Optimizing your website in 2022 is very vital and can help in a lot of ways. In this article, we will focus on how you can optimize your website for both search engines and humans.
Over the years, As a web designer, I have come across a website that is actually good but isn’t properly optimized.
These optimization features might be in form of load time, redirecting, or poor content when it actually refers to users.
Low optimize website is a heck as it reduces conversion rate and causes visitors to exit the site.
With the number of time users spends on the net today, no one is patient enough to wait for your web page to load up.
I guess you might have come across a website like this. Even if you have been under the rock, you would have at least come across it, and usually what we do is to exit such a website.
We exist on the website not because we hate the author or content at first, we do that because of the amount of time it takes to load.
Let’s assume we patiently wait for it to load and we start seeing content that is not well written or that is not directly for that topic. Imagine you are the visitor, what would you do?
On creating my first website, I didn’t think of optimizing it. It was an education website and all I did was write content till Google sent me my search errors.
Like most website/blog owners, optimization was not just what I had considered. Not until Google sent me my report and I went through to verify it. Then I knew I was in trouble.
I later ended up fixing it and everything I did is all on this post so do well to follow carefully.
Optimization is as important as having a domain name. Optimization also comes in various forms and we would take a look at each of them. For now, let’s see the real reason why you need to optimize your website.
Reasons why you need to optimize your website
- For your users
- For search engines
As a website owner, there are two major reasons why you need to optimize your website. Like it is said, an apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, neither are these two reasons.
FOR USERS
Users are your number one priority. Your users are the main reason your website is active and for that, you are made to satisfy them.
When a website is well optimized for its users, there is a good tendency that one of every hundred users might end up sharing your website.
Optimization is the key to gaining users’ attraction and trust.
As I wrote above, there is various form of optimization and each represents different things. At the end of it all, it all boils down to what satisfies your users.
Here are Some questions you should ask yourself before you can conclude that your website is well optimized include:
- How fast does my website load?
- Is my content readable?
- Do my images attract users?
- Can I hook a user with my main point?
- How do my users view my website?
- What is my bounce rate saying about my users?
When you finally have answers to the questions above, then be sure that your website is well optimized and that your users will enjoy their time on your website.
Read More; 7 Things to Consider before Creating a Website
SEARCH ENGINES
Once you have satisfied your users, the next plan is to hit up SEO.
I know it seems hard but it isn’t. that should not be what you are to worry about.
If the users are well satisfied, search engines have no choice. Search engines are being built to understand users’ experiences and what they prefer.
That is why it is very easy to rank a page with much value but low content than a page with much content and less value.
Google understands that and they try to make their bot understand that too. If you are done with your user’s experience, you can then focus on questions like:
- How fast is my theme?
- How fast is my web host?
- Does my web host/domain name have any restrictions?
- Do I have broken links?
- How do I fix redirect issues?
- How about caching?
If you can find answers to that, then get ready for a shift in your website. Search engines will begin to favor your website.
Before I tell you how you can perfectly optimize your website, let’s focus on what it means to optimize a website.
What does it mean to optimize a website?
Website optimization is the process of using controlled experimentation to improve a website’s ability to drive Lead generation and conversion.
Every website has a goal and optimizing yours provides you with a bigger plate to reach your goals.
With that being cleared, how do you optimize your website?
How to optimize your website
- Move to a good web hosting
- Study the speed and make changes
- Add quality backlinks
- Write better content
- Fix redirecting issue
- Focus on load time and resize images/graphics
The above 6 steps are the best ways you can optimize your website in 2022 and beyond. I have been a web designer for a long time and I have seen that in so many websites.
If your website optimization doesn’t fall into these categories, then the problem is above optimization.
- MOVE TO A GOOD WEB HOSTING
One time, I was creating a business website for this client, he wanted it to be with a local extension(TDL). So I decided to try one major web hosting agency in my country.
And wow regretted ever doing that. The website load time was up to 2min. the client started complaining before I made the changes and connect the domain name to my BlueHost Web hosting.
It was a bad experience and I wasn’t really happy. One of the best web hostings I recommend is BlueHost.
Blue host is cheap, fast, and recommendable. So when your website load time is bad, you need to optimize it and switch the web host from whichever to a better one.
Note, that not all web hosts are slow. It is better to do proper research before you make a conclusion.
