It is no secret that the field of SEO is constantly changing. What worked yesterday may not work today, and what works today may not work tomorrow. This can be particularly challenging for professional services firms, which often rely on their website to generate leads and new business. In order to stay ahead of the competition, it is essential to stay up-to-date on the latest changes in SEO and make sure your website is optimized for maximum search engine visibility.
Unfortunately, this can be easier said than done. There are a number of common difficulties that professional services firms face when trying to optimize their website for SEO. Some of the most common include:
Bad Meta Descriptions
Meta descriptions are short snippets of text that appear under the title of a web page in search engine results. They are used to describe the content of the page and should be keyword-rich and enticing to potential visitors. They are not actually part of the HTML code of the page but are rather generated by the search engine based on the content of the page. Bad meta descriptions are the most common reason for a site being ranked lower in search results because they make the page look unappealing and under-informative to users. To avoid this problem, you should always look for SEO companies that specialize in certain niche markets such as Law Firm SEO, Medical SEO, or Accounting SEO. Doing this will help ensure that your meta descriptions are search engine optimized.
Broken Links
Broken links often show up as a result of website redesigns or changes in content management systems. They can also occur due to the movement of web pages, which prevents search engines from finding and indexing them correctly. This not only makes it harder for potential visitors to find your site but can also affect search rankings. You should ensure that your web developer and SEO company is experienced in these types of redesigns and changes to avoid broken links.
Not Optimized For Mobile Use
While most firms recognize the importance of optimizing their site for mobile use, many neglects to do so effectively. This can be extremely problematic because over half of all keyword searches now come from users who are accessing the internet via their smartphones. This means that it is crucial to avoid small font sizes, horizontal or landscape page formats, and scrolling. The best way to optimize your site for mobile viewing is to make sure it is responsive. When a site is responsive, the layout adjusts based on whether it is being viewed from a computer or a mobile device. This will help ensure that your website displays correctly across all devices and does not slow down due to the size.
Not Secure
While many professional services firms are aware of the importance of SSL encryption, few understand exactly why it is so necessary. While this may not impact search engine rankings directly, it can certainly affect them indirectly. Google uses HTTPS encrypted sites as a signal in their ranking algorithm to help assess the quality of a webpage and your site’s security. This means that it is crucial to make sure your website is secure or else you risk having the site’s rank lowered by Google.
Duplicated Content
It can be easy to accidentally duplicate content, especially if you use a lot of external links. In most cases, this will not impact your SEO but it can lead to a poor user experience. To avoid this problem you should always make sure that the pages on your website are crawled and indexed correctly by Google and never use automated tools for backlinking or setting anchor text. Also, avoid using footer links to link sites with low-quality or duplicate content. This can help ensure that your website’s rank is not impacted by duplicated content.
Slow Site Speed
Eighty percent of online shoppers expect a page to load in under 2 seconds. Any longer than that and they tend to lose interest, causing them to leave the site in search of faster alternatives before they have even finished browsing. Because of this many firms are looking for SEO companies that can help speed up their website with minimal disruptions or changes. One way to do this is by ensuring that your site has fast load times through caching, minifying HTML and JavaScript files, implementing the Brotli compression algorithm, or using a content delivery network (CDN).
As you can see, there are a number of things that you need to be aware of if you want your firm’s website to rank well in search engines. While some of these may seem like daunting tasks, they are all important factors that must be considered when optimizing a site for SEO. By working with an experienced SEO company, you can avoid many of the common mistakes!
