-page pathway. Each redirect step adds another HTTP request for the page. As we explained above, our goal is to reduce the number of HTTP requests to be as low as possible without sacrificing quality.

4. Host Large Files on an External Server

When it comes to large files you want to host on your website such as videos, you should never upload the data directly to the page. This is a tremendous amount of data to download and upload and it will kill your average page loading speed.

However, videos provide tremendous marketing value and we want you to use them on your website. The alternative is to host these types of files on an external server and let their server power pick up the additional strain. The most popular video platform available is YouTube, which allows you to easily embed and share your content anywhere on the internet. An alternative such as Vimeo also works well and both provide free accounts to all users.

You can also do this for large, high-resolution image files. Take advantage of file storage sites such as Google Photos, Imgur, or Dropbox. You can also employ what’s known as a Content Delivery Network (CDN) like Cloudflare to deliver media and save bandwidth.

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5. Use Lazy Loading for Busy Website Pages

There are two approaches when it comes to website loading. The default method is sometimes referred to as “eager loading” and it involves attempting to load all files on the website at the same time as soon as possible. When a webpage has a high amount of mixed content including text, images, and video, eager loading can result in unnecessarily long load times.

“Lazy loading” is an approach that allows you to defer the loading of certain content while prioritizing the loading of others. For example, we can use lazy loading to load the content that’s immediately in the viewport, while deferring any text or media that’s hidden further down. We can expedite the loading of the content users will see immediately, while the deferred content loads afterward. This gets users on-page and engaging with your website sooner without the need to cut out important material from the website.

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You can also utilize placeholder images or videos until the data is needed. Let’s say that you added a video to your webpage. When a user accesses the page, they send an HTTP request to download the data. However, the user never actually watches the video content. As a result, you increased your load times by wasting data that was not necessary. Instead, you use a lightweight placeholder file until the user triggers an action indicating their intent to watch. You can then signal that individual HTTP request at that time.

While implementing lazy loading can be tricky if done manually, many popular website editors such as WordPress feature easy-to-use lazy loading plugins. You can install this on your site, review opportunities to minimize load times and the number of outgoing requests at any time.

6. Minify Your Javascript

Javascript is necessary to make your web pages dynamic and interactive, but it makes up a hefty amount of the page weight. You can reduce the impact that your Javascript has on load times by compressing your Java files and reducing everything into one single file. This way, the server only needs to comply with one script request as opposed to several.

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You should also look for any opportunities to remove redundant or unnecessary lines of code. If you are no longer using a third-party feature, remove the dead code. If there’s a way to express something in fewer characters, remove the unnecessary spaces and characters to reduce your overall script size. Even if you need to create your original code in long-form initially, seek to minify it after you’ve tested it and know it’s working properly.

In the same vein of lazy loading and prioritizing what’s in the viewport, you can assign a preload attribute to certain resources in the Java file. This tells the server to prioritize loading these features first even if they do not come first in the script.

Conclusion – Faster Site Speed Leads to a Better Conversion Rate

Your website speed directly impacts your conversion rate as any page that takes longer than five seconds to load exponentially increases your bounce rate. Users demand the ability to interact with a website and its various elements regardless of the device they are using or the strength of their connection. Because so much modern web traffic comes from mobile devices, your website must be lightweight and agile.

By ensuring that your pages are accessible to everyone, you make it easier for those visitors with buyers’ intent to convert. You may even wish to prioritize the optimization of pages with high conversion value such as checkout pages and product pages. However, improving your average loading speed sitewide will offer a boost in your Google search rankings. The higher you rank, the more opportunities you have to boost your conversion rate even further.

You can learn exactly how to fix website errors and improve your site speed using tools such as Google PageSpeed Insights. You will want to minify any CSS or javascript code on your website and reduce the number of HTTP requests to be as low as possible. Use external delivery sources to host large media files such as images and videos. Finally, get rid of any dead or broken links and reduce your number of redirects. Be sure to use Google Search Console to crawl your website after these updates.

There are several additional ways you can boost the speed of your website that you can learn about in our previous article here. Most of these optimizations are simple to implement and greatly impact your site quality. Give yourself a leg over the competition and boost those conversions by giving your audience a lean, fast user experience.

When it comes to boosting SEO, most of what we do is based on extensive testing and research. However, Google broke this norm in August of 2014 when they informed the internet that they will be utilizing the HTTPS protocol as a ranking signal for their search engine results pages.

With that said, website owners need to know the best practices for HTTPS when purchasing and adding their SSL certificate. In this guide, we'll go over the advantages of having HTTPS, how HTTPS impacts SEO, and what you can do to maximize your security benefits.

What is HTTPS?

HTTPS is the secured version of HTTP or Hypertext Transfer Protocol. When a user visits their site, their browser submits an HTTP request to the website server to download the data for browsing. HTTP is so commonly used that browsers now automatically assume the protocol and allow you to simply type a domain into the URL field.

HTTPS encrypts the data transmitted between a browser and the website server. This protects any sensitive data from online attackers, phishing scams, and more. HTTPS websites must go through an authentication process, which adds authority and trustworthiness to your site in the eyes of the user when compared to an unsecured website.