- STUDY YOUR WEBSITE SPEED
One time, this blog was giving me issues so I decided to make some changes. The problem was the load time because I was using a very powerful theme, I thought it was the best.
My website was then slow. I had to make some changes which you can too. The changes I made were Themes and Plugins.
Since I was a big fan of the Createandgo.com blog, I wanted to do the same but I never realize that themes are for specific purposes.
Fast forward to later, I had to change my theme and plugins to fit my blog. I had to add caching plugin to my website to increase the optimization speed.
How do you know your website speed is bad? Well, I guess this question might be in your head. The answer lies below in the top 3 website optimization tools that can help you out.
- ADD QUALITY BACKLINK
If you want your website to be alive before you can confirm if other points are in place, always use a quality backlink.
It’s better if your site has a bad user experience but is not killed by Google than killed by Google with a good user experience.
When a backlink points to your website from a website that has already been marked as spam or insecure by Google, your website holds the risk of being marked too.
I have experienced this before and all my work was ruined. So in optimizing your website for users and search engines, please look for a quality backlink.
Ensure not to be among those buying backlinks. Just write quality content and blogs will refer to you.
- WRITE BETTER CONTENT
While I was writing about the user, I made mention of content.
Let me lay emphasis on it here. Better content is what makes users stay on a website for a long time.
Whether it is a blog, service website, or company website. When the content is readable, visible, and has proper grammar, the user tends to spend a long time on it.
Ensure your content are genuine and easy to scale through. If you are running a service website, ensure to make the web page smooth as possible.
- FIX REDIRECTING ISSUE
If your blog has redirecting issues, then that might cause users to exit your blog. Redirecting can be in form of broken links, links not available, or deleted pages.
These entire are what add up to form a well-optimized website. Trying to fix them gives you an upper hand.
Google has and is still being updated daily by developers and broken links are easily tracked and websites are ranked lower due to this effect.
As either a web designer or a blogger, you want to optimize your website to avoid all broken and redirecting issues to unwanted sites. It is very vital.
Quick Read; 5 Skills To Acquire in Web Design
- FOCUS ON LOAD TIME, RESIZE IMAGE/GRAPHICS
Load time is one big optimization advantage. The faster a website loads depend on whether or not its user would check its content out.
Sometimes, slow load time can be caused by images and graphics on your website. Some images are up to 5MB in size. Using such images on a web page can slower its optimization rate.
While the web page has to load everything up, the image or graphics slower the load time.
There are a lot of tools that can help you sort that out. Image resizer tools like TINYJPEG and TINYPNG. They can both serve such a purpose.
If your website makes use of WordPress Cms to power its content, then it is advisable to make use of plugins that can help.
Examples of plugins that can help resize images are Smush, Image resizer, and others that you will find in your plugin database.
For this blog, I make use of smush to compress all my images and fix my graphic size.
Top 3 free website optimization tools that work
There are some major tools to check if your website optimization is poor and needs an upgrade. Some are free while others aren’t. below are the major ones I have tried and am currently using.
- Page Speed Insight
- Google Search Console
- Gtmatrix
The above three tools are what I make use of.
- PAGE SPEED INSIGHTS
Page speed insight is owned and managed by google to assist users to check their web page online to know how well optimize the page is.
How do you use it? To use page speed insight, visit the homepage using this LINK and type in your URL.
It’s straightforward and doesn’t require you to log in or create an account of any sort. It is by far the easiest but not the most effective because it only focuses on your website speed.
- GOOGLE SEARCH CONSOLE
Google search console is by far the most effective and most reliable but it has some disadvantages.
The major disadvantage to this is that your website needs to be up on the net for about 3 to 6 months before proper analysis can be done on it.
Search console goes as far as giving you proper keywords to write and rank for. You don’t need much to get started. Just register your website on Google and boom, you are life.
- GT METRIX
Gtmetrix, this is my first ever optimization tool. I was going through a youtube video when I saw it.
The platform is as easy and seamless as the page speed insight. You don’t need to sign up, all you need is a website URL. That’s all.
Enter the website URL and click on the analyze button and you are all set.
Conclusion
Website optimization goes a long way as a website owner.
Whether it’s a blog or a business website, making it optimized as fast as possible is a great deal for you or your client.
Always keep in mind that a perfect website is what draws attention and retains users.
With this, I close this note. Don’t forget to share this blog post.
Keep it real and let me know if you understood the article or if you have any un-clarity, make use of the comment box. I will reply as soon.
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