When we hear “I need to work on SEO”, most people are referring only to their page rankings and increasing their position in the search engine result pages (SERPs). Although this is important, there are 6 other areas that also need to be addressed to fully “optimize” your website. Depending on your site, target audience and content, some areas may need more attention because they are more important for your marketing or sales goals. But addressing all of these areas will ensure that you are creating the best way not only for viewers to find you, but for search engine to index the pages and for site users to have a good experience.
Here are the seven aspects of your site that should be optimized:
- Visual
- Searchable
- Understandable
- Usable
- Technical
- Mobile
- Shareable
Some of these areas are not necessarily going to affect your search ranking but they optimize the site it other ways. For instance, visual optimization is not something that search bots look for — although the design of a site can affect how and if they can index pages. But having a great visual experience is still important as it is often the first impression your visitors get of your company. If the design engages and leads your viewers through the site to the information they want quickly, it can keep people on your site longer, help them engage more and build your brand image.