Websites that require better security for themselves and their users integrate either an SSL or TLS certificate. SSL, which stands for Secure Sockets Layer, used to be the primary form of encryption online. TLS, Transport Layer Security, is now the industry standard and provides better performance and security for website owners. Nevertheless, you can expect to hear most individuals use “SSL” colloquially when referring to either.

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The SEO Advantages of Having HTTPS on Your Site

HTTPS is not only an enhanced extension of the HTTP protocol but also offers a variety of SEO advantages for your site. These factors can influence your site's quality score both directly and indirectly.

1. Google Will Boost Sites That Use HTTPS

Though the initial boost was much smaller, Google could potentially boost your rankings by as much as 5%. Additional studies may have determined that the boost isn't quite that large, and may ultimately serve as a tiebreaker between a site with HTTPS and one without. However, it's important to note that Google reserves the right to provide more weight to HTTPS as a ranking signal at any time.

With that said, businesses of all sizes can still benefit from the small boost that a secured website provides. This may be especially significant for small, local businesses where your competitors may or may not have the ability or funds to upgrade their websites to the HTTPS protocol. Even if the boost does amount to simply being a tiebreaker, it will push you over competitors that opt to leave their site unsecured.

It is important, however, to stress that HTTPS by itself will not prove to be significant. You still need to create and implement a solid SEO strategy that includes remedying crawl errors, eliminating duplicate content and URLs, optimizing site speed, and improving mobile-friendliness. You should view HTTPS as a small, but important step that provides more important benefits beyond the promised ranking boost.

2. Browsers Flag Unsecured Sites

This isn't so much a benefit as it is helping your website to avoid any penalties. Popular web browsers such as Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, or Safari will automatically flag any websites that lack the HTTPS security protocol. This shows a user a warning screen that informs them that their data may be vulnerable when accessing your site.

This matters for your SEO and site rankings as it is effectively telling users to steer clear of your website. It's easy enough to identify when a website is secure by the green lock icon that appears next to a URL. Users will likely bounce from your unsecured website and look for an alternative that features the security icon.

3. Track Your Referring Channels

Link-building campaigns are a powerful way to boost traffic to your website and increase its SEO value. Whenever you earn a backlink from a website, you will want to track the amount of referred traffic from that link. However, because HTTPS protects user data, you won't be able to track referrals if you stick with HTTP only.

On the other hand, using HTTPS for your site allows you to track referral data from HTTP or HTTPS websites. The security encryption on your website will secure data from any source and allow you to monitor your analytics as intended.

4. Online Security Promotes Consumer Confidence

This is the flipside of eliminating the unsecured site warning that browsers give to sites that neglect to use HTTPS. Not only will you avoid that warning, but consumers can easily identify a secured website. First, some browsers will still add the prefix protocol to a URL. This will look like this:

https://www.dashclicks.com

However, most browsers now understand the protocol and do not require users to input this, nor do they necessarily display it on screen.

The second sign is a lock icon that is located immediately to the left of the URL. When the lock is closed, the site is secure. A lock that is open with an exclamation point indicates that the website uses SSL, but there are errors present that may cause data to become unsecured. If you are not using HTTPS, this lock will not appear at all.

By having this logo of trust next to your domain name, visitors can browse with confidence. This means that they may be more likely to spend time on your website. They will also feel more inclined to engage with features on your site designed for conversions such as forms or shopping. They know that your website is backed by a security system and are therefore more comfortable with sharing sensitive data.

You will further boost this confidence by providing a Privacy Policy disclosure somewhere on your website. This is a requirement for websites and will explain to users what type of data you collect, what it is used for, and how long you store it.

Tips and Tricks for Using HTTPS

Purchasing and integrating a new SSL certificate on your site provides additional hurdles you may need to overcome. It's important to be aware of these errors or else you will end up like countless other websites that pay for HTTPS only to have a broken lock indicator next to their URL.

To avoid this, be sure to use this checklist of tips and tricks to ensure that you're getting the most out of your new website security.

1. Choose the Right SSL Certificate for Your Site

There are three primary SSL certificate types to consider for a single domain.

The first is known as Standard Validation and is the most affordable option available. This will allow you to enable the HTTPS protocol and include a lock icon next to your URL. This option requires you to go through a verification process that proves ownership of your domain. It provides a basic level of security and is recommended for sites that do not exchange sensitive data such as those in financial transactions.

The second type is known as Extended Validation. This verifies ownership of the domain and confirms the registry and ownership of the business. This is a more expensive security option but provides a higher level of protection that's recommended for sites that exchange highly sensitive information with consumers. This will show the HTTPS protocol, the lock icon, and the business name in a green bar to the left of the URL. It will also indicate the region that the business is registered in brackets.

The third type is known as Organization Validated. This works similarly to Extended Validation but goes through additional efforts to vet the entire organization that owns the domain. The organization name will appear next to the security indicator and provide an added level of security and trust for those that visit the site.

The type of SSL certificate you choose is ultimately inconsequential when it comes to your SEO. However, choosing the cheapest option from an unreputable source is not always a wise business decision as it can cause SEO issues in other ways. You will need to consider what you need based on the size and scope of your business.

More importantly, you need a heightened level of security to protect customers that exchange sensitive data or make financial transactions with you online. It's your responsibility to protect the confidentiality of your customers. Keep these factors in mind and purchase the right SSL certificate for your business's needs.

