FREE Website Evaluation
Please Evaluate My Website
I'm a fair and honest guy, and in an effort to keep it that way I'm going to tell you right now the evaluation is not free. You will be paying by providing me with your email address which in this day and age is very valuable. I will not constantly email you or sell your information. But let's be honest...how else am I going to be able to send you your report?
Please Evaluate My Website
Website Evaluation
Now that we got that out of the way, let's talk about the evaluation and why it's important. Today, Google is the undisputed king of internet search which means we follow their suggestions when they make them. Why? So people can find your website when they are looking for what you do or sell. As of August, 2016, Google owned 71%
of the search engine market. Most everything covered in your evaluation is based on criteria Google has suggested. If your not doing them, your website is not performing as well as it could be meaning you are loosing out on business.
What's Covered and Why:
- Mobile-friendly - Google has stated that websites that are not easy to view and navigate on a mobile device like an iPhone or tablet, will be penalized in their search rankings. So first and foremost, your website needs to be be mobile-friendly. Internet usage on phones is greater than that on desktops (proof). It's only going to continue to grow. Per Google, people are 5 times more likely to leave your website if it's not mobile-friendly which means Google will hold you responsible.
- Search Engine Optimization - Title tags, meta descriptions, H1 and H2 tags, image alt text, duplicate content...you get the picture. If your webpages are not properly built and tagged, Google is not going to know how to prioritize them and you will loose out in search results. This is a moving target that you have to stay up on it.
- Website Speed - People that have to wait longer than 3-4 seconds for a webpage to load are going somewhere else. Also, Google is now tracking your website speed and poor performing websites will be suffer in their search results.
- Broken Links - If your website has been around for longer than 3 years, it's more than likely going to have broken incoming and outgoing links. Google does not kindly look at broken links. It makes them think people aren't really taking care of the website meaning the content on it is old and not valuable.
- Clean Navigation - Google does not directly penalize for poor navigation. But without good navigation practices, people are going to bounce (leave your site quickly) and that is something Google takes notice of. If you have a bunch of pages that no one is viewing, you either need to fix your navigation, or remove the pages as people are not interested. Having a bunch of pages that receive no traffic is not a good signal to Google.
- Aesthetics - There is no proof that Google punishes you for an ugly website. However, your website is an extension of your brand. How your website looks is a reflection on your company whether you like it or not. If you have out-of-date looking website and content, pixelated and poorly placed images, or flat out just and ugly website, that is not what you want people to think of your business.
The Bottom Line: Everything that Google emphasizes is focused around the user experience. If your website is making it difficult on the user to find what they are looking for, you will be punished in the search results.
I highly encourage you to have your website evaluated, even if it's not by me. Lots of people say they don't need a website because they have a Facebook page. For less than 5% of businesses...that might be true. But for the other 95% of us, that is not the case. People looking for a product or service do not search for it on Facebook. Not yet anyway.