When nothing works in SEO, follow this – Declutter!

An eye catching design that captures a visitor’s fancy – it is the first thing he notices, and decides to browse the website further. But no one comes back to a website for the design alone. Delivering compelling content that makes your website worth your aim and purpose has the strength to get returning visitors. In other words, offering quality and value to the user in an engaging environment can get them back to your website.

Not difficult to fathom, these factors. And yet, it is amazing how, for the most number of web service providers and web development firms you have worked with in the past, they have missed the whole point of developing a complete website in the first place. Who needs a website for the heck of it? Surely, if that’s the case, your website will fail to create the right impact, and will be reduced to just another website that no one visits. When you have an objective, be it showcasing your portfolio, creating awareness about your campaign, or simply promoting your services, you drive the optimization of your site with the goal in mind. That gives direction to how your website performs, and how your target audience responds to your website.

As an SEO expert, worried website owners often approach us sounding utterly confused and frustrated. Even while trying to follow Google’s instructions to create quality content, clean tags, update Meta data and putting the customer first, nothing seems to work for these DIY webmasters. So here are some tricks that, though apparently simple, are guaranteed to make you think whether you are doing things correctly, or if it needs a revisit.

The magic word is Declutter.

Yes, with emerging technologies and demanding visitors, we are in a mad race to offer everything to our customers. In the process, our websites are all the same, behave in a complex manner, and we think too much about algorithms. All this will NEVER yield result.

It is extremely important to judge what your core area of service or expertise is. In other words, you need to prioritize what you want to focus on, on your website. Once decided, focus on a clean, fresh and functional website that answers your customers to the T. So instead of aiming for all those visitors who search for ‘fruits’ on search engines, and rank 150^th, focus on ‘black grapes’, and aim for the first page. It is achievable, even without hiring a genius, only if you choose to be rational. People will like your website when you innovate and think of elements that, as a user, you would like to find on a website such as yours. Take suggestions, invite feedback.

Even when you are not selling, a website makes money when people visit it. So keep your website clutter free. An appealing website gives easy access to what it’s most obvious audiences want, and does not over-crowd the pages with excess information/data. The same is applicable for banners, ads, image galleries, complex forms, and so on.

In fact, go a step further to maintain a clean neighborhood. Regularly check the websites you have a relationship with, and ensure you are not linked with substandard, infected or spammy links. They can harm your website and take away all the merits you worked so hard to gain. When you do notice a poor quality or broken link, reach out to the webmaster or disavow the link.

When you think about it, do not leave the back-end unattended. Update your files, plugins and themes. Remove old files, outdated data, and anything you no more use. They only take up space, and add no value.

Remember to keep it neat. Keeping junk and unnecessary files in your CMS may eventually slow it down. Keep an eye on your page loading time; be absolutely particular about coding ethics, and a fanatic when trying to clean up your site. Remember, Less is More.