2. Make Page Speed Optimization a Priority

Site speed and mobile friendliness are already major factors when it comes to your site's SEO score. This is important to note because with HTTPS comes added security layers that can potentially increase loading times on site pages that are secured. A website that already features poor optimization and long load times will be worsened when upgrading to HTTPS.

For this reason, make sure to have your affairs in order when it comes to page speeds. You can utilize Google's PageSpeed Insights tool to check the health of your website and look for opportunities to boost your speed. Otherwise, the negative impact of poor load times will likely undo any positive benefits gained by the act of switching to HTTPS.

If you follow best practices and address any errors found by Google, then the issue lies with your SSL certificate provider. You will need to reach out and explain your speed issues to remedy the problem. As long as your website is passing PageSpeed tests, you should have no issues with the HTTPS protocol. If the problem persists, you may need to switch to a different provider for your website security.

Another strategy that some websites use is to implement HTTPS only on the pages that handle sensitive data. This would include checkout and payment pages within your storefront. You may have experience in using online stores that redirect to separate HTTPS pages for this purpose. However, we recommend addressing outstanding SEO issues on your site before resorting to this. You want your website to be prepared for the future if SSL becomes a sitewide standard.

3. Redirect HTTP URLs to HTTPS

This is a multi-step process but is necessary to ensure that your visitors head to the new, updated version of your website. First and foremost, you will need to tell Google Search Console to crawl the HTTPS version of your website. This process will mark the secured version of the site as the primary one, ensuring that those pages are the ones that appear in search engine results pages.

Note - You will also want to back up the existing version of your website if any errors occur throughout this process. This will protect you and ensure that no data is inadvertently lost in the process.

All of the URLs on your website will currently point to the HTTP version. This includes pathways to images, videos, and files that exist on your website. You will need to manually go through every URL and update these links to the HTTPS version. If you cannot rewrite the URL for every link, you should also create 301 redirects that push visitors to the HTTPS version if they attempt to access the original HTTP version.

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4. Update Your Sitemap, Robots.txt, and Disavow File

You'll also want to make it as easy as possible for Google's search crawler to download and understand how your website changes. You will need to change all URLs to the HTTPS version. The Robots.txt file should also be updated to ensure that it is not preventing Google from crawling the updated pages. Failure to do so will block you from obtaining the benefits of securing that page.

Likewise, you'll want to carry over the data you have regarding disavowed URLs. If you do not do so, those disavowed domains can find a loophole and begin backlinking to your domain using the updated protocol. Resubmit your file to Google to carry over your list.

You will essentially need to repeat these sorts of tasks for every aspect of your website. This includes updating internal links to direct to HTTPS versions. You will also need to update tracking tools you use such as Google Analytics, Google Ads, Google Tag Manager, and Facebook Ads. By addressing all of this as soon as possible, you will preserve the SEO work you've completed thus far and make the transition to your new site go as smoothly as possible.

5. Perform a Manual Website Test for Errors

If you've gone through the checklist and taken every effort to make your transition a success, test things out for yourself. Navigate to the HTTPS version and begin exploring everything as if you were a first-time visitor.

Ensure that there are no broken links or links that direct to outdated page versions. Click every link and check for your security icon next to the URL. Make sure that no images or videos are broken on any pages. Test any filters to ensure that the updated page versions populate correctly. Finally, test any forms or checkout pages with test submissions to ensure that your company can carry on business as usual without unwanted interruptions.

Conclusion - Switching to HTTPS is Tricky, but Doable for All Website Owners!

Switching to HTTPS has several positive impacts on your SEO and will help future-proof your website. It's expected that Google will increasingly weigh website rankings based upon website security, so it's advisable to implement HTTPS sitewide.

The initial implementation of your SSL certificate is simple, but the process that follows can be tricky if you're not prepared. Create a checklist using these talking points and work with your team to prepare. You will need to take manual efforts to update your URLs and redirect users to the new version of your website. This also includes updating mixed content sources for images and videos.

You'll also need to update your sitemap, Robots.txt, and disavow files to ensure that you carry on the benefits of your SEO work thus far. After you complete these updates, instruct Google Search Console to crawl the HTTPS version of your website as soon as possible.

Some small potential drawbacks can occur by switching to HTTPS. However, by following Google guidelines and following the best practices for SEO, your website should be able to handle the changes that come with this upgrade. As a result, you will see continued results for your SEO efforts and the promised recognition by Google for securing your site for others.

Your web browser utilizes a protocol to send and receive information from the website you are accessing. It’s now automatically assumed that you are using a protocol known as HTTP. The alternative protocol is known as HTTPS and may be used by website owners for a different purpose.

What is the difference between HTTP and HTTPS and why should you care? In this article, we’ll explain why websites use protocols, the purpose of each, and the SEO impact of using SSL certificates for your websites. After reading, you’ll be able to make an informed decision on whether or not you need this certificate, what type you should use, and how Google uses this to calculate your search ranking.

What is HTTP?

HTTP, which stands for Hypertext transfer protocol, is the default method for transmitting data through the web. A user utilizes their web browser of choice and enters your domain. This sends an HTTP request to the website server. The server responds to the request by sending the requested data to your computer, which then causes it to appear on-screen within your browser.

