How’s Your SEO Going So Far? 2018’s 1st Quarter SEO Checkup

Time flies so fast. It may seem just yesterday when we are trying to predict what SEO will be in 2018 and now we are nearing the end of the first quarter of the year.

Now that we are about to enter the second quarter, it’s time to take a break and look back to how far you have gone in your SEO. It’s time for the 1st quarter SEO checkup.

It’s time to check if you have done or perhaps started with some necessary changes and updates to your website.

Updated Website With Fresh Contents

Yes, no matter how the SEO landscape change, content will remain one of the top priorities on SERP.

That is why, you should have started removing old, low-quality contents in your website and start fresh contents for 2018.

Google loves quality contents; it’s no longer new. But when the content you boast as great is about a year old, it doesn’t qualify as quality content anymore.

So make sure to update your contents especially the articles that are already out-dated.

Aside from regularly posting blog posts to your website, you should make sure that quality evergreen articles are updated.

Updating contents are more than just changing the date. Instead, try to rewrite your content for a fresh perspective. Here are some tips for updating your contents.

• Check your external links. Change or remove links that are no longer active.
• Update researches and studies cited. If you have cited studies, research or statistics, review your sources if they have updated information you can use.
• Remove tips no longer useful. If you have tips or ideas that are no longer useful, replace them with ideas or contents that are currently valuable.

These are some tips you use to revamp your content. Try to follow these tips for your content when doing an SEO checkup.

Improved Mobile Speed And Mobile Optimization

Mobile speed and optimization is an important factor in preparing for the changing SEO landscape. By now, you should have understood the importance of getting your website mobile ready.

While there is no concrete date as to when, sooner or later the Google’s Mobile-first Index algorithm update will roll out fully. Any business with an interest taking advantage of the growing mobile traffic should prepare for this update.

Let’s start with your mobile speed. Mobile loading speed is very crucial for your website. Every second that a user waits for your website to load may lead a user to abandon your website.

So at this time, your mobile site speed should have improved. If you have not started yet, here are some considerations to improve your website.

• Optimize your images and CSS/JavaScript.
• Delete images that are no longer necessary in your website.
• Update plugin and themes.
• Use AMP for blog posts.

Google recently introduce tools that allow you to see where your websites stack up over your competitors in terms of mobile loading speed. They also give you a grasp of the revenue changes when speed is improved.

Another thing which you also consider is your overall mobile optimization. Improving your loading speed is a part of mobile optimization. But aside from this, you also have to look at other factors that may affect your mobile website ranking.

Make sure that your website is mobile-friendly and responsive. Examine your content and try to use shorter paragraphs to make reading easy in limited screen space.

You should also take a look at your current website structure. As much as possible, redesign your website that it looks good and easy to navigate on mobile devices.

Migrating From Http To Https

Google also puts more importance on security. That is why the never stop in their campaign to encourage websites to migrate from HTTP to HTTPS.

Now that Google have started tagging HTTP websites as “not secure”, unable to transfer to https can hurt your website. Not only you are vulnerable to threats but you may also lose the trust of uses which can cause decrease in traffic.

Migrating your website to https could cause you a headache. You may want to ask an expert web design and developer to do the job for you.

Checked On Your Keywords

Keyword research should always be a part of your SEO efforts. This will help you identify keywords which searchers often use and leverage this to answer their questions.

While Google doesn’t have a concrete explanation how they weigh keywords relevance to websites that show up on SERP, getting a glimpse of what users search for and trying to answer their queries is the best way to get your website on SERP.

That is why your choice of keyword matter. Regularly conduct keyword research to determine the keywords or keyword phrases oftentimes used by users.

Competitive keywords may change the searching behavior of users change. Regular keyword research as a part of your SEO checkup will help you get a glimpse of the current searching behavior of users. Thus, making your SEO more efficient.

As SEO undergoing some major revamps, you need to conduct regular SEO checkup to make sure you will not get lost or left behind along the road.

I hope you have done or started the changes and updates mentioned above. If not, there is no need to panic; you still have time to make this changes.