5 Things You Should Do on a Regular Basis to Keep Your Website Fresh and Fast.
How often do you think about website maintenance? If the answer is "not very often," here are a few ideas about the things that you should be doing on a regular basis to keep your website fresh, up to date and most importantly fast. In this blog post, we will discuss 5 things you should be doing to make sure that your website is up-to-date for customers and easy to manage by yourself.Update your content on a regular bases
Updating your content regularly helps Google to see that your website is active. But that's not all, keeping your website up to date means that your customers will never have the wrong information about your business.
If you have an e-commerce website, you should regularly update your product information - this is crucial to the customer experience. Customers expect a seamless experience when on your website. The customer should be able to easily find what they are looking for, just as they would if they visit a store.
With a Web Guys website, this is something that you are empowered to do yourself. No waiting around for a developer to make the relevant changes for you. But if you need a little help with this, Jon is on hand to offer you 1-2-1 support whenever you need it.
Update your blog
Keeping your blog active is important for many reasons.- You can give out excellent tips and advice to your customers.
- It helps to keep your Google rankings high.
- It's informative.
- Helps you to improve your SEO
Check your website speed
Speed is important to website users. You can find out how quickly your website loads by visiting Google's free speed checker. By using this tool you can find out how quickly your website loads and utilise the suggestions to help improve your website's speed. Should you need more support with this, simply book some time with Jon.Check for broken links
If you have made any significant changes to the pages on your website then you will need to be sure that you do not have any broken links. Whilst search engines don't punish you too much for a 404 link, your users might. You can find any broken links by using Google Analytics. Regularly checking is important to ensure your website runs smoothly for your customers at all times.Check for updates
When you log in to the back of your website, you might see notifications telling you it's time to update your website. These should not be ignored. However, if you are worried about updating your website for any reason, you can book a 1-2-1 session and we will help you with this. As with most technology, updates are an essential part of keeping your website working well. These are just a few ways that you can keep your website in tip-top condition - meaning your customers have the best possible experience. If you are unsure about ANYTHING to do with your website, simply book a 1-2-1 support session with Jon by CLICKING HERE. Jon is on hand to answer any questions or queries that you have and since he's our web guy, his knowledge of your website is second to none.
How to Properly Analyse Your Website Speed
Simply running a speed test is not enough; you need to understand what to look for. When you use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix, focus on the Core Web Vitals. These are the key metrics Google uses to measure user experience.
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): This measures how long it takes for the largest image or text block to become visible. Aim for under 2.5 seconds.
- Interaction to Next Paint (INP): This measures how quickly your site responds to a user's interaction, like a click. A good score is under 200 milliseconds.
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): This measures visual stability, checking if elements on the page move around unexpectedly as it loads. Aim for a score below 0.1.
The suggestions provided by these tools, such as 'optimise images' or 'reduce server response time', are your action plan. Addressing these specific points is how you tangibly improve your website's performance.
A Safe 3-Step Process for Website Updates
Ignoring update notifications for your website's platform (like WordPress) or its plugins can expose you to security risks. To update safely and avoid breaking your site, follow this simple process.
- Create a Backup: Before you update anything, always create a full backup of your website's files and database. Your hosting provider may offer a one-click backup tool, or you can use a dedicated plugin like UpdraftPlus.
- Update on a Staging Site First: A staging site is a private copy of your live website. Apply the updates here first to test for any issues. If everything works, you can then safely update your live site.
- Update and Verify: Update your plugins, themes, and core platform one by one. After each update, check the key pages of your website to ensure everything still looks and functions correctly. This systematic approach helps you pinpoint the source of any problem immediately.
Finding and Fixing Broken Links: A Practical Guide
Broken links (404 errors) create a frustrating experience for users. A primary tool for finding them is Google Search Console. Check the 'Pages' report under the 'Indexing' section for a list of URLs that Google could not find. This is your priority list of broken links to fix.
For a more comprehensive site-wide check, you can use a desktop tool like Screaming Frog SEO Spider, which has a free version for up to 500 URLs. It will crawl every page on your site and provide a complete report of all broken internal and external links.
Once you find a broken link, the best solution is to set up a 301 redirect. This automatically sends users and search engines from the old, broken URL to a new, relevant page, preserving SEO value and ensuring a smooth user journey.
Frequently Asked Questions About Website Maintenance
How often should I update my website's content?
For your main service or product pages, review them quarterly to ensure accuracy. For a blog, aim for at least one new post per month to signal to search engines that your site is active. Time-sensitive information, like event dates or special offers, should be updated immediately as they change.
What is the most important maintenance task for SEO?
While all tasks are important, ensuring your website is fast and mobile-friendly is critical. Google uses Core Web Vitals as a ranking factor, so regularly checking your site's speed with a tool like Google PageSpeed Insights and addressing the recommendations can have a significant positive impact on your SEO.
Do I need to update plugins if my website seems to be working fine?
Yes. Plugin updates often contain critical security patches to protect your site from vulnerabilities. They also include bug fixes and performance improvements. Neglecting these updates is a common reason websites get hacked or slow down over time.
