Generally speaking, search engine optimization is the process of catering one’s website to increase its chances of being seen in the search engines. Unlike with Google Ads, you cannot pay for placement with SEO, as everything occurs organically. While often, many seem to emphasize keywords and content heavily, other factors help influence the quality and success of one’s SEO strategy–enter technical SEO.
Technical SEO focuses on improving the technical components of a website to increase its page ranking in the search engines. These technical factors like quicker loading times, seamless indexing, and user-friendliness contribute to the overall health of one’s site and SEO performance. Not to mention, users desire and deserve a friendly site experience. By bypassing the technical aspects of SEO, you’re essentially abandoning quality traffic, leads and conversions right at your front door. If you’re ready to delve deeper into refining your SEO, you’ll want to make sure you heed these three technical tips.
1. Make sure your site can be crawled.
Web crawlers are spiders or bots that download and index content online. Their primary mission is to dissect sites to determine what they’re all about, then catalog them so that they can pull from the said catalog when the right time comes. Web crawlers are primarily operated by search engines like Google, which leverage algorithms and apply them to the data collected by crawlers. Google is then able to provide relevant links to users based on their searches, which you see in the search engine results pages, or SERPs.
The bot kicks off its search process with some known webpages and will then follow trails of hyperlinks to other pages, and from here, continue to scour the site. However, if a website is not configured for crawlers, then the crawler cannot begin its mission, which ultimately means the site cannot be indexed and will not appear in search results. So, if you want to ensure a safe and free passage for the right bots, you’ll want to take the time to make sure your site is as bot-friendly as possible. This can include double-checking header tags, domain server settings, and your robots.txt file and sitemap.
2. Optimize page speed
Given that the average attention span runs at just about one to six seconds, if you have not prioritized your page loading speed, you’re already late to the party. Quick loading times are not just turn-offs for your users but also search engines. In the words of Google, “we’re obsessed with speed, in our products and on the web.” They’ve so graciously incorporated site speed into their search ranking algorithm as part of this obsession. So, if you’re lacking in this area, you’ll need to improve your speed by doing things like compressing files and web codes, performing frequent audits, and managing plugins effectively.
3. Improve your website structure
A well-structured site results in more extended page visits from users and can better assist search engine crawlers, and helps establish link authority. Many have been found guilty of designing sites with a conversion-first mindset and ignoring essentials like navigation, flow, and usability. Others have found success with flat-site architectures, which allow users to reach the homepage with minimal (often less than four) clicks. But, most importantly, you’ll want to keep things simple. When your site architecture is well categorized, structured and intentionally linked, you’ll automatically elevate your site’s SEO and improve your chances of getting seen.
Rentbot can help.
Keeping technical SEO top of mind is essential to your web performance. With a healthy and strong foundation, you’re better positioned to appease your audience, create a more positive user experience and rank well. If you need assistance with boosting your SEO, Rentbot can help. With our advanced SEO services, you’ll get a strategic SEO partner by your side who will help you get found. We’re trained by leading SEO firms and have over a decade of experience improving clients’ apartment SEO-driven traffic. And because Rentbot specializes only in multifamily clients, we know the industry like the back of our hands.
Register for a free consultation if you’d like to learn more about our SEO services and the significant results our clients have received with our services. We’ll learn more about your property, website, and history and tailor a plan for you that provides the best long-term ROI for your marketing dollars. Learn more here.
About the Author
Jonsette Calloway joined the Rentbot team in 2015. With a background in public relations, advertising, and copywriting, she has helped many clients achieve their marketing and communications goals within various fields, but she particularly enjoys working with the apartment industry.