Start 2025 With an SEO Health Check

January is a time for new beginnings, personal growth, and fresh starts. As we strive to become better versions of ourselves, it’s also the perfect moment to conduct a thorough SEO health check on your website. In the post-Christmas lull, focus on ensuring your online presence is optimized for success in the year ahead.

What is included in an SEO health check?

Your tracking setup

If you’re not already using Google Analytics, make it your New Year’s resolution to get started. Properly setting up Google Analytics is essential for understanding your website’s performance and user behaviour – a key component of your SEO health check.

Once set up, Google Analytics allows you to track important metrics such as visitor numbers, page views, and user engagement. You can create custom events to measure specific actions, like form submissions or button clicks, providing valuable insights into how users interact with your site.

Regularly review your Google Analytics data to identify trends, strengths, and areas for improvement. This powerful tool can inform your marketing strategies and help you make data-driven decisions for your business. Make sure you’re leveraging its full potential to enhance your online presence in 2025!

You Site Structure

Visually, your site will have a clear structure. Headings will be bold and short, paragraphs will be broken up properly and visitors will see images as you intended them to be seen (unless they have a visual impairment). Search engines like Google don’t “see” websites in the same way that we humans do. Google doesn’t look at font sizes, colours and position on the page to understand the content and the context. Google also can’t see images. So it’s important to ensure the site is structured properly for Google to successfully read your website. Web pages use “tags” to help both browsers and search engines understand the structure of the site. Headings should have H1 tags for the main heading, and H2 to H6 tags for sub headings, and other tags for specific content such as paragraphs, quotes etc.

Images too should have descriptive Alt Tags which will help search engines understand what the image is about.

Getting the site structure right is a technical task and requires someone who understands the intricacies of SEO to get it right. That’s why it’s important to get experts to help with your web design. An SEO health check will highlight areas where the site structure may be falling short.

Backlinks

When another website links to your website you have what’s called in the SEO industry a “backlink”. Backlinks are one of the most important aspects of SEO and an SEO health check will dig deep in this area.

Having lots of backlinks to your website from other sites is generally considered a sign of trustworthiness and authority by search engines. However, the quality of the site linking to yours can also have a positive or negative impact. A link from a reputable trustworthy site back to yours can be like SEO gold dust. Conversely a link from a low trust, low quality website to yours could be a signal to Google that your website is not great either.

For this reason your SEO health check will look at your backlink profile. There are some industry metrics that are used to assess the quality of the backlinks your site has and the impact it has on your website. There are also ways to ask Google not to consider backlinks from low quality sites that may be having a detrimental effect.

Is your site mobile friendly?

With the majority of web browsing now happening on mobile devices, it’s crucial that your site is accessible and easy to navigate on smartphones and tablets. A seamless mobile experience can significantly influence user satisfaction and engagement, making it a key part of your SEO health check. If your site is already mobile-friendly, it’s still important to regularly review it page by page to identify areas for improvement.

For instance, header videos can take up too much screen space and consume significant data, which can frustrate users. Additionally, be mindful of pop-ups and ads that might detract from the overall user experience, as excessive or intrusive elements can lead to user frustration and increased bounce rates. Consider simplifying your design to create a more streamlined, enjoyable experience for mobile users.

Your site’s speed

Today’s users expect web pages to load almost instantly, often within just a couple of seconds. In our fast-paced digital world, even a slight delay can frustrate visitors, leading to higher bounce rates and significantly lower conversion rates. If users have to wait too long for a page to load, they are more likely to abandon your site and seek alternatives.

To ensure a smooth browsing experience, take the time to go through your site and identify any pages that take longer than two seconds to load. Once you’ve pinpointed these slower pages, there are several strategies you can employ to enhance their speed. Consider compressing images to reduce their file sizes without sacrificing quality. Stream videos from YouTube (which is optimised for video delivery) rather than hosting them on your own server. Additionally, reducing the number of on-page adverts—particularly video ads that can be resource-intensive—can help streamline the user experience and keep visitors engaged. By prioritising site speed, you not only enhance user satisfaction but also improve your site’s search engine ranking.

Is your site secure?

Google has been flagging websites without SSL certificates, prominently displaying warnings to visitors when they attempt to access these sites. This can deter users from engaging with your content, even if your site doesn’t handle sensitive transactions or personal information. An SSL certificate not only indicates that your site is secure but also actively protects user data from potential breaches. Furthermore, GDPR rules necessitate an SSL certificate to ensure data encryption and maintain user privacy, which is crucial for building trust with your audience. Without it, you risk not only losing visitors but also facing potential legal ramifications.

Nettl of Stockport is here to help!

From design and development to hosting and maintenance, we specialise in maximising your online potential. If your site needs a little help getting into shape this year, get in touch with Nettl of Stockport to discover how we can support you in performing an effective SEO health check and enhancing your online presence.