The benefit of using the HTTP protocol is that it is generally faster than other data transmission methods. This is because HTTP does not remember anything from previous browsing sessions and sends fewer requests to the server. As a result, the user can load everything on your website for the user to experience sooner.

However, that speed comes at the cost of user security. HTTP lacks any form of encryption, meaning that any data that the user sends to your site is unprotected and vulnerable to phishing attempts or attacks. For this reason, Google Chrome flags any sites that use the HTTP protocol as unsecured.

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HTTP can situationally work well for any HTML-only sites that do not require the user to transmit any sensitive data.

What is HTTPS?

HTTPS stands for Hypertext transfer protocol secure. This is an extension of the HTTP protocol that utilizes security encryption to protect transmitted data from both parties. To switch to the HTTPS protocol, you will need to purchase what is known as an SSL Certificate for your website.

SSL stands for “Secure Sockets Layer” and was previously the most widely used encryption protocol on the web. SSL is still used in some circumstances, but the protocol known as TLS (Transport Layer Security) is largely used in its place. However, many will still use SSL colloquially regardless of which is actually being used.

Therefore, HTTPS is effectively the combination of the HTTP protocol with SSL/TLS encryption. This provides the website owner and its users with protection against phishing scams, digital attackers, and other threats that prey upon insecure connections.

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Should I Choose HTTP or HTTPS?

If you are interested in boosting your site’s SEO value, you unquestionably need to utilize HTTPS. The primary purpose for this is because Google promises ranking boosts and additional SEO value for sites that protect their users with HTTPS.

The reason that Google requests users to use security encryption is part of an effort to make the internet safe and secure for its users no matter where they are. Google itself utilizes sophisticated HTTPS encryption across all of its platforms including both Chrome and Gmail. Websites that do not use security encryptions on their site compromise the level of protection and security that Google offers to its users.

It’s difficult to argue with this as it should be in every business’s interest to protect the confidentiality of its customers. If your site asks users to transmit any type of data, you should upgrade your site and purchase an SSL certificate. The level of security encryption you should use depends largely on the sensitivity of the data shared. If you utilize submission forms that ask for basic details like a name and email, basic SSL encryption should suffice. If you run an eCommerce store, you need the best security available to protect both parties involved in financial transactions.

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The SEO Impact of SSL Certificates

As stated, Google declared that by simply purchasing an SSL certificate, you are taking advantage of an element that Google factors into search rankings. As an SEO, your goal is to boost rankings and drive conversions, so you must take advantage of every factor possible.

In addition to this, users also understand that secured websites are the standard. Google Chrome makes up nearly 60% of worldwide surveyed users and will automatically flag unsecured websites to its users. This alone increases the bounce rate and deter visitors from spending time on sites without an SSL certificate. Securing your website will eliminate this warning and help to improve clickthrough rates while decreasing bounce rates.

Other browsers are following suit, including Microsoft Edge and Apple’s Safari, as well as kid's browsers designed specifically to ensure safe browsing environments. These options provide users with the ability to avoid unsecured websites and create safer online experiences.

With all the positives listed, you should note that there are some small potential downsides to installing an SSL certificate. The first is that your SSL certificate is not free. It will require the initial payment as well as the cost to maintain it monthly. You can look here to find a thorough list of certificate providers to help you choose the best one for your needs.

The second thing to note is that switching to the HTTPS protocol may cause longer load times on your website. The security encryption requires a browser to make additional requests, which can delay how quickly data is transmitted to the end-user. For this reason, you should focus on the quality of the provider and select the correct certificate type for your needs.

How to Choose the Right SSL Certificate?

There are several types of SSL certificates available for purchase, which can potentially make this process more confusing than it needs to be.

The first and most common is a Domain-Validated SSL certificate. This verifies the registry and ownership of a domain and validates that authority through email, DNS, or an HTTP request. These are highly affordable, can be implemented quickly, and provide basic protection for sites that do not handle financial transactions or the exchange of highly sensitive data.

The second type is an Organization-Validated SSL certificate. This not only verifies ownership of the domain but also ownership of an entire organization within a set location. In addition to the above process, you will also need to go through a slightly more extensive ownership-verification process that can take several days. This provides a heightened level of security for users making it more viable for sensitive data transmission.

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A third type is an Extended-Validation SSL certificate that requires proof of domain ownership, proof of organization ownership, and proof of business registry. This certificate is signified by showing the organization next to the URL in the green text along with a green lock icon. This is the most secure level of encryption available, but it is also the most costly.

There are additional certificates for purchase when using subdomains known as Single-domain SSL certificates, Multi-domain SSL certificates, and Wildcard SSL certificates. You can learn more about those here.

The main factors you’ll need to focus on here include the initial and monthly costs, the size of your business, the number of domains, SCIM user provisioning, and the level of security needed to protect your personal and customer data. Be aware that the more secure your website appears, the more trustworthy your domain, which could potentially lead to a higher level of conversions.

SSL Certificates Positively Impact Your SEO

In conclusion, Google definitively emphasizes the importance of SSL certificates for SEO. This is all part of an effort to make the internet safer and more secure for every user.

