Once you’ve created your Google Analytics account, you can add extra users to access your information. This way multiple users can view your data. You can also create specific permissions per user, ranging from only viewing the data, to editing it.
If you want to only share information about your Google Analytics, it’s best to rather grant access to someone, instead of sharing your login details.
Step 1: Open the Settings in Google Analytics
After you have signed into your Google Analytics account, choose the site to which you want to grant access.
Next, click on the Admin option. This is the gear icon in the bottom left of your screen.
There are three types of access levels under the User Management option. Account, Property and View.
Account:this allows a user to add more users, extra websites, as well as link AdSense and AdWords data.
Property:this allows a user access to the tracking code. The user can also adjust the retargeting code and settings on a specific website.
View:this allows a user to view reports, add new goals and content groupings.
Step 2: Grant Access to a User
To add a new user, you will need to make sure that the person has either a gmail account, or that their email is registered in Google Accounts. You have to decide on which level you want to grant access (account, property or view).
Click on the “+” icon on the column you want to add the user to (account, property or view)
From the drop-down menu, click on “add new users”
Different types of permission can be assigned to a new user. You can choose between manage users, collaborate, edit or just read and analyze.
Manage Users: a user can add or delete users and assign permissions. This permission does not include the option to Edit or Collaborate.
Edit: access to administrative as well as report-related functions. This includes adding/editing/deleting accounts; access to properties, filters, views and goals. But it does not include managing users. A user with this permission can also see report data. This permission is required at the account level in order to create filters, and at the view level to be able to apply filters. It also includes Collaborate.
Collaborate: with this permission a user can create, edit, delete, as well as share personal assets. The shared personal assets include: dashboards, segments, conversion segments, attribution models, channel groupings, custom reports, and unsampled reports. The user can also collaborate on shared assets and it includes the Read & Analyze permissions.
Read & Analyze: the user can view report and configuration data. The data can also be manipulated within reports for instance to create a segment, add a secondary dimension, or filter a table. The permission allows the user to see shared assets, create personal assets, and share them. But it does not allow Collaboration on shared assets.
Enter the email of the user you want to add. You can send a notification email to the new user. Finally, click on add.
How to Modify the Permissions of an Existing User
Once you have created a user, you can modify the permissions assigned to the user at any time.
After you have signed into Google Analytics account, choose the site to which you want to change access. Next, click on the Admin option.
Choose the column of the level you want to change and click on User Management.
You can search for the user you want to change in the search box located at the top of the user list. Type in part of the email address or the full address.
Click on the user name, and then you can add or change permissions.
Remember to click Save.
How to Delete A User
After signing in to your Google Analytics, click on Admin and choose the account you want to change.
Click on User Management in the column you want to edit (account, property, or view)
Search for the user you want to change in the search box.
Check the box next to the user you want to delete.
Click Remove.
We all suspect that mobile phones are taking over the world. But do you know just how big the mobile movement really is? A few stats that Neil Patel has gathered:
There were close to 150 billion mobile app downloads worldwide in 2016. If this trend persists, statistics predict that in 2021 the mobile app downloads will be over 350 billion. BrightEdge reported recently that their web traffic was 57% mobile generated, versus the traditional desktop computer generated traffic.
What Is the Google Mobile First Update Impact On SEO?
The mobile usage trend is huge. So, it’s no surprise that Google has finally implemented the mobile-first search index criteria. There has been rumours about it for a while now. You might wonder why this is something to take notice of.
The Google Webmasters blog shed some light on how this will affect your website. The Google algorithms will systematically work towards eventually using only the mobile version of your website’s content to rank pages, evaluate structured data, and to display page snippets in the search results. Google’s search index will remain a single index of both websites and apps, but soon the mobile movement will completely take over.
These changes can either help or hinder you. If your website is not currently mobile-friendly, any attempts at a good SEO strategy will be futile. But if you respond swiftly to the algorithm updates, you can beat out the competitors in your industry that are lagging behind.
