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In an increasingly digitized world, a business’s website is akin to its heartbeat. Just as a person's health is critical for their overall well-being and performance, a website's health is vital for a business to function optimally in a digital-centric society. But what exactly does site health entail, and why is it so essential?
Site health refers to a variety of factors that determine how well a website is functioning. This includes its performance, security, search visibility, user experience, and the accuracy of its content. According to a 2023 study by Portent, the average website speed has become a crucial factor for maintaining user engagement, with sites that load within one second having a 2.5 times higher conversion rate than those that load within five seconds. At the bare minimum, your website is supposed to keep up with your customers, so keeping a pulse on your site health is important to constantly capture your customers.
A healthy site ensures that visitors can easily and quickly access the information or services they're seeking. Slow load times, broken links, missing content, or unresponsive design can deter users, reducing the effectiveness of the website. Google's Core Web Vitals, introduced in 2020, emphasizes the importance of user experience as a ranking factor, emphasizing the connection between site health and search visibility.
At its core, technical SEO is the foundation of any SEO strategy, which is critical to search visibility and improving user experience. Technical SEO can greatly impact a website’s performance on Google. When a Technical SEO audit is done of your site, it measures the stability of the foundation of your site — determining if minor tweaks can be made to improve the foundation or if a redesign is in your future.
Poor site health can lead to lower search rankings, making it more difficult for potential customers to find a business online. According to Hubspot, 75% of users never scroll past the first page of search results. Not only is keeping up to date with your site health important, but also is continuing to create compelling, educational content for your consumers.
To maintain a strong pulse on Technical SEO and user experience, lean on tools such as Google Search Console and SEMRush that complete thorough site audits to identify issues like broken links, crawl errors, slow-loading pages, or missing content. It is vital to regularly schedule these to keep identifying problems that can be quickly solved to maintain strong website performance.
Digital landscapes evolve rapidly, and so do digital trends in UX and SEO. Regular health checks ensure that a website remains adaptable and can integrate new technologies or best practices without significant overhauls.
Is your page optimized for mobile? This is the number one optimization all businesses should have already made. Statista reported that over half the web traffic worldwide is generated via mobile, with around 45.49% originating from the United States.
As businesses rely more heavily on their online presence to connect with customers and drive revenue, ensuring a website is fast, secure, and user-friendly becomes paramount. Regular monitoring, adopting SEO best practices, and being adaptable to the changing digital ecosystem are the keys to maintaining optimal site health. Just as regular check-ups and a proactive approach to wellness can ensure good personal health, the same principles apply to the well-being of a website.
Haven’t had a site check up in a while? Our digital marketing team is here to help! Contact us today — we can get you up to speed.