In addition to this, most web browsers including the most popular one, Google Chrome, will flag a website as unsecured and tell users that they are unsafe and vulnerable to attacks. This will more than likely direct traffic away from your domain and make your brand seem less trustworthy. This will likely harm your SEO metrics like clickthrough rate, bounce rate, and conversion rate. Securing your domain will eliminate these issues and make your site feel safer and more viable to users.

However, also remember that cost should not be the only factor when choosing an SSL. Simply going with the lowest cost could earn you a certificate that is not well-optimized and can increase your loading times, negative the SEO value otherwise gained. There are also different SSL certificates with varying security encryptions that should be employed depending on the scale of your business and the sensitivity of the data exchanged.

HTTPS is the industry standard and you should upgrade your website with an SSL certificate to positively impact your SEO. Failure to do so will cause your online presence to lag further behind in an already competitive digital world. Work with your provider to correctly install your certificate and perform a test through Google Search Console to ensure that your new certificate is working in your best interests.

As Google's search algorithm evolves, so too must our marketing strategies. SEO experts and business owners alike must stay on top of the latest SEO techniques for better site optimization, improved search rankings, and better conversion rates.

If you're concerned about how these changes will impact your website, worry no further. Below, we're going to provide you with a look at seven emerging technologies in SEO that are changing the way users access information. Some technologies are still being refined, while others are already here in a usable state.

1. Googlebot A/B Testing

If you have any experience in managing a website, creating ads, or creating landing pages, you're already familiar with A/B testing. This is the process of creating two different variations of the same creative. You then divide your web traffic to determine which version performs best with your audience. In this scenario, your campaign is already live and you are spending the budget to gather analytics.

With SEO A/B testing, you are performing the same process but unveiling it to Googlebot first rather than your audience. In addition to this, you are typically only providing one version of the page to compare it to the base version.

A/B testing with Googlebot can be used to analyze a variety of SEO factors including headlines, content variations, meta descriptions, schema markup and rich results, mobile page variations, and much more. You also do not need to worry about hurting your current page rankings so long as you follow Google's recommended guidelines for testing, which you can find here.

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While user A/B testing is valuable and can certainly drive conversions, SEO A/B testing can allow for greater confidence in your results. This is because we are dealing with Google's search algorithm directly and making changes upon actual changes to search traffic, click-through rate, and search engine rankings.

If you're curious where you can begin experimenting with SEO A/B testing, you can take advantage of these features in Google Tag Manager along with Optimize.

2. Google's Multitask Unified Model

In the ongoing effort to be the world's best search engine, Google continues to improve how its algorithm reads and understands search results. Back in 2019, an addition to the algorithm known as BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers) brought with it natural language processing technology. Since then, Google further improved its ability to understand complex queries with the Multitask Unified Model (MUM).

As smart as artificial intelligence can be, it commonly struggles with understanding user intent. This becomes an issue with how nuanced human language is and how we go about using it when browsing the web. AI is often left to read our search queries as entirely literal, while we as humans can decipher hidden meanings or intent behind a simple phrase. As a result, the user typically makes several searches before finding what they really need.

MUM is changing the game by allowing the algorithm to determine the actual meaning behind a web search. Essentially, the experts at Google trained the algorithm to better understand how users around the globe utilize language for search.

As a quick example, let's say a local store proprietor wants to start selling alcohol. He searches for something to the effect of need alcohol permit store.ā  Based on the search intent and background information, we understand that the store owner wants a link telling him how to get his permit. However, the algorithm would previously interpret this in a number of ways, such as Do I need an alcohol permit? It may also not understand that specifically, a business person is completing this search, not your average citizen.

With the latest advances in machine learning, Google search can now immediately complete a series of complex tasks and derive the actual search intent based upon user behaviors worldwide. It now understands the search intent as we do and provides the most relevant information at the top of results.

MUM takes this even further by providing this level of accuracy across 75 different languages. Google's smart algorithm is able to remove language barriers as a factor and deliver the best information to anyone in the world regardless of the language used. It can deliver information in one language and deliver it in the user's preferred language.

As an SEO, this does not necessarily present new challenges for your existing SEO strategy. However, Google's continuous advances in searching for the most accurate information reinforces our need to optimize our content for this purpose. By delivering the most informative, easy-to-use content possible, we can potentially boost our traffic with users around the world.

3. Allow AI to Write Your First Draft

New AI-driven technology may someday write our SEO content for us entirely. OpenAI, an artificial intelligence research company, unveiled its GPT-3 language generator just over a year ago. This allows users to create some of the most human-like text ever created by machines. We provide the API with the subject we need to focus on, and it quickly creates the content of varying lengths depending on the information it finds around the internet.

However, if you glance at the article above, you will quickly see that this technology is currently posing problems, as well. Due to its complete reliance on existing human behavior only, it's very easy for the AI to deliver content that comes with biases that we do not intend to include in our content. Many tests were quick to deliver hateful, racist messages within the text.

For this reason, GPT-3 is not yet at a place where we can place total reliance on language-learning technology. At best, we can attempt to utilize this AI to create first drafts of content. We then review the copy to see the quality of information gathered, while making the necessary changes and revisions to produce a final copy.

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With that said, it's just a matter of time before text-based content creation is no longer a task performed by humans. As experts in the field continue to train artificial intelligence to better understand the intention, desire, and emotion, robots will be able to apply those factors when creating long-form informational articles.