Related: The value of being in the first page of search results.
When Will the Google Mobile First Update Be Implement?
Unfortunately, Google is currently keeping everyone in the dark, not committing to a specific date. Gary Illyes mentioned at the March 2017 SMX West conference that it would happen as soon as Google views results as “quality-neutral”. They are monitoring the search results to remain close to a status-quo level, or a little above it.
Luckily there are a few basic steps that you can follow to ensure that your website survives the Google mobile first update. Firstly, let’s look at what exactly mobile-first indexing is. Till recently Google used only a desktop-oriented page ranking method.
Related: desktop indexing vs. mobile indexing
Back in the day, everybody used desktops to conduct searches. Desktops won’t disappear any time soon, but Google knows that it must pay attention to the mobile movement. Mobile traffic will constantly keep increasing.
The ranking requirements vary between desktop and mobile, but the indexing system remains the same. What it does mean, is that Google will be using your website’s mobile version as the primary means of ranking. Your desktop site version won’t be completely ignored, but Google will focus first on the mobile site.
Guide to The Google Mobile First Update
In the end, the main aim of the Google mobile first update, is to provide users with the most relevant and accurate search results, regardless of the device used for the search. Quite a few years ago mobile users exceeded desktop users, but desktops are not yet completely out of the running. The mobile movement does not point to a mobile-only shift, only a steady increase in mobile usage.
This increase offers you a great opportunity to tap into a different online market. Research shows that 78% of internet users have discovered a new business they were unaware of when browsing on their phone.
The Google mobile first update does not mean that Google will completely disregard desktop searchers. You need to keep both your desktop and mobile site up to date. This change will not be drastic, it simply means that Google is taking the mobile movement into consideration when determining site and page ranking. If your site is genuinely relevant to search criteria, Google will rank you near the top, regardless of where the search request is coming from.
For instance, if the search criteria were “best five star hotel in Cape Town” and you are one of the most prominent hotels in town, you will appear at the top whether someone is searching from their desktop computer or Smartphone.
Follow the Google Mobile First Update Rules
The trick is to make sure that whether the searcher is landing on your desktop or mobile site, they are still having an effective browsing experience. If your mobile version would frustrate even a five-year-old trying to navigate around your website, Google will start penalising you.
Google doesn’t like ranking sites that are frustrating to use. You don’t have to go overboard and completely redirect your SEO strategy, but it’s important to have an optimised mobile site. One of the most important reasons, is to ensure your competitors don’t outrank you.
Tip: use Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool to make sure your data is optimised for Google to index your website correctly.
Step One: Test Your Mobile Site
Before you start making changes, determine the current mobile-friendly rating of your website. Google has set up a test to assess the quality of your site. Go to search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly.
It’s very simple to use, simply enter the URL you want to test and click “Run test”. The system will analyse your website. The results will offer you feedback about your website. If there are any existing problems, it will be clearly listed for you to investigate the issues. Click on the “Page loading issues” link at the top for a more detailed explanation of errors that were detected. You can also view more tips on the “Fix your WordPress page” link.
One of the most important elements to keep in mind with a mobile version, is how the user will engage with your content. Make sure that it loads quickly, and that the navigation is very simple to follow.
Related: basic checklist for a good mobile site
Step Two: Check your Content
If your site is listed on an “m” subdomain or if the mobile version uses adaptive/dynamic serving for content sending. The tricky part with a mobile website is that there are a few display limitations. You need to prioritize the most important elements, keeping the user’s experience of your website in mind.
This includes both text and visual elements. Ask yourself with each element how it fits into the visitor’s interaction with your company. Rather stick to the bare basics, than adding too much clutter that could be confusing.
Try doing a few random Google searches on your phone, click through to the websites, and take note of your first impression of the site’s mobile version. What did you enjoy about engaging with the content and what frustrated you?
