Having a website was enough for many years because most devices sat on desktops and had robust processors allowing for full web browsing capability. Well, those days ended when mobile devices were born able to surf the web just as readily as their deskbound brethren. Now, your site needs to be fast on computers, tablets and mobile devices running at vastly different speeds. That takes understanding your site’s performance and optimizing it continually to get the best possible results from your digital marketing efforts.
Thankfully, there are a range of excellent tools you can use to keep track of your site’s performance – many of which are free of charge. That’s great news for any business owner but it comes with a downside too. You’re going to need to learn some new skills or partner with an agency that can assist you with the tougher optimizations required to rank well in any vertical. So, let’s break down some of the tools you can use and why their use is vital to your continued success:
Analyze Webmaster Data
Webmaster Tools are a key element in getting the most from your web efforts as they assist your site in speaking to and dealing with the algorithms search engines use to categorize and rank sites for specific search terms. It’s also how you communicate with the robots that index the web via the XML sitemap you submit through Search Console – either Google’s or Bings. It’s your ally in so many ways including helping you manage and maintain your most important web property. Let’s take a look at the steps involved:
Webmaster Resources:
Analyze Site Speed & Load Times
After you’ve established your website with Webmaster Tools you’re going to want to test your site’s performance in terms of its speed and load times. These metrics are huge in the experience your visitors have. That means you can have the formula for turning lead into gold on your page, but no one will ever see it because they wouldn’t wait longer than three seconds for your pages to load. If the whole world is hurtling by faster and faster you’re risking being left behind with a site that’s even a little slow. You can be sure one of your competitors is fast and they’re the one in the lead.
Below we have provided you with a bevy of tools you can use to test your site for free. Some will produce only datasets you’ll have to decipher and put to use on your own while others give insight and next steps. All have value and should have a place in your toolkit.
Mobile Resources:
Analyze Search Appearance
Structured data is the standard way that websites communicate with the machines that power search engines. This data included on your site in the correct manner helps to inform the robots that index your website, so they do a better job of properly cataloging and presenting your data to relevant queries. In short, it’s the language your site uses to educate the machines that are responsible for displaying your site in search results. Without it, you’re never going to rank well for any single term – let alone those of importance in your vertical.
Below, we’ve included tools and links to resources that can assist you in getting more from your website’s structured data opportunities. Let’s take a look:
Valuable Resources:
