5 Simple Ways Web Developers Can Boost Your SEO

Experts believe that Google uses more than 200 factors to evaluate your site. Some of them have been confirmed, others speculated on, but one thing we know for certain is that the work web developers do behind the scenes is vital to ranking well in the SERPs.

Web developers focus on the mechanics of how a website works and ensure that the site runs smoothly and efficiently. They can therefore optimise certain aspects at the back end of your site so that Google will look upon it favourably.

Here are 5 simple ways your web developer can boost your SEO, resulting in both higher rankings and better user experience.

1. Create Mobile-friendly Web Design

According to a report from Hitwise, almost 60% of searches now come from mobile devices. Your website should be optimised to accommodate them, not least because mobile-friendliness has been confirmed as an important ranking factor by Google themselves.

Most sites these days are responsive, but that doesn’t mean that they have been built for mobile. More often than not sites are built for desktop and then dialled back. So even if a site is responsive, features such as contact forms might not be as easy to use on other devices. This mobile optimisation checklist will help ensure that your site is truly optimised for mobile search.

2. Speed Up Page Load Time

Another of Google’s ranking factors is page load time. A web developer can fix the issues with your site that could be slowing it down. For example, a quick way to speed up your site would be to make sure images are optimised for the page. Further resolutions might include minimising HTTP requests by reducing the number of on-page components or reducing the bandwidth of pages by enabling compression.

Making sure that your pages load up quickly is also crucial for user experience – slow pages will mean visitors grow impatient and either form a bad first impression or simply leave. 40% of web users will abandon a page that takes more than three seconds to load, so make sure you avoid delays to give your site the best chance of turning browsers into buyers.

3. Fix Broken Links

A broken link can occur when a linked page is deleted or a text link is entered incorrectly. So, when a user clicks on that link, instead of being directed to the page they wanted to visit, they’re sent to a 404 error page. This means that users may leave your site if they are unable to find the page or information they are looking for, which can only reflect negatively on your site.

What’s more, search engines crawl links when ranking a site. Therefore, they will pick up on any broken links your site may have. Broken links are negative for SEO as they could indicate that your site is old and neglected. A web developer can use tools such as Google Webmaster Tool or W3C Link Checker to locate any broken links on your site and then fix them.

4. Make Sure Your Site is Crawlable

While your site is being built it is likely that there will be a disallow directive in your robots.txt file. This prevents Google from crawling your site before it goes live. Unfortunately, this command is often forgotten about and remains in the file after your site has gone live, blocking access to the search engines. Make sure you remove any commands from the robots.txt file that may be stopping Google from indexing it.

Web developers can also help search engines better crawl your site by optimising its link structure. There must be internal links to other pages on your homepage if you want Google to index those pages too. Tools such as Screaming Frog can be used to check your site’s link structure, images, CSS and more to make sure it’s in top shape for the crawlers.

5. Install Social Sharing Buttons

The easiest way for visitors to share your content is through social sharing buttons. They don’t want to have to copy and paste links and so on into their social media pages. They want the experience to be easy.

This is important for SEO as the number of mentions and shares you receive on social media correlates to rankings. Google representatives have indicated that social media isn’t a direct ranking factor. Yet, social media performance boosts SEO, as more shares means you are more likely to receive backlinks. Furthermore, a strong presence on social media helps you to build an audience and increase brand awareness, which in turn encourages people to click on your content in Google’s search results, improving click-through rates.

Overall, it’s clear that a good web developer makes it easier for people to use your site. Google wants to provide search results that are not only relevant, but from sites which are easy to use. So, if you’re looking to boost your search rankings through web design then take a look at Ad Rank’s SEO services.