Step Three: Check Site Responsiveness
Designing for a desktop experience is very different to mobile. Firstly, when browsing on your desktop computer, the little mouse cursor is doing all the clicking work for you. On the mobile version, you need to design for easy finger touch.
By focusing on creating good “tap targets”, you will ensure that users will not become frustrated with engaging with your site. For most of the browsers 16px is the best default font size. For design elements, it is advisable to have at least 44 pixels of whitespace around a clickable element.
Together with the actual design, another important element is loading time. Users will simply click back to the search results page if your site loads too slow. Research shows that 53% of users will click the back button if the page takes longer than 3 seconds to load.
Telephone numbers need to be in the correct format to be tappable. If a user needs to copy and paste a number to get hold of you, chances are you’ve already lost the potential lead. Same principle for your email address.
Tip: activated browser caching for user convenience
If you want to create an advance mobile site experience, use a site builder that will detect the device from which the user is browsing. This way your site will be automatically adjusted to display in an optimised format.
Step Four: Streamline the Coding
The speedier the mobile site, the better. There’s a few coding tricks you can use to make sure that your mobile version responds quickly, and the navigation is efficient. Try to decrease the HTTP requests as much as possible. You can achieve this by reducing images, or completely removing them if they are redundant to the browsing experience.
The next tweak won’t increase the speed of your mobile site, but it will increase the chances of searchers clicking through to your website. Also, on a Smartphone there’s less space for the meta titles and page descriptions. So, choose your words carefully.
Also, make sure your social metadata has been optimised to entice people to click on the link when someone shares your content on a social media platform. Each platform has its own system for creating engaging links to share. From Twitter Cards, to Pinterest Rich Pins – invest time in creating correct meta tags to entice people to share your content. Or you can use the Open Graph meta tags across all platforms.
Related: how to create effective social meta tags
Check that your media sitemaps and XML are set up correctly. Also pay attention to your linking structure. Finally, consider using the Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) plugin. It’s a separate format, used by Google to cache your site, increasing the page loading speed. It won’t affect the search ranking of your website. But as mentioned before, it’s crucial for a mobile site to be extremely responsive, ensuring a good user experience.
Let Storyteller Design Help You Optimise Your Mobile Site
The Google mobile first update is a huge shift in the way that websites will be ranked from now on. There’s no denying that the mobile movement will only grow stronger. A mobile-friendly site is extremely important if you don’t want to be left behind with the mobile movement.
If your head is spinning from all the information in this post, not to fear. As a Cape Town SEO company, Storyteller Design we make it our mission to stay on top of the latest trends. We can assist you to tweak your existing website to adhere to the Google mobile first update criteria.
Take our SEO help survey now to give us a better idea of the health of your website.
Back in the day when you decided to go on holiday, you went to the closest travel agent and asked them advice about destinations and accommodation options. Travel agents still exist in 2018, but by the time someone arrives in their physical offices, they’ve most likely already done extensive online research. This is why Travel and Toursim SEO is so important.
The power of the internet has created the opportunity for people to even sidestep formal travel agents all together. Arm chair travelling is becoming more and more popular. With information at your fingertips, 24/7, you can educate yourself on practically anything under the sun.
The Tourism Ball Game Has Changed
With big websites such as booking.com and Trip Advisor offering people a new way of approaching travelling, if you want to stay in the game, you need to figure out how to create a strong online presence for your company.
Two of the biggest aspects of good online marketing, is SEO enhanced content and AdWords campaigns. The two go hand in hand. If you are competing for a highly popular keyword phrase, for instance “Cape Town accommodation”, you need to start thinking outside the box.
With this example in mind, you could compare the popularity of “Cape Town accommodation” vs. “accommodation in and around Cape Town” to refine your campaign. It’s very important to make sure your content is SEO-friendly, but most of the time you can’t only rely on this tactic.
A Smart AdWords Campaign
The more specific you can be with your AdWords campaign, the better. Continuing with the example, the first word combination is highly competitive. Firstly, it’s only three words and it’s very generic.
