10 things you can do to improve your website visibility

Even when you need to work remotely your website can become much more effective all that is required is connection to the internet. A website markets your business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and its value increases in times when unprecedented events have a detrimental effect on businesses. 

In an age where more and more people work remotely, search terms and trends on Google are changing. Therefore, it’s imperative that your website is geared-up and ready to compete in a search marketing landscape that’s constantly changing. Within this blog post we are going to highlight 10 things you can do to make your website more visible so it becomes a much more effective marketing tool. Web Design SEO is a leading London SEO Agency that can help increase your visibility and sales.

Do an Audit of your Website 

If you want to do an audit of your website there are a number of online apps that allow you to do it for free. One of the benefits of having an audit done by a third party as opposed to your web developer is that you are more likely to get an objective view of your site as a whole. There are sites such as MOz.com that offer a free 30 day trial of their apps which mean you can sign up and get a complete audit done without spending any money. 

Why Have an Audit ?

When you have an audit your website will normally be scored out of 100 after undergoing a number of different tests. This will identify any issues that exist on your site and what areas of it need work. If you use a more in depth app it will tell you the exact nature of the problem and where it is as opposed to just what is wrong. Once the audit is complete you will be in possession of a comprehensive list of actions you can take that will have a positive impact on your keyword rankings.  

Look at your keyword rankings.

Are you aware of how your website ranks and for what? Having a clear understanding of what search terms your website is ranking for and even more importantly where they rank is essential if the aim of your website is to generate new business. One way to do this is by using tools such as Ahrefs and SEMrush that will run certain checks free of charge or as part of a free trial. You will find that it is well worth running your site through these tools and checking them out. 

What is the Point of Reviewing Your Keywords 

By reviewing your keywords you will find out which ones rank well, which need some work and probably most importantly which of keywords do not rank at all. In the case of the keywords that need more work you may need to take a closer look at the internal links you have and how your site is structured. If your keywords are not ranking at all then you will need to produce new content. 

Once you have a list of tasks to complete for your website it gives you the option of either doing them yourself or hiring SEO experts. At Web Design SEO we offer a comprehensive range of SEO services that can help businesses wanting to get started with on, or make an improvement in their existing SEO.  

Check Your Content 

If you happen to have some extra time (unlikely, but it could happen), taking a moment to review your site’s content can be a valuable way to improve the rankings of your internal pages and homepage.

After reviewing your keywords, you’ll likely have a list of URLs on your site that could benefit from some enhancements.

It’s quite possible that some of your pages lack sufficient content, so adding more text, properly tagged images, and other elements can help boost their rankings.

There are various adjustments you can make to your site’s pages or posts to make them more optimised for Google.

  • Ensure there are images within the content and that the ALT tags are correct
  • Put a video on your page, you don’t need it to be complex, just something simple that highlights the content on your page and can be aimed at people who prefer watching to reading. 
  • Give your pages some social proof by embedding tweets that endorse your products or services along with testimonials and 5 star reviews. 
  • Include a map, if relevant (for example, if the page is geo-targeted).
  • Design and include a contact form that is specific to that actual content as opposed to a generic one size fits all form, it may be worth adding in some extra fields that you ask the user to fill in that relate to the page itself.  

What Benefits are there to Reviewing the Content on your Site 

It is no secret that Google loves new updated content. When you take the time to improve and refine the content on your site you can be sure that google will notice particularly if it is time sensitive and is the result of other information that has come to light. 

Another tip would be to remove any ‘posted on’ dates from your site and replace them with ‘last updated’ – this would show the search engines that you are taking good care of your site and keeping it up-to-date.

Look for Gaps in your Content 

You will always get keywords that you don’t rank for, which is why it is imperative that you do a keyword review of your site. As we mentioned earlier this will highlight what you are ranking for and where. However, if you do a keyword review of a competitor’s site it may well help show you which keywords you should be ranking for. 

Do an analysis of what competitors are doing, take a look at where they rank and see how the content they have and where it is situated differs from yours. Study the pages that rank for particular keywords and improve your site by writing new content or editing what is already on the page. 

For broader content, start by compiling a list of keywords you’re not currently ranking for and come up with potential titles for new posts or pages. A helpful approach is to create drafts in WordPress with just the title ideas. This way, you’ll have a ready-to-go list of content ideas directly in your site and a handy reminder every time you log in.

The Benefits of finding Gaps in your Content 

First of all it means that the content you are producing is exactly what people want to see. It will also mean that you are going directly up against your competitors and by producing high quality relevant content you’ll have a better chance of out ranking them. 

Make sure you always check the search volume and competitiveness so you can determine how difficult it will be to rank for the specific keyword. In an ideal world you are looking for high volume and low competitiveness when you are starting out. Make a note of search intent, question what the user will try to find via this search string. Generally, generic and broad keywords aren’t worth chasing.

Invest time in sorting your internal links.

While backlinks often get all the attention, internal links on your website are equally important. The way you connect your pages will help give Google a better understanding of how your site is structured and identify which pages you consider most significant. Think of it as a “all roads lead to Rome” approach. 

You need to make sure your blog posts link to relevant landing pages, and those landing pages in turn should connect back to your homepage. Google will determine whether your blog post, landing page, or homepage should rank for a specific keyword, and an effective internal linking strategy can positively impact the rankings for all your content.

The benefits of sorting your internal links?

If your site is well organised it will be much easier to understand. It is important to invest time in organising your internal links and by adding in ones that are missing you will be sending a good message to search engines. The search engine will then be able to get a clear understanding of what you are trying to achieve with your content, and appreciate the effort you are making with your links which will usually result in a boost in the rankings. 

