SEO for local businesses pt. 7

SEO for local businesses in Hawaii

An in-depth series — Part 7 — SEO Basics

SEO basics for local businesses in Hawaii: optimization. In this seventh in our series on SEO, we will go over details of basic optimization. This series discusses comprehensive on-site analysis. Another series will address on-page SEO analysis.

What is SEO?

For more details on what Search Engine Optimization (SEO) involves, see part 1 in this series.

A comprehensive website audit will address the following aspects of your website: 

  1. Basic Health Check
  2. Pages Analysis
  3. Meta Analysis 
  4. Content Analysis 
  5. Links Analysis 
  6. Images Analysis 
  7. Mobile & Desktop Optimization (covered in this article)
  8. Usability & Technologies

Since we already covered Basic Health Check in the first part of this series, this article covers details on mobile & desktop optimization. Other articles in this series will address the remaining aspects listed above.

What is "mobile & desktop optimization"?

The trend of growing mobile Internet share is observed each year and will continue in the nearest future. Make sure that your website works and looks good when viewed on desktop, smartphone, and tablet. This will positively influence both your conversion rate and ranking, as Google will consider the adaptive website design (one that fits into any screen size) as another positive factor for ranging since April 2015. On April 21, Google began using "mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal." This means your website should look good on mobile devices. An example of a website that does not look good is one where the text in the menu is too small to read; and the menu is not a "waffle" menu but full length menu.   

SEO Basics: Mobile & Desktop Optimization

The following list of optimization suggestions are highly technical and may be beyond your control based on the website development platform you are using. For example, if you are using Wix, Weebly, Squarespace, or even a local development tool like Rapidweaver, you do not have control over many of the following suggestions. 

  1. Reduce JavaScript execution time: This refers to the amount of time it takes for the browser to parse, compile, and execute all of the <script> files in each web page. If you are using plugins or a web development platform like the ones mentioned above, then you will most likely not have control over this. For details see this interesting article over at my favorite website speed tool, Gtmetrix. Regarding this and the remaining points (except #13), you most likely can not do anything to improve these issues (without bending around your neck to reach your elbow). Based on your needs, you can safely ignore these points and focus on the points discussed in the previous articles in this series. 
  2. Eliminate render-blocking resources
  3. Minimize main-thread work
  4. Serve static assets with an efficient cache policy
  5. Avoids an excessive DOM size
  6. Avoid multiple page redirects
  7. Enable text compression
  8. Minify CSS
  9. Minify JavaScript
  10. Efficiently encode images
  11. Page isn’t blocked from indexing
  12. Defer offscreen images: This one is interesting. It refers to a way of having your images load (become visible) only when the image enters the viewport (the space where the user can view elements). However, like all of the other points mentioned above, on your platform this is probably done with a plugin (which, again, probably adds more <scripts> that cause the issues listed above). 
  13. Properly size images: This is most likely the only suggestion that you have control over without getting deep into some kind of code. If you are on a Mac then you can get tools to resize images on Setapp. 

Local businesses in Hawaii can benefit from following the directives of SEO experts; for further reading, see this authoritative starter guide. If you are interested in executing your own SEO plan, I recommend using SE Ranking. Their plan includes 35+ SEO tools to help you optimize your site; it also includes an in-depth guide on implementing an online marketing plan. Otherwise, I recommend running our FREE on-page SEO audit. This is a free SEO audit for a single page. We understand you have your choice in Hawaii SEO companies, that's why we are committed to providing neutral advice; consultation that is truly in your best interest. For an objective approach in SEO web design in Hawaii, contact Vital Tech Results.