The second word combination can be worked into your content more naturally than the first. It’s an example of a long tail keyword phrase. Although long tail keywords sometimes generate less search traffic, the conversion value is higher, because the search is more specific.
The following are a few pointers to help you create a successful AdWords campaign.
Do Extensive Keyword Research
Put yourself in your ideal customer’s shoes and imagine what they will type into Google when searching for what your company offers. You want to attract people that are specifically interested in your services.
It’s not just about spending more money on a campaign, it’s about spending your ad budget wisely. Try to do a general survey to create a profile of your ideal customer and their search habits. Also, determine the desirability of your package or service before creating your first campaign.
Use the Google AdWords Keyword Suggestion Tool to research search volume and competition level of your selected keywords.
Tip: set the “Advanced Options”
Select a location, language and decide whether you want to target laptops/desktops or only mobile devices. Select the “Phrase” match in the keyword “Match Type” setting.
Focus on the following:
- Keywords with high search volumes
- Select keywords focused on intent to buy, not simply information searches.
- Weigh up the affordability of each keyword or keyword phrase
Determine Your Budget
It can be tempting to become trigger happy and select as many keywords as possible. But this will not necessarily guarantee more success. Rather use the information gathered from your research to strategically select specific keywords and keyword phrases.
Determine your maximum cost per click (CPC) budget and compare the estimated CPC against this target at all times. Factors that will influence your budget include your website conversion rate, profit per customer and your general profit margin. Not to worry if you are unsure of these figures, you will be monitoring the progress of the campaign and will be able to make more accurate calculations in the future.
Use this formula:
Maximum CPC = [(profit per customer) x (1 – profit margin) x (website conversion rate)]/100
Example:
Profit per customer at $200, profit margin of 50%, conversion rate of 10%
Max CPC = [$200 x (1 – 0.5) x 10]/100 = $10
Keep an Eye on Your Competitors
You can learn from your competitors what to do, and what not to do. With special software called KeyWordSpy you can analyse other websites to see which keywords have been selected. Don’t see this as cheating, it’s simply competitor intelligence.
Create A Strong and Unique Selling Proposition
A unique selling proposition (USP) will make you stand out from the crowd. The competition is especially fierce in the tourism industry. You need to answer the question customers have in the back of their minds while browsing your website – “why should I pick your company?”
A strong USP is the backbone of a successful marketing strategy. And your AdWords campaign needs to contribute to the holistic marketing approach you are implementing for your company. You will be able to generate more effective traffic to your website, eliminating useless leads. It will also boost the conversion rates.
Your USP can be a game changer to avoid price comparison shopping. You need to figure out how to offer something that nobody else in the industry has thought of. This will transform you from a mere commodity into a sought-after opportunity.
How do you create an effective USP? Listen to what your customers want and analyse shopping patterns. Together with this research, analyse competitor strategies. This includes their website, ads and keywords selection.
Create an Irresistible Offer
There are a few components that make up an offer that a potential buyer simply can’t resist. Firstly, the value offered, your potential customer wants to feel that they are getting good worth for their money. Next, the offer must be believable, don’t make the price too low or people will assume there’s something fishy going on. Try to reduce risk, people want to feel reassured that they won’t be conned into buying a special deal and then losing their money. Work in a money-back guarantee to appease the worriers. Lastly, create a specific and simplistic call to action (CTA).
Create Engaging Landing Pages
Be specific with where the potential customer lands on your website. Don’t use your homepage as the go-to landing page. People get annoyed when they must search for information. If your ad mentioned a special deal, let the customer land on the page that offers more information on the deal. Take the potential customer to the page with a clear call to action.
Track and Customize Your Campaign
You want to only invest in keywords that offer you a high return on investment (ROI). By tracking the conversions, you can manage your ads and tweak the keywords selection. If a keyword is not performing well, optimise the next campaign with an alternative.
The wonder of Google AdWords is that it’s not a one-size-fits-all system. You can tweak many elements to make sure you get the best value for money. There are a few specific settings to pay attention to.
