Website optimisation ensures that your website is easy to find, navigate and use. Optimising your website’s performance across desktop and mobile will result in:
- Higher visibility in the search engine rankings
- Higher conversion rates
- More leads or sales
- Increased ROI
Perspective customer/client perceptions of your business are born out of the very first seconds they spend on your website. It’s a harsh reality that is all too true, with this initial experience guiding a prospect’s next action. Will they decide to contact you or buy from you based on what they find? Or disappear never to return? The choice is ultimately yours.
Visitors will consciously assess your products, capabilities, experience, and relevance to their needs. Subconsciously, they will determine how easy you made it for them to find the information they were looking for and how enjoyable that experience was.
Never forget, first impressions last!
Higher visibility on Search Engines
It’s no secret that well-optimised websites rank higher on search engine results pages. It’s a long game that will help brands increase visitors, dwell times and solid business opportunities – happy days.
A website that is neither optimised nor receiving regular maintenance might as well be invisible. Hidden deep amongst a plethora of irrelevant search results – it’s a true horror story.
75% of people will never click past the first page of search engine results. So, if your website is missing, then you’re losing out on business.
By far the largest search engine globally, Google accounts for most of the world’s web traffic. Garnering a tremendous amount of trust, nearly 92% of web users utilise the platform for research before purchasing a product/service. That’s why it pays to be visible on that first page of Google results, capturing prospects as they search for services you can provide.
The Bing search engine is also gaining popularity due to being shipped with Microsoft devices. We recommend optimising for both Google and Bing as standard. While their market share is under 3%, it’s significant and growing.
Content is Still King – But it’s Not the Only Thing
Your website is a place to immerse your visitors in your brand experience and make it memorable. Its written and visual impact, alongside quality video, photographic and illustrative content, are very important in achieving this. Content relevance, freshness, and keyword optimisation all influence rankings in the search engine results pages.
Good design and website navigation make it easy for your customers to find what they want. This starts a domino effect, reducing bounce rates, and increasing time on site as audiences engage with your brand.
Speed of page load also matters – the faster your website loads on desktop, tablet, and mobile devices, the more likely it is that visitors will stay and buy. A frustrating or confusing user experience might result in a visitor never returning. Within the first 10-15 seconds of arriving, visitors typically determine whether they want to stay on your website. Therefore, users will be more inclined to leave if your site’s performance isn’t up to speed.
In 2021 Google began rolling out a major update called Core Web Vitals. It focuses on the real-world user experience. Factors such as a website’s loading speed and mobile-friendliness are key influencers in achieving high rankings. This has a significant and positive impact on search engine optimisation strategies, websites, and web hosting companies.
Keeping Pace in a Changing Digital Landscape
Launching an optimised website is a fantastic start. However, it’s not a one-off activity if you want to maintain high performance in rankings and conversion. Never forget:
- Google is constantly changing its algorithm.
- Desktop, tablet, mobile and console devices are constantly evolving.
- Browsers like Google Chrome, Safari, Mozilla, Firefox, and Edge are always updating, affecting display and user experience.
All this updating and improving means that you need to stay on top of optimising your website for success.
The Elastic team carry out significant website optimisation projects to align with Google Core Web Vitals – all of which have delivered very clear and immediate returns. The following example shows the improvements we measured 3 weeks after a recent website optimisation:
*Visibility stats based on mobile and desktop using google.co.uk, google.com and bing.com
It has never been more important to ensure that your website is optimised for performance. It’s key to your brand success. Did you know that an optimised website also has a lower carbon footprint?
If you have a website which isn’t performing as well as it could be, why not contact us today? We’d love to share our knowledge with you and listen to your specific requirements, so we can help you maximise your website ROI.
Click here to learn more about how we optimise websites and help leave a first impression that lasts.
We hope to hear from you soon.
Thanks for stopping by.
The Elastic Team