This Is Why Site Speed Is Still Something To Consider

When it comes to a media channel like organic search, any company owner and affordable SEO provider will say that success can be achieved, but it relies on content. This specifically means making beneficial content, which has the ability to rank. The search engine giant, Google, has concentrated on promoting excellent content and organic backlinks in its latest algorithmic updates, and penalising content with dishonest links.

But while some SEO companies UK focus on keyword research, content recommendations, and hyperlink investment strategies (immediate factors in acquiring rankings), they risk  devaluing technical changes — including site speed — which undeniably make clientele more cash from their present organic audiences.

No channel initiative or content performs without analytics and infrastructure (i.e. fast sites). They are considered to be the foundation for achieving digital marketing success.

Content marketing is absolutely useful for getting websites to rank in search engines, which might gratify a client’s curiosity as to what SEO is capable of doing for their company’s visibility. And you might even be capable of getting slow websites to rank constantly. However, the lack of focus to infrastructure will ultimately haunt you when it comes to conversion rates.

A Study On Site Speed

Sending potential customers that are generated by good content to sites with slow experiences can erode trust literally by the second.

In the latest site speed study by Moz, they checked out ten websites spanning several industries and 26,000 various landing pages, which range in performance from awfully slow pages (over 9 seconds) to extremely fast (under one second).

The outcomes showed that for every second you can shave off your page load speed will have an intense conversion rate advantage that supersedes differences in verticals or selling methods.

Webpages that loads in less than one second convert at a rate around 2.5 times higher than webpages that load slower than five seconds or higher.

However, these results weren’t limited to slow vs. fast pages. Differences in the conversion rates between “fast” webpages (two-second loading times) and “really fast” webpages (under one second) was more than double too. This brings the point of this article to the next level.

Online Users Will Require Even Faster Websites

The Moz team initially ran the survey back in 2014 and, by comparison the main difference between “fast” and “really fast” sites wasn’t as stark as it is today. When they run it again in five-years time, they expect the visible difference to be even more dramatic. Why, you ask? It’s because of 5G adoption.

The mobility report by Ericsson, which was run last year in November, gave a prediction that the 5G coverage would cover about 65% of the world’s inhabitants by 2025.

Another study that was conducted by the Parks Associates last April demonstrated that, while the gigabit internet adoption has slowed down in America, the broadband adoption worldwide is anticipated to reach one billion households around the world by 2023.

And once you factor in these trends, the one thing that could be throttling a desktop or mobile user’s experience is going to be poor web infrastructure.

Site Speed – Prioritising It

If you have read the article this far, then you will acknowledge that the conversion rate advantages of a fast website are important, and that the marketplace call for fast user experiences is increasing quickly. However, what are the steps to take towards a faster webpage speed? Also, which of these steps should you be prioritising?

Moz, of course, provided a guide on the best practices for site speed. From that checklist, these are the recommendations:

• Enable compression
• Minify JavaScript, CSS, and HTML
• Rede redirects
• Eliminate render-blocking JavaScript
• Control internet browser caching
• Increase server response time
• Utilise a content distribution network (CDN)
• Optimise video and images

If you are thinking of reordering these recommendations with regards to the difficulty to put into practice for the average SEO agency and impact on website speed, it could go something similar to this:

Lower Difficulty, Lower impact

Optimising images and video

A search engine optimisation specialist at any ability can install a WordPress plugin like Smush and automatically minimise the dimensions of any image uploaded in new or pre-existing content. It saves an unexpected amount of time if you have compressed and properly sized images on every page.

Minify CSS, JavaScript, and HTML

Minifying computer code is another great method. There are many tools available that minify code, such as minifycode.com. These tools essentially strip out all the spaces in the code, saving a few kilobytes of size on different aspects. Those add up across an entire experience. Anybody can copy and paste code into the tools and forward the minified version to the assigned team, though it may take a developer to carry out these changes.