Search vs. Display
These are two different types of advertising networks. You shouldn’t use the same set of landing pages, keywords and ads for these.
Device Bids
This is specifically for mobile-friendly websites. More and more people are using their phones to search for information, you can’t afford not to have a mobile responsive website. Mobile-specific ads can generate a lot of revenue for your company.
Keyword Match Types
Keyword types can be categorised as broad, phrase, and exact. The default type will revert to “Broad”. This means your ad will appear when a matching keyword or phrase is typed in. It offers a higher chance of generating irrelevant traffic, which will affect your bounce rate.
The “Phrase” type means your ad will appear when a potential customer’s search matches the selected phrase. It gives you more control over who can view your ad.
The “Exact” type is the strictest out of the three. The potential customer’s search query must exactly match the keywords you selected. It does offer you utter control, but chances of your exposure being less is also quite big.
Out of the three types, the “Phrase” type is most recommended.
Negative Keywords
This is a good way to narrow down the moments Google shows your ad. You can block certain phrases that’s not appropriate to your company. For instance, with the keywords “holiday packages”, you can distinguish between “exclusive holiday packages” or “cheap holiday packages”. These specifications will decrease unwanted traffic and increase ROI.
Remember It’s A Trial and Error Process
Even with extensive research, you can still be surprised with your AdWords campaign not performing the way you expected it to. By carefully monitoring your campaign and constantly making changes as you see issues arise, you will be able to reap the benefits. Things to keep an eye on include the keyword bids, the click through rate (CTR) and landing page conversion rate.
These three factors will influence your website’s ranking as well as its profitability. A good AdWords campaign will help your website to constantly hit the first page of Google search results, as well as convert users into loyal customers.
Let Storyteller Design Run Your AdWords Campaign
If you feel overwhelmed by all the elements involved in an AdWords campaign, you can rather make use of our services to help you successfully promote your company. We have extensive experience in digital marketing and know all the tricks of the trade.
Let us create a customised AdWords campaign for your company, so that you can also successfully target armchair travellers. Your website can become a brand ambassador for your company, enticing potential customers to do business with you.
Learn more about SEO
UPDATED 14-02-2019
We love using the WordPress plugin Contact Form 7 for the websites we build for our clients. It is extremely easy to use but very powerful and has reasonable documentation. A big plus for us is that it is a much loved plugin in the WordPress community and so answers and solutions can be found for almost all issues on sites like Stack Overflow and WordPress support.
At Storyteller Design we help out clients drive traffic to their sites through SEO and Google AdWords as well as the other search engine marketing like Bing Ads. One of the most important metrics for us is the conversion of these visitors to our client’s sites. A conversion is whenever someone completes a contact form, downloads a pdf or information sheet or calls the client.
We use Contact Form 7 for most of our contact forms and download forms. Once the form has been completed and the submit/download button clicked we want to redirect the visitor to a page where we can log that conversion in Google Analytics and pass that information back to our Google AdWords campaign.
Contact Form 7 used to suggest using an easy copy and paste technique to redirect to your thank you page. However this method has been depreciated by Contact Form 7 and will no longer work after the end of 2017. This leaves two options.
See Old Depreciated Method
Go to the “Contact” menu item in your WordPress back end side bar, click on the form you want to redirect and then click on the “Additional Settings” tab.
Add this code into the field provided:
[javascript]
on_sent_ok: "location = ‘http://www.example.com/thank-you/’;"
[/javascript]
You need to replace the http://www.example.com/thank-you/ with the url of your thank you page.
- If you are not familiar with coding you can use a plugin called Contact Form 7 Redirection. They have both a free option available through WordPress but their Pro version adds some fantastic functionality that we often use for our clients.
This plugin uses the “wpcf7_mail_sent” action hook to redirect to the thank you page, and this hook shouldn’t be depreciated soon. This plugin has been tested to WordPress version 5.0.3 so it will continue to work well for you. It requires Contact Form 7 version 4.8 or later.