Optimise Images 

This is a relatively simple way of making your website more visible but a very important one. Having images that are overly large on your pages or in posts will undoubtedly affect rankings. It is easy to embed images on posts and in pages with wordpress but failing to optimise correctly for the web will result in your load times suffering. This in turn will often lead to visitors to your site moving on as they don’t want to wait all that time for images to load. 

Not everyone has photoshop however there are a lot of free, freemium and premium plugins and services that can be used to work through the images on your site and compress them. Some of the apps you can try out include: 

  • Imagify
  • Compress JPG
  • Smush

One really useful plugin is “Enable Media Replace” which lets you alter an image file in the media library as opposed to having to search through your content for it. This means that a file can be just swapped out once and it will update across the whole site. 

Why optimise?

A slow site is not appealing to anyone and this is especially true when it comes to search engines. If you find yourself with poor results when it comes to Google’s page speed insights it is telling you that Google is less than impressed. By spending time optimising images you will not only improve the user experience but also your rankings. 

Review your citations.

This process can be time-consuming, so hiring a specialist could well be a worthwhile investment—but don’t underestimate the importance of tackling it. 

Over the years, your website and business have likely been listed in various online directories. Search engines pay close attention to the consistency of these listings.

If your business name, address, and phone number (NAP profile) vary across directories, it can negatively impact your site.

MOZ offers an excellent tool for checking local citations.

Why is this important?

A consistent NAP profile signals to search engines that your business is reliable and trustworthy. It demonstrates that reputable sources consistently link to your business, which boosts your domain authority and trust. Both factors can significantly enhance your SEO performance and rankings.

Backlinks

Backlinks remain one of the key ranking factors for any website. In fact you could write a whole blog post on them, however for the purpose of this article we are just going to look at the basics. The chances of your website ranking can be harmed by bad or spammy backlinks to it. However, we would advise against rushing out and paying a blackhat seo company to provide you with lots of backlinks in a short period of time. This will create a backlink profile that is unnatural which will be noticed by google harming your site. 

Rather than do that you should use a tool like SEM rush to check your backlinks and get rid of any bad backlinks by making use of the tools on google. It is worth noting that this process cannot be done by guesswork, selecting and or removing backlinks must be carried out correctly otherwise your site could be damaged.  If you want someone to take a look at the backlinks on your site to ensure you get optimum performance out of it get in touch with the team here at Web Design SEO today. 

Why check backlinks?

The last thing you need is for spammy sites being linked to yours as it will damage your site. What you do want is for quality sites to link back to yours with a good selection of anchor texts ( this is because these count as a vote for your site. You should make sure you check your backlinks and if you come across anything that seems suspicious call the team here we can help resolve the problem quickly and efficiently.  

Check the Speed of Your Website 

If your site is slow to load, visitors are likely to leave quickly. When users return to the search results immediately, Google notices this behaviour and will gradually push your site lower in the rankings.

As a result, a slow-loading site can lead to decreased traffic.

Several factors influence your site’s speed, including:

  • The way your site is built
  • The WordPress theme you’re using
  • The number of plugins installed
  • The size and optimisation of your images
  • Your DNS settings
  • Your hosting provider

If you didn’t build your site yourself, you might not be aware of how these elements are impacting its performance. Optimising for speed can be a technical process, but we can assist you in identifying the issues and enhancing your site’s performance.

Essentially, this is one of the easiest issues to address that could be significantly affecting your site’s performance.

Inexpensive hosting, poorly written code, excessive plugins, and oversized images are all quick fixes that can greatly enhance your site’s ranking in search engines. These improvements won’t take forever to implement, nor will they cost you thousands of pounds, but they can deliver noticeable results. The best part is that the impact is measurable—we can show you the before-and-after results, giving you confidence that any investment was well worth it.

Essentially, this is one of the easiest issues to address that could be significantly affecting your site’s performance.

Inexpensive hosting, poorly written code, excessive plugins, and oversized images are all quick fixes that can greatly enhance your site’s ranking in search engines.

These improvements won’t take forever to implement, nor will they cost you thousands of pounds, but they can deliver noticeable results.

The best part is that the impact is measurable—we can show you the before-and-after results, giving you confidence that any investment was well worth it.

Write Content 

Let’s save the best for last. Creating fresh content is the most effective thing you can do for your website. While the previous points are all important, regularly adding new content is essential. Without it, search engines may view your site as inactive. To appear in search results and stay relevant, it’s crucial to publish new, meaningful content on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.

New pages and posts on your website mean that:

  • Your sites Google’s index will grow – because it checks back more often when things are updated
  • It allows you to begin ranking  for new keywords and search strings that you haven’t before
  • opportunities will arise that give you chance to improve your internal link structure
  • You have new content that can be shared on social media
  •  search engines will see your site is updated – SEO is not set-and-forget
  • You have new content to attract potentially valuable external backlinks

How New Content Benefits Your Website

Social media posts are fleeting—they may grab attention momentarily, but well-written, in-depth articles on your site have lasting value. This isn’t about a “post and hope” strategy. Any content you publish needs to be thoroughly researched, carefully planned, and fully optimised. When done right, it can generate high-ranking pages that attract targeted and engaged visitors to your site.

However, this isn’t an overnight solution. It’s important to remember that not all content is written for you. Some pieces are crafted specifically to rank well and address the exact needs of searchers. While this may differ from how you’d write it personally, keep in mind that the ultimate goal is to meet search engine and user expectations—not just your own.

The Perfect Time to Optimise Your Website 

As more and more people now search for products and services online making sure your website is optimised must be a good thing. There are lots of different ways you can make improvements to your site but here at Web Design Seo we believe you should start with ones that can be measured and show results.

wayne

Wayne Grisedale is a digital marketing expert specialising in SEO and SEO Website builds. With a results-driven approach, he helps businesses maximise online growth through data-led strategies and innovative campaign management.