Websites are easy right?
You have a page, that page links to a different page and people can do different things on each page. Easy. Well not so much, actually. You see, even the easiest-to-navigate websites have a ton going on behind the scenes.
Hidden things like 301 Redirects, Meta Descriptions, Tagging, and Sitemaps that make websites and the Internet work they way they do. So wha tare these things, and what can you do to make sure you use them like a pro?
301 Redirects
Go to your search bar and type in “bellsouth.com”. Notice anything? ATT.com pops up, and not Bell South. This is all thanks to a 301 Redirect. When AT&T took over Bell South, they didn’t want to lose the traffic from people looking for Bell South. On top of retaining traffic from defunct URLs, 301 Redirects also keep your site in good SEO standing, by protecting it from broken links.
Meta Tags/Descriptions
Simple, but incredibly important. A Meta Tag’s purpose is to help search engines learn more about the contents of a given website. No one outside of a Google Crawler, or your website designer will ever see this small line of code, but it none the less pays huge dividends with SEO.
XML Sitemaps
This is a tricky one… it’s a map… of a site. No, I’m not making that up, it’s an actual thing, and it’s actually really important. Similar to how a Meta Tag tells search engines what a page is about, a sitemap tells the crawlers where it can find all your pages and when they were last updated. Without this data, search engines can have a more difficult time learning about your site, thus hurting it when it comes time to rank.
Tagging
Ever wonder why Facebook always seems to display ads for things you just looked at? This is because the page you visited was outfitted with a piece of code called a “Remarketing Pixel”. A tag is a lot like those pointy spurs you pick up with your shoes when walking through a field (we called them “tag-alongs” as kids). This code, which is stuck to your digital self, can then tell the operator of the site nearly everything you did while visiting. The data these tags provide can be incredibly impactful, and often times can be the difference between a successful campaign and a failed one.
If you website is missing any of these items, it’s time for a change.
While they might not seem like much, these small things can go a long way in improving the long-term success of your website, and marketing goals.
Want to know what else you can do to boost your websites traffic and drive more leads? Check out our free eBook, “25 Website ‘Must Haves,’ and build a website that rocks.