A business’s websites is a valuable marketing asset. Today, many prospects look for a company’s website address instead of traditional business cards, especially as customers are increasingly becoming tech-savvy.
A website can help an enterprise grow by being in front of a wider audience online, increasing brand recall value, and delivering strong marketing strategies. It must represent the company and provide sufficient information to visitors and have the opportunity to convert.
But more than that, a website should have the ability to deliver high performance when it comes to increasing sales and bringing a business closer to its online objectives. A mistake for business owners is to think that publishing a website will automatically help achieve desired business goals.
No matter how optimized and healthy a websites is, it will deteriorate over time. Leaving it to fend for itself and neglecting necessary health checks can cause serious problems. This is a primary reason why companies hire a web development company in New Jersey to conduct regular health checks and address relevant problems. Continuously monitoring a website can help keep everything working as intended.
Should any issues occur, business owners can address anything of concern and correct before losing traffic and customers. Problems with a website can present themselves as warnings that site owners must be aware of.
One issue is the speed of the site. Upon clicking a link in the search results pages and it takes a few seconds to load, it can put a business at a disadvantage considering people will likely leave the site. It does not matter how much valuable information a site contains or how excellent its appearance is. If it has slow page loadings, it might instantly cause negative impressions to users and search engines.
Another problem is the links to the site. An unchecked website can have broken links which refer to links in a site that no longer works as the destination page might either be moved or longer exists. It can also be due to an invalid URL entered for the link. Failure to address such links can be a reason behind a website’s demise.
Aside from broken links, toxic links also demand immediate attention. They are links to a website from spam sites containing viruses and malware. Once a site gets published on the internet, low-authority and shady website owners can link to it. If a website contains such links, it is unlikely that Google will rank it. The search engine can also penalize it for illegitimate link acquisition strategies.
Bounce rates can also indicate website health as it tells Google how much people engage in a site. Bounce rates are calculated by measuring how many people leave a site without taking action as a percentage of visitors.
If people spend sufficient time on a site, the content and user experience are likely great. On the other hand, if visitors leave or immediately bounce after landing on a page, a site does not have what visitors are looking for.
Besides the three factors mentioned that affect a site’s health, it is also worth noting that a website should not have a low text-to-HTML ratio. An unhealthy website that has not been maintained for a long time and does not have enough content can experience this.
Google gives importance to content-driven websites, and a low text-to-HMTL ratio can impact SEO ranking or progress. The importance of having a healthy website cannot be stressed enough, as healthy websites contribute to sustaining a profitable online presence.
Contacting an NJ small business web design company can offer complete website health diagnostic and maintenance.
This infographic from Landau Consulting can tell you more about website health and SEO.
