Website Optimization: Everything You Need to Know

Website optimization is the first step in any SEO campaign and trust me it is way beyond than just title and meta description optimization. Today, I will share everything you need to know about website optimization.

What Is Website Optimization?
It is a strategic and step-wise procedure to optimize a website to match the best SEO standards.

Each search engine has its own set of rules and best practices and the good news is a majority of them are similar because of the common goal of serving the best results to searchers. An SEO expert applies all these best practices to the website to take benefit of higher rankings bestowed by an optimized website.

If I take an analogy of a model in the show business, the first thing any model needs to work upon is his body. He needs to do a lot of workouts and go through a strict diet to get good physic. Likewise, a website needs to go through different on-page optimization related changes to get SEO benefits.

Please be advised, website optimization is a part of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and not complete SEO itself as mentioned on many public articles and websites.

Is Website Optimization all about Search Engines?
Not exactly! Website optimization is performed to achieve 2 goals which are listed below:

1. To make website Search Engine friendly
2. To make website User friendly

The ranking factors have many things to do with the user behaviour on the website and user experience as well and a wise SEO expert knows this fact. Thus, the website optimization performed by an expert SEO always focuses on making a website, both, SEO and user friendly.

Why you should care about website optimization as a business owner?
If you are expecting some business goals such as Branding, Lead Generation, etc. from digital channels, then you must care for SEO marketing services and as mentioned earlier, each SEO campaign starts with website optimization. Even if you are not ready for regular SEO service, you must perform website optimization to ensure your website is ready to go and follow the best SEO and UX practices.

Key Benefits of Website Optimization:
I wouldn’t lie as many article writers do by saying it will give you “Brand Benefits”, “Top Rankings” and “Lead Generation” because the fact is it may not! Attention: It may give all those benefits as well. This depends on the competition in your niche. If your niche is highly competitive such as website development or digital marketing agency, then website optimization is not enough to give you top rankings, lead generation, and Brand Awareness. You need to do many more digital marketing activities such as SEO, SMM, PPC, etc. to beat the competition. However, if you are working in a low competitive niche, then the website optimization will be good enough to get you good rankings, brand benefits, and probable lead generation as well.

So what are the definite benefits of website optimization? Below is the list of key benefits of website optimization which will be bestowed to a business/website regardless of competition:

• Search engine friendly website which will give you many benefits such as
  • Easy to get crawled by search-bots
  • Easy to get indexed
• User friendly website which will give you many benefits such as
  • Improved visitor interaction
  • Improved visitor engagement
  • Decreased bounce rate
• Boost in the targeted keywords
• More indexed pages in the search engines, which increases chances to get found by searchers
• Boost organic score
• Boost organic traffic
• 70-80% of the job done for SEO (the rest need continuous SEO activities)
• Website ready to start full-fledged SEO activities, any time to gain more SEO benefits
• Seed roots of a Digital Brand of your Business

What is the list of activities performed in website optimization?
Generally, when an SEO professional says, “website optimization”, people start commenting on 2 things: title and description. These are the most important part of on-page optimization, but not the only players in website optimization.

Below is the complete list of activities performed as part of website optimization:

• Website audits
• Website speed optimization
• Website responsive nature optimization
• Keyword research
• URL optimization
• Title tag optimization
• Meta description optimization
• Webpage content optimization
• Header tags optimization
• Image optimization
• Hyperlink optimization
• Link sculpturing
• Canonicalization
• Sitemap optimization (both, XML & HTML)
• Txt and Meta robot optimization
• Navigation optimization
• Footer optimization
• 301 Redirections
• 404 customization
• CSS validation
• W3C validation

This is the list of activities which is performed as part of website optimization. As and when an algorithm change, this list is subject to change.

Who is involved in website optimization?
Website optimization is not the job of a single SEO expert. It needs team effort of following skilled professionals:

• Search Engine Optimizer
• Web developer and designer
• Content writer

What is the process of website optimization?
As mentioned earlier, website optimization is a very strategic and step by step process. Below is the step-wise approach to perform effective website optimization:

• The SEO expert starts with the website audit and creates an audit report which will have a list of development side changes to be performed to make the website SEO and user friendly.
• While the web development team is applying the suggested changes, the SEO expert will work in parallel on the activities of on-page optimization and a content writer will work on the content optimization part under the direct guidance of an experienced SEO professional.
• In the end, the SEO expert creates a comparison/progress report for the client or board of directors to showcase the changes applied and progress made.

When to start website optimization? After web development?
This is a very common question with a ready answer: after development. This is absolutely wrong. Your web development and SEO team should work in parallel when you start web development. This will save a lot of time and effort which need to be put in if the website is already developed.

For instance, if you use an SEO consultant, you have a list of URLs that can be taken care of during development. On the contrary, if you consult an SEO expert after website development, your SEO expert needs to invest time in auditing the URLs, then he will give the list of SEO friendly URLs; your web development team needs to add those URLs, plus may require performing additional activities such as 301 redirections.

So consult an SEO expert as soon as you have an idea of your business if you’re just starting as he can help in buying the best domain for your business as well. If you already have a developed website, never mind, hire an SEO expert at the earliest possible to convert your website into an optimized website.

Is it expensive?
No, it is affordable.

Website optimization is a one-time activity. So if you’re not ready to invest on a recurring basis for website marketing, just get your website optimized now with a one-time fee. You can start SEO and marketing as soon as you’re ready to invest in SEO or paid ads. It means no wait to optimize the website when you’re ready to spend on digital marketing. And most importantly, you will not lose SEO benefits while not investing in digital marketing. Use the full potential of having a website.

What is the cost of website optimization?
That depends on the nature of the website, niche, and the number of pages it has along with the service you need. You can get different packages for website optimization from an SEO agency and choose the one based on your budget. You don’t need to hire an SEO manager if you need website optimization only.

Can I perform website optimization?
Yes, if you know the nitty-gritty of SEO. However, if you haven’t ever tried your hands in SEO, then I strongly recommend, not playing with your business website. The reason is if you do something wrong, you need to face penalties. So let an expert do his job.

How to start?
Just fill in this simple contact form and we will help you get started with our domain expertise. We offer affordable SEO services, including, website optimization, and other budget services in digital marketing. Get in touch to know how we can help you with your digital journey.