4. TF-IDF for Keyword Relevance

TF-IDF (Term Frequency Times Inverse Document Frequency) is an equation used to measure the actual importance and relevance of a keyword. This is as opposed to keyword density within a document. This is important for search engine optimization specialists as you can use TF-IDF when researching keywords that are the best fit for your page and website.

You will need to implement your usual SEO strategy and create the content you want to analyze with TF-IDF. Then, your TF-IDF tool will rapidly compare your document to high-quality information that exists online. This will highlight high-quality terms and phrases present in other content that can support and improve your own.

To further explain, every piece of content will generally contain common words or phrases. Because these words appear with a high frequency, TF-IDF determines that they are less relevant as they are not unique to the subject. However, less frequent terms that only appear in related topics are more valuable and have higher relevancy. This creates a list of the terms you should focus on and eliminates those you can ignore.

No longer do you need to leave the task of researching every piece of high-ranking content to determine gaps in your own. You can utilize tools online like TF-IDF Tool or Ryte.

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5. Automated Content Research and Optimization

Businesses and marketers are already taking advantage of automated content research and optimization tools for efficient content creation. You no longer need to enlist dedicated content writers that need to spend hours researching, writing, and refining text to perfection. You simply enter your target keyword or subject, allow the tool to grab the most relevant data, and then get to compiling it into your new article.

These state-of-the-art tools rapidly check the internet for relevant articles at the top of search results as well as the People Also Ask section. It's also become sophisticated enough to discover popular questions and answers from major sites such as Reddit, Answers.com, Quora, or Wikipedia.

There is a wide variety of tools and platforms for you to choose from for your content research. This includes sites like Ubersuggest, BuzzSumo, and Content Harmony.

Source: Ubersuggest

6. Search Driven by Image and Video

While informative content is king in marketing, high-quality images and video become increasingly more valuable for SEO over time. Not only does it enhance the quality of your content and make it more engaging for your users, but it may also one day take precedence over text entirely in some cases.

Earlier in this article, we discussed a new level of sophistication that's reached Google's search algorithm through MUM. Not only does this technology help the algorithm under search intent, but it is also gaining the ability to recognize dynamic media and generate relevant results based upon what's shown in a picture or a video. Users can already utilize media as a search query and receive a list of results that Google determines is relevant.

While image and video optimization are already essential for SEO, they will continue to gain added importance for every website. Media optimization already improves site speeds, mobile friendliness, and user retention, but it may become a determining factor in whether or not your content successfully outranks your competitor's.

Google provides explicit guidelines as to what you should do for best practices when it comes to images, video, and rich media files. Free options for editing and optimizing images and videos include Canva and Invideo. If your SEO strategy does not already include plans for an emphasis on media, understand that it will continue to be a significant factor in search rankings.

7. Users will Learn More from AI Conversations (LaMDA)

The researchers at Google are not stopping at improving the quality of its search results. One of its latest technological advances is known as LaMDA, also known as Language Model for Dialogue Applications,ā  may change the way we access information forever.

LaMDA follows in the footsteps of other language models mentioned in this article like BERT and GPT-3. The difference for this piece of technology is that its training is geared toward learning the principles of human conversation and interaction. While many of us may already use some form of voice-activated software such as Amazon's Alexa or Apple's Siri, those robots primarily seek out relevant search results to provide answers. Other responses are primarily scripted and will trigger when given the right inputs.

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This new technology seeks to provide relevant information in a more conversational approach as opposed to simply pulling up the top-ranked results. The current task ahead is to maintain its compelling level of relatability, while still staying true to informational accuracy. It also faces the same challenges mentioned with other language models for its ability to be misused for harmful or hateful purposes.

Nevertheless, it is inevitable that we all will be able to access any information we desire by simply asking a robot a question. How this will directly affect our SEO strategies remains to be seen, but key practices will still remain. This means that our focus should still be to follow Google's guidelines when it comes to creating valuable, factual content.

Any information published on your website should follow Google's EAT (Expertise, Authority, Trustworthiness) principle. By providing reliable information that Google can use in its automated processes, we will continue to receive the SEO benefits we need and see our websites rank as more valuable in the eyes of the Google algorithm. However, we will need to keep a close eye on how conversational AI changes the way we format and present our data to search engines.

Conclusion - Emerging SEO Technologies Will Forever Change How We Access Information

While some of these technologies may yet be years away, many are already here and being used by business owners and marketers alike. You may no longer need to spend hours researching keywords and information for your articles but can utilize sophisticated tools that automatically bring you the data you need for valuable content.

Search engines are also continuously improving their machine learning algorithms and changing the way search engines read and deliver results. In time, we may be able to access all of the information we need to make a consumer decision by conversing with artificial intelligence just as we would with a sales representative.

Finally, media will continue to be a significant factor when determining what constitutes a valuable search result. Your SEO strategy should place even greater emphasis on video and image optimization that supports any text on a given webpage. The on-page content itself should factor in Google's EAT principle to demonstrate expertise, authority, and trustworthiness regarding any subject matter.

While there are still unknowns in regard to how changing technologies may impact SEO and search rankings, we still know to focus on these fundamental principles to continuously improve our site quality ranking. SEO and digital marketing will always be an ever-evolving landscape and it's up to us to stay on top of the latest trends to reap the greatest results possible.

