How you ever wondered why your website's search engine ranking isn't
improving? It might be due to the choice of the template you're using.
Since the advent of Content Management Systems (CMS) like WordPress, Drupal,
Blogger, and more, a significant majority, approximately 70-80%, have
preferred using pre-built templates over custom designs. Pre-built templates
offer cost savings and faster implementation, even for those with no coding
experience. However, there's a downside: some of these templates can be
detrimental to SEO.
Utilizing pre-built templates from online marketplaces is an excellent way to
save time and prevent design errors. However, it's crucial to understand how
to use a website template effectively to avoid undesirable outcomes.
Using poorly constructed templates or themes can lead to adverse effects on
website performance, user experience, and search engine rankings. Websites
with subpar designs, slow loading speeds, and compatibility issues often
struggle to retain visitors and achieve high search engine rankings.
In this article, we will shed light on what search engines like Google
recommend for a good template, how you can assess whether your template is
suitable for SEO, and how to enhance your template or find a more suitable
replacement.
What Search Engines recommend for a good website structure
Google and other search engines offer valuable advice to make your website
better. To succeed online, search engines recommend holding onto a website
template that should be user-friendly, load quickly, work well on mobile
devices, and use secure connections (HTTPS). Content, meta tags, and images
should be optimized, and accessibility for all users, including those with
disabilities, should be a priority. These factors contribute to better
search engine rankings and a positive user experience.
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On-page SEO: Google wants a website that has fully optimized
elements such as content, meta tags, images, and HTML source code.
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Speed: Make your site load fast, especially on phones. This helps
users and improves your search rank.
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Accessibility: Ensure everyone can use your site, including those
with disabilities. Follow guidelines like WCAG for inclusivity.
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Mobile-Friendly: Your site should work well on all devices. Google
prefers mobile-friendly sites.
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Security: Keep your site safe with HTTPS. It protects data and
boosts your search ranking.
Let's shed more light on them one after the other. And also helps you to
assess whether your template is suitable for SEO, and how to enhance your
template or find a more suitable replacement.
Things That make up a good website template(theme) according to search
engines
A good website template should have the following:
1. A valid HTML page metadata
Metadata or meta tags are attributes that help search to understand your
website It gives them more information on what information that are available
on your website. They are provided in between the HTML
<head> </head>
For example, the meta title helps to know the page title of your website and
the mata-description helps to understand what particular info is being covered
on a particular page If metadata tags are not available on your site or not
properly written it will make search confused which is may make them not crawl
your site
Are these meta tags on your website? How do you know if they are present? If you are a developer you can easily navigate to your website files to check. But non-programmers, you can use Chrome Dev-Tool to inspect your website; this method is suitable for those with laptops or desktop computers. If you don't have access to a laptop, don't worry; there's another alternative method I'll show you.
To begin, visit your website and right-click on the page you want to inspect (usually, it's best to start with the homepage, but any page will do).
In the pop-up menu that appears, click on the 'Inspect' link. This will allow you to examine how the HTML of your page is being rendered. If you need help to carry this task out, you can reach out to us in the comments or in the contact section on this webpage.
Sure, let's break down how poor images, slow-loading websites, and non-responsive pages can hurt your website's SEO in simple terms, and I'll provide some tips on how to find and fix these problems.
Poor Quality Images
Imagine your website is like a book, and the images are the pictures inside it. If those pictures are blurry, too big, or look bad, it can make your website not very nice to look at and also slow it down.
How to Check: Look at the images on your website. Do they look clear and sharp? Are they taking a long time to show up when you open a page?
How to Fix:
- Use clear and good-quality images.
- Make sure the images are not too big in size (you can use online tools to resize them).
- Use a format like JPEG for photos and PNG for images with transparent backgrounds.
- Add short descriptions (called alt text) to your images so search engines know what they are.
Slow-Loading Templates:
Think of your website template like the clothes your website wears. If your website is wearing a heavy coat in the summertime, it will move slowly and not feel comfortable.
How to Check:
- Open your website and see how quickly it loads. Does it take a long time?
- You can use online tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to check your website's speed.
How to Fix:
- Choose a template that is known for being fast.
- Remove any extra things (like fancy animations) that slow your website down.
- Compress your images and files to make them smaller.
- Ask a web developer for help if needed.
Non-Responsive Pages:
Imagine your website is like a rubber ball. If it's not flexible and doesn't bounce well on different surfaces, it's not very useful.
How to Check:
- Open your website on a smartphone or tablet. Does it look weird or hard to use?
- You can also use Google's Mobile-Friendly Test to see if your site is mobile-friendly.
How to Fix:
- Choose a template that is responsive, which means it adapts to different screen sizes.
- Test your website on different devices to make sure it looks good and works well on all of them.
- Consider hiring a web designer to make your website responsive if it's not.
By following these simple steps, you can improve your website's SEO and make sure it looks good and loads fast on all devices, giving your visitors a better experience. This can lead to more people staying on your site and better search engine rankings.