We suggest you try this plugin first and if it doesn’t work then move onto the second option.
- Use some php in your child-themes functions.php file.
The method now recommended in the Contact Form 7 documentation is to use javascript to redirect when the wpcf7mailsent event occurs. The code to use is:
<script>
document.addEventListener( 'wpcf7mailsent', function( event ) {
location = 'http://yourdomain.com/thank-you';
}, false );
</script>
If you only use one contact page, or only use on thank you page then all you need to do copy and paste the code below into your child theme’s function.php file.
//This function prints the JavaScript to the footer
function cf7_footer_script(){ ?>
<script>
document.addEventListener( 'wpcf7mailsent', function( event ) {
location = 'http://yourdomain.com/thank-you';
}, false );
</script>
<?php }
add_action('wp_footer', 'cf7_footer_script');
Again remember to replace the http://example.com/thank-you with your thank you page.
However we often use multiple contact form 7 forms on a website with multiple thank you pages. This is because we want to know exactly which pages, forms and calls to actions are converting our website visitors into leads so we send more traffic there, and optimise our conversion funnels.
In order to redirect different contact form 7 forms to different thank you pages you need to use the code below:
<?php
//This function prints the JavaScript to the footer
function cf7_footer_script(){
//if page name is contact.
if ( is_page('contact')) {?>
<script>
document.addEventListener( 'wpcf7mailsent', function( event ) {
location = 'http://example.com/thank-you';
}, false );
</script>
<?php }
}
add_action('wp_footer', 'cf7_footer_script');
Here is an example of the code for two different pages.
<?php
//This function prints the JavaScript to the footer
function cf7_footer_script(){
//if page name is contact.
if ( is_page('contact')) {?>
<script>
document.addEventListener( 'wpcf7mailsent', function( event ) {
location = 'http://example.com/thank-you';
}, false );
</script>
<?php } else if ( is_page('download')) /* if page name is download */ {?>
<script>
document.addEventListener( 'wpcf7mailsent', function( event ) {
location = 'http://example.com/thank-you';
}, false );
</script>
<?php }
}
add_action('wp_footer', 'cf7_footer_script');
We hope this helps. It is important to note that this code will redirect all contact forms one a page to the same thank you page.
Please let us know if you have any questions in the comments below.
How is local SEO different to traditional SEO?
Traditional SEO focuses on ranking websites whenever a certain keyword is used to direct the search. However local SEO try to rank a website whenever a keyword is used within a certain geographical area.
For example:
yourbusiness + city/area
yourservice + city/area
The geographical area can either be based on what was directly entered into the search bar or it can use the geographical location of the searcher themselves.
Any business with a physical location or that services customers within a specific geographical location absolutely needs to be using Local SEO.
It connects your business to people searching for your products and services in your area. Local searches are less competitive than international or national searches as there are less companies vying for the same space.
But how can I rank my website well for local SEO?
Search Engine Optimization is difficult because Google keeps changing the rules it uses to decide where to rank websites. Below you will find a quick summary of Google’s last few changes and how they changed the rules.
- Panda Update: Penalized Bad Content
- Penguin Update: Penalized Bad Links
- Hummingbird Update: Semantic Search – which means Google were trying to understand what the users are looking for rather than just the words in the search bar.
- Pigeon Update: Local Search ( July )
Googles’s Pigeon update is the update that most affected the local search results, which we are discussing. The update brought local search results more in line with traditional website ranking factors.
What changes came with the Pigeon update?
- The geographical search radius shown was reduced.
- Different search radius’s are also applied for different types of searches.
- Favors directory websites. Look for our upcoming post on Barnacle SEO.
- New local map pack – called “snack pack” with only 3 results instead of 7.
So what influences local search rankings and how have they changed?
The local search ranking factors have changed substantially in 2015.