Eliminate render-blocking JavaScript

Migrating to a tag management platform such Google Tag Manager can take the JavaScript weight off your website pages and put them in somewhere else where they can load at any speed required without negatively affecting the entire content or the page’s functionality. Those who are not that well-versed with technicalities will still find Tag Managers really easy to use.

Medium difficulty, medium impact

The three tips that follow can be a bit more challenging depending on the people managing your CMS or current web server. It could be either as hard as writing customised redirect rules on your setup or as simple as clicking a checkbox. Most likely, you will require a web developer or IT expert to do these.

1. Reduce redirects

A lot of SEO experts can relay a URL redirect map to a client or internal stakeholder to find out server-side redirects easily. However, some websites have more complex client-side redirect systems using JavaScript. If those JS files affect the website functionality in other material ways, then working with a front end developer to apply changes to script-based redirects can be complicated.

2. Allow compression

Enabling compression in IIS or Apache is quite a simple method. However, it needs access to servers and htaccess files that IT organisations are hesitant to hand marketers control over.

3. Leverage browser caching

In the same way, browser caching of website resources that typically stay the same is simple to carry out, given that you can control the htaccess file. Otherwise, caching plugins and extensions for different CMS platforms are available for marketers to use, allowing them to manage such settings.

High difficulty, high impact

Enhance server response time

Examples of the usual ways to boost the response time are optimising databases that deliver functionality to the site, looking for a more dependable web hosting service, and monitoring usages of PHP. Again, these things belong to IT purview and need further costs and decision-makers to accomplish.

Utilise a content distribution network (CDN)

Using a CDN can cost an exceptional amount of money every month for every domain based on the website traffic , needs expertise that the average consultant or marketer does not have, and can consume a huge amount of time. However, if you do it, Google measures time to first byte as a ranking factor according to studies, and this can be rewarding.

The benefits should encourage everyone to pursue more progress when it comes to site speed initiative in their own business or organisations. This is worth the time from a business perspective, and of course, can actively transform the Internet into a better place for the average user. These are the things that can make every search marketer really proud.

What You Should When Migrating From A Non-HTTPs Website To HTTPs

In 2018, Google started to show this to Chrome users every time they visited a non-HTTPs website.

In 2018, Google advised SEO experts and webmasters that should they have a non-HTTPS website, they may lose traffic and have this ugly pop-up notification displaying even before users could reach their website.

This information should not have come as a surprise.

Google first started advising websites to switch to HTTPS in May 2010.

Then on 6th August 2014, Google said that they would be prioritising HTTPS websites in search results.

However, SEO professionals have been pacifying Google for a number of years. And amidst all of the changes, they went on.

Thankfully, moving from HTTP to HTTPS is advantageous for some.

In this post, the difference between HTTP vs. Non-HTTPs websites is highlighted.

HTTPS and HTTP: How do they differ?

HTTP websites have been commonplace in the interwebs for a long time.

But now, HTTPS has begun to trend.

But how do they differ?

HTTP is an application layer protocol to obtain information from the web.

It started to secure and approve transactions over the web.

In other words, it displays information for the searcher.

Without that secure connection, any network between the destination host and the source host can alter what the destination host receives.

Therefore, an additional layer of HTTPS ensures a more secure method of transporting data, called Secure Sockets Layer or SSL.

It’s a win for everyone.

Going for HTTPS: Why do you need it?

Maybe you are still wondering why you should go for HTTPS. After all, when designing and constructing your website, migrating to HTTPS is the last thing you want to do.

However, hiring a reliable SEO services UK provider to carry out this task for you will do the trick

And all without having to leave your home.

Here’s why.

See this traceroute from one network to www.google.com.

Each line is a new “hop” or server.

If they were HTTP, these servers would make Google deliver different information to the user’s browser.

But because Google is HTTPS, this is not the case.

This doesn’t mean that HTTP is not safe.

It depends.

For instance, if you’re spending time watching rabbit videos on TikTok while thinking about burritos, there’s no problem with HTTP.