Structured data implementation promises to enhance your website's SEO value and attract new customers. It is no longer a practice that can be ignored as businesses become savvier every day when it comes to the latest trends in digital marketing. It continues to evolve the way we search for information and access information by identifying key snippets of information on a page for our knowledge.

If you are unfamiliar with structured data, also referred to as schema, we're here to get you up to speed. This article will help you to understand what structured data is, the importance of schema markup in SEO, the implementation of data structures, and how to identify any schema errors currently on your web pages.

What is Structured Data?

Structured data is any information that is structured or organized to help search engine crawlers understand the data. By using the appropriate schema markups, Google can immediately identify business information, product information, people, addresses, contact details, and more. Using structured data correctly will also illustrate how all of that information relates to one another in a hierarchical structure.

You will often hear structured data and schema markup used interchangeably, although they are not the same thing. When we use the term schema markup, we are referring to the process of using a markup language in our HTML to appropriately tag and organize all of the content on a web page. This process makes our data structured for better visibility.

Like any programming language, there are strict rules for us to follow. Schema.org is the official organization that determines and creates the rules that all webmasters must follow when properly implementing structured data. Google then uses those rules to create a format for the appropriate tags to use and when to use them for you to enhance the appearance of your search result on one of their search engine results pages.

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Why Should I Implement Structured Data on My Site?

Before you find yourself scared off by the technical aspects, know that the importance of schema markup in SEO cannot be understated. Structured data benefits all parties involved by making it easier to identify and read key elements of information that you offer on every webpage. If you're unsure of what this means, take a look at this search result:

Before we click on a webpage, we can already learn a significant amount of information just from the snippet. We see how this page relates to the navigational hierarchy of the website, it is marked up with a review schema, and it also features schema markup that shows pricing and inventory information.

Your average search result usually contains only a title and a meta description. This enhanced search result is known as a rich snippet or a rich result and exists because of the structured data implementation. Not only does it potentially save us a click by giving us the key details, but it also tells Google's search crawler how to understand and classify that information for us. The better Google can understand your website, the more trust it has in it, which can ultimately boost your rankings.

In addition to this, a rich result is larger, contains more valuable information, and offers better visibility than your average search listing. The traffic that enters your website from a rich result is also likely to be of higher quality as they've already gained additional information to help them determine their level of interest in your content.

Structured Data Can Also Provide Knowledge Graphs

While rich results will benefit every website owner, structured data implementation can also help Google create knowledge graphs for higher-ranking results. Whenever you search for a keyword or business on Google, the top results generally feature what's known as a knowledge graph on the right side of the page. This provides a massive preview of the site along with relevant information.

This can provide your audience with the knowledge they need including a brief about blurb, contact information, social media profile links, your home page link, and much more. Google will also try to provide them with related businesses that users search for to help audiences better understand where your brand lies in the industry.

In summary, structured data implementation makes the internet a more organized, informative place. By helping Google understand your site, you significantly improve your SEO value and stand out significantly among your competitors. Your audience will thank you for the easily accessible information, as well.

Who Can Benefit from Structured Data?

Every business or website owner will unquestionably benefit from enhancing their pages with rich results. If you take several search results across a variety of topics on Google, you are guaranteed to see rich results near the top of every search engine results page. While those webmasters are certainly implementing a variety of SEO practices to enhance their ranking, the evidence is clear that Google's algorithm highly favors those who properly utilize schema markup according to their structured data guidelines.

While structured data implementation should be a core component of everyone's SEO strategy, it can potentially be more beneficial for small-to-medium-sized businesses that may or may not have the ability to correctly perform their schema markup. This can be due to lack of knowledge or ability, lack of time or resources, or lack of budget to hire a search engine optimization expert. This provides the perfect window for you to take advantage of the competition's weaknesses.

A smaller business with a lower profile will stand out significantly with an excellent SEO strategy and rich results on every website page. It lends an air of professionalism, trustworthiness, and authority that provides an excellent first impression to first-time visitors. In addition to this, these happen to be the components Google's search algorithm looks for when choosing the results to rank highest.

If you are on the fence as to whether or not implementing structured data is worthwhile, or SEO in general for that matter, it's time to take the leap. SEO services are affordable and undoubtedly one of the most worthwhile investments you can make to improve your business's online presence. Studies support this claim with rich results pages boasting higher clickthrough rates than those without.

Where Can I Learn How to Implement Structured Data?

Schema.org offers a “Getting Started” page that educates you on the basic principles of schema markups and microdata. This includes descriptions of the alternative formats as well as the vocabulary used to tag key information. This document is not for those who are completely unfamiliar with coding and assumes that you have some basic knowledge of HTML as a website owner and operator.

From there, you can utilize their document library to understand the preferred hierarchy model and the full list of schema vocabulary you can use to mark up a webpage. You can also quickly search for specific articles to immediately identify how to mark up that specific article of information.

There are three formats for implementing structured data: microdata, JSON-LD, and RDFa. While you can learn about each on the website, know that Google's preferred format is JSON-LD, which greatly simplifies the process of marking up a page. You can essentially apply your markup language anywhere in the HTML of a page without much issue.

Choosing the Right Structured Data for the Page

If you've had an opportunity to take a peek at the list of schema vocabulary, you may be overwhelmed. While it's easy to go overboard with the intent of marking up every piece of content, it's better to focus on the primary goal for the page.