On-Page Signals: ( down to 20.3% ):
1. Quality content is now more important than ever, it is more valuable to have fewer high quality posts rather than lots of average content going up on your website. Once you have quality content then optimise it for your local targets.
Area to optimise:
- City in the title tag
- City in the H1 heading tag
- City in content
- City in image alt text
- City in URL
- City in metadescription
2. Embed Google Map from Google My Business not Google Maps.
3. NAP – Name, Address, Phone Number
4. Use a local phone number
5. Blog regularly
Link Signals ( Up to 20.03% ):
- Quality links are important, not just quantity.
- Local sites with high authority carry a lot of weight.
Citation Signals ( Down to 13.55% ):
Citations are mentions of your website and NAP on other websites and directories around the internet. The listings will usually include you name, address and phone number along with a link to your website.
- Make sure your citations are consistent.
- Get citations your competitors are not paying attention to.
- If you have ever moved or changed phone numbers? Then citation clean up is your number 1 priority.
Google My Business ( Up to 14.72% ):
- Claim your Google My Business (GMB) location.
- If you are having problems use phone support.
- Customers are 38% more likely to visit and 29% more likely to buy from a business that has a complete GMB profile and page.
- Optimise your GMB page:
- Use a long description with formatting and links
- Choose the correct categories
- Upload lots of photos
- Use a local phone number
- Use your own profile and cover images.
Review Signals ( Down to 8.39% ):
88% of customers trust online reviews as much as reviews from friends and family. People will decide not to buy from you if you have bad reviews. Definitely do not fake reviews, rather care about your customer and let their reviews shine through.
- Make it easy to leave reviews
- Don’t forget to ask for reviews.
- Set up a review page on your website domain.com/reviews ( Link this to your GMB page )
- Hand out post cards with a link to your reviews page.
- Follow up with emails asking for reviews.
- Google reviews are the most powerful.
- Have at least 10 reviews on Google before targeting 3rd party review sites.
- Most importantly have more reviews than your competitors.
- Reply to all your negative reviews.
Seem like a lot to take in and not sure where to start. The best place to start is with a local SEO audit of your site. Get one for free below.
Scan your website’s local SEO for FREE.
[contact-form-7 id=”299″ title=”SEO Free Audit Form”]
If you have any questions please email us at [email protected]. Information sources for this post include Moz.com and Greg Gillford’s Local SEO – A Seriously Awesome Blueprint.
The best way to test your website for its load time and how Google views it is to use Google’s own page speed insights. Since we want it to help us rank higher in the Google website and search rankings, it is important to take into account how Google views your load time, and what they think needs to be fixed or improved.
To test your website using Google Page Insights.
1.Click here and enter your website address or URL.
2.Click Analyse
3.Read through the results and see what needs to be changed or upgraded.
Do not get scared if you find the results too technical for your understanding, send us an email at [email protected] along with your website address and we can test your websites speed and let you know what needs to be fixed and improved, what is critical and what should not be changed.
What can slow your page speed down?
- Your host or server: As the saying goes, you usually get what you paid for. In the long run, a cheap hosting account can damage your page speed. Pick the right host best fits your business size.
- Large images: Images which are very large are heavy to load and can really slow your website down. It is often due to extra data included in the comments or to a lack of compression.
- External embedded media: External media like videos are highly valuable but can seriously lower you load time. To gain some load time, host the videos on a sharing platform like youtube or vimeo.
- Unoptimized browser, plugins and app: You should test your website on all browsers since they do not all load your website in the same way. Applications like Flash can also slow your site down considerably.
- Too many ads: Besides irritating you visitors, ads can cost you page speed depending on how they are set up and how many you have.
- Your theme: Some highly designed themes containing a lot of effects and fancy functionality can penalize your load time.
- Widgets: Some social buttons or comment areas can have an impact of your page speed.
- Double-barreled code: If your HTML/CSS is not efficient or too dense, it will lower your page speed.
Alternatives for testing your load time and your websites speed are:
It is always good to have a number of sources when trying to speed up our website.