On the other hand, if you are entering credit card information on a checkout page or trying to check your bank account, you are endangering your confidential data.

HTTPS is responsible for the security of your network and visitors.

Because of that, more than half of websites around the world are already on HTTPS.

You can see the increase of them on Chrome and on Firefox.

Everyone is encouraged to move to HTTPS.

Migrating to HTTPS has shown to have a positive effect on website performance.

8 advantages of migrating to HTTPS

Listed here is some of the benefits of going for HTTPS.

Enhanced search rankings

Google has yet to confirm if HTTPS is a ranking factor. However, they have been prioritising HTTPS websites.

Searchmetrics analysed SSL and the impact on ranking. Based on their findings, there was a positive impact on SERP visibility when using HTTPS.

Better User Experience

Browsers like Chrome and Firefox use indicators to display if a website is secure or not. Users are responding well on this.

In fact, 84% of visitors would not continue a purchase if they discover that a website is not secure.

Increase your retention by providing a safe and secure browsing experience.

Protect information from your users

With HTTPS, protecting users’ data is easier. Data breach issues such as those experienced by Facebook and Marriott are the last things you want to face. Marriott’s problem could have been prevented by keeping its HTTPS status using an SSL/TLS certificate.

The US Government Accountability Office released an in-depth report that discovered that an outdated certificate on an SSL/TLS inspection systems had not been renewed for around ten months or more. This enabled hackers to peruse data without anyone noticing.

Get the Secure Lock Icon

77% of visitors are aware that their data can be intercepted or misused on the Internet. By having the secure lock icon, you can start building trust and credibility with them.

You need to have HTTPS to implement AMP

You probably already know how important mobile search engine optimisation is for SEO.

Complications arise when you realise that you  need to have an encrypted site with SSL for you to use AMP.

More effective PPC campaigns

Nearly all of Google’s revenue comes from selling advertisements. If users go to your website but did not convert, advertisers won’t continue paying for Google Ads. Therefore, utilising HTTPS can reduce negative advertising methods and boost conversions.

Also, in 2018, Google Ads started automatically redirecting HTTP search ads to HTTPS. They also sent out a warning to advertisers to never use HTTP addresses for landing pages.

Corrected data in Google Analytics

Observed an uptick in direct traffic?

When HTTPS sends a visit to HTTP, Google Analytics records this as direct traffic. This is something to keep in mind when it comes to migration.

A lot of websites do not support Non-HTTPs sites

These days, a huge number of web design websites requires a secure website. For instance, Squarespace will only accept websites with an SSL certificate. In fact, even the Government requires an HTTPS website.

Migrating to HTTPS: How to do it

Converting from HTTP to HTTPS is difficult for individuals who are not technically minded because there are a number of problems that can arise.

Here is a brief guide on how to do the migration to HTTPS:

• Find and install SSL certificate
• Update the domain to point to HTTPS
• Redirect all HTTP pages to HTTPS
• Re-validate ownership in Google Search Console
• Update the sitemap
• Update the robots.txt
• Update your configurations in Google Analytics
• Test

Prepared to move to HTTPS?

Hopefully, this post helped to clarify why switching from HTTP to HTTPS is important.

If you’re ready to switch your non-HTTPs website, get in touch with your hosting company.

For example, Bluehost also provides an SSL certificate for their WordPress users.

Otherwise, look for free tools like Let’s Encrypt.

Whatever you do, migrating to HTTPS is an excellent idea and investment that protects your users.

Details in this SEO UK blog came from https://ahrefs.com/blog/advanced-pagespeed-guide.html and https://www.searchenginejournal.com/technical-seo/http-https-why-secure-site/. Visit these two links for more details.

Trusworthy SEO companies exist for a reason. They are here to provide the professional assistance and advice that you need to boost your website’s rankings. If you are looking for one, why not check out Position1SEO and find out how our team can assist you?