When beginning structured data implementation, start with the primary reason that the webpage exists. If you are marking up a product page for example, then the “Product” schema is the most important factor for this page. Remember that Google’s search crawler uses this language to determine what content exists on a page. If you get carried away with markups that are not focused on the product, you may confuse the algorithm. This can harm your rankings.

When you need to use more markup tags, remember to follow the recommended hierarchy. If you think about how other search results appear when using structured data, the hierarchy generally might look something like this:

• Thing
• Organization
• Educational Organization
• College or University

For a product schema, it may look something like this:

• Thing
• Product Name
• Product Image
• Review
• Aggregate Rating
• Pricing
• Brand

You can use the Schema link provided above and follow the links to see how a hierarchy should follow. The final link then takes you to all of the available attributes that you may potentially use to markup a page based on the primary topic you selected.

The exact structured data you should use depends entirely on the page's subject matter. You will need to research the required and recommended attributes before beginning the markup process. Countless types of pages could exist depending on the focus including Product, Review, Article, Offer, Business, Place, Person, Creative Work, Event, and much more.

If you are struggling with how to approach implementing structured data markup, Google once again simplifies the process by offering its Structured Data Markup Helper. You simply select the primary data type of the page, enter your URL, and click Start Tagging.

Your webpage will appear along with a column listing the potential items available for tagging on the right side. Click the content you want to tag, choose the appropriate tag, and repeat this process for all items you wish to markup. When you are finished, simply select Create HTML to have this tool generate your code for you. You will then need to add this HTML code to the existing code on the webpage.

How Do I Know If I Used Structured Data Correctly?

If you utilize the documentation made available by Schema.org, you should already be off to a great start. However, Google Search Console simplifies the process of identifying markup errors. Log in to your Google Search Console account and navigate to Search Appearance. This will show you your total number of results along with the current number of errors.

You can then sort through every error by page and view a description of each schema markup error that is present. You should then continue to follow through by selecting Test Live Data, which will take you to Google's Structured Data Testing Tool. This then provides an in-depth examination of your schema markup code and pinpoints the problems exactly.

The test will flag errors in either red or orange. Red indicates any markup tags that are required or are present with existing issues. This is usually caused by an incorrect entry somewhere in the markup tag. Flagged items in orange do not represent vital errors, but rather recommendations to enhance the appearance of your rich results.

Any time that you remedy existing errors or otherwise change the schema markup of a webpage, be sure to resubmit your website for indexing through the Search Console. This advises Google to crawl your website once again and update search engine results pages with the fixes to your HTML and snippet appearance.

Additional Schema Markup Tips to Know

Now that you've grasped the essentials of schema markup and structured data implementation, there are a few things to keep in mind. You should only apply schema markup tags to content that users see and interact with on the web page. You do not need to and should not tag elements that exist only in the HTML code.

However, you may tag hidden content that exists on a webpage. While this won’t apply to many users, there are niche scenarios in which hiding content is necessary to improve the user experience. An example of this is minimizing the amount of content shown on screen when a user visits a page from a mobile phone with a small screen. Developers may choose to hide some of the content behind a “Read More” button to improve the user experience. Because the content is not being hidden for malicious or unethical purposes, it is acceptable to tag this content for your SEO. However, know that it is never acceptable to hide irrelevant content to mislead consumers or manipulate the search algorithm.

An additional tip to note is that your schema markup should always be a true representation of the content. We raise this point as there may be scenarios in which a page on your website ranks highly for a term that is separate from the page's focus.

An example of this is ranking for a product on your home page, which focuses on your business. While it may occur to you to use a product markup to further boost this ranking, it goes against Google's guidelines. You would still need to utilize the local business markup to represent the on-page content. If your pages are ranking for keywords unintentionally, you will need to address this in your SEO strategy.

Finally, be sure to implement the same schema markup language on all versions of your site including Accelerated Mobile Pages. This will ensure that the benefits gained from structured data are consistent and present a better browsing experience for your mobile audience.

Tracking Your Rich Results Performance

After marking up your website pages and remedying any errors, you can easily keep track of the benefits gained from your efforts by using Google Search Console. By navigating to Performance > Search Appearance, you can view clicks, impressions, and Google ranking positions for each rich result. Use your tracked dates to compare newer figures to previous ones without schema markup language.

Google Search Console will further segment your rich results by general search queries, product snippets, review snippets, and videos. You should expect to see an increase in all metrics over time.

Conclusion - The Strategic Value of Structured Data Implementation is Significant

Effectively organizing the content throughout your website benefits your online presence in myriad ways. Google's search crawler has a significantly easier time classifying and presenting data to search engine users when using schema markup tags. This results in rich results that present your audience with key information that not only drives your clickthrough rate but the quality of your website traffic.

Utilizing structured data is also an effective way to immediately make your local business stand out significantly from the competition. Maximizing the impressions gained by demonstrating organization, trustworthiness, and professionalism will help you stand among even larger online businesses.

All of these benefits work together to ultimately boost your overall search rankings. Your average search engine results page demonstrates that pages with rich results take priority over those without. Combine this with a consistent SEO strategy and regular content marketing and your website ranking will climb noticeably over time.