5 Website Mistakes Holding Your Small Business Back
Building a website for your small business can help take your business to the next level. But if your website has flaws, you may not be fully capitalizing on your local search optimization. Here are a few simple website mistakes that may be hurting your website performance.
Slow Loading Speeds
If your website is too slow, it impacts the user experience and can deter people from choosing your business. It might not be easy to tell what’s slowing down your website. You may have a low-quality hosting service that can’t deliver the speed you need. Images and videos that aren’t optimized or properly embedded could be slowing your loading times, too. Or if your website’s code is too heavy, it can take a while for users to scroll and for Google to crawl.
Keyword Stuffing
Keyword stuffing is a simple mistake that happens when you create website content only hoping to rank for keywords. Website copy like “Carpet cleaning services in Council Bluffs. We offer the best carpet cleaning services in Western Iowa. If you want your carpet cleaned, contact our carpet cleaning specialists today!” is an example of keyword stuffing.
Why can keyword stuffing hurt your website’s performance? For one, the copy isn’t compelling. More importantly, though, Google recognizes when a website is trying too hard to rank for keywords and flags these attempts as artificially generated, or worse, deems your website unreliable. If you want your website to rank for keywords, the copy on your main webpage is not the ideal place. Instead, you’ll want to build out a strong blog presence on your website with posts about keyword and industry-related topics.
Poor Mobile Experience
Because Google changed their algorithm in 2021 to prioritize mobile-friendly sites, your small business will need a mobile-friendly website to rank well. Many of the mistakes that cause slow loading speeds can also hinder its mobile friendliness. The simpler your site is to navigate, the better. Use elements like unformatted photos and videos that need time to load sparingly. Don’t bog down the page with too much copy either. Instead, make sure the actionable areas of your website like CTAs are prominent and easy to use on both mobile and desktop browsers.
Stock Images
The easiest mistake to make when designing a website may be using stock imagery. Google doesn’t want to show users the same photos across multiple websites, so it’s important to use images that can’t be found anywhere else. Unique photos can also help your website appear more legitimate—to users and to the search engine.
No Clear CTAs
A call-to-action (CTA) is a website element that prompts users to complete a specific action. For example, if you want to drive more calls, you could use a “Call Now” action button below website copy that explains why your services benefit the reader.
CTAs can also be used to move users onto different webpages. For instance, if your homepage briefly mentions a service your business offers, you could add a CTA that links to the page dedicated to the service on your site. Google pays attention to how people interact with your site, so getting someone to stay on your website for a longer time by directing them to different pages is a great SEO tactic that can make it more likely for Google to recommend your website to potential customers.
Learn more about how to optimize your small business website for local search by checking out the Local Search Fuel blog!