President of MediaConfidant | Google Cloud for Startups | Providing clean data, with actionable insights, forecasting and more.
We leverage a number of tools to analyze client's sites. The catch is that they all have flaws and you need to know what to look for. Using one of Google's own, it often shows a perfect SEO score. Marketers and devs assume that they've checked all of the boxes, but their SEO traffic is flat or declining. It's a bit misleading to think that the "SEO" check means that you should be firing on all cylinders. Check out the screenshot below from a company that I just audited to see what I mean. 🔍 I'm sure that we all always read the fine print. In the instance of Google's SEO check they disclaim "These checks ensure that your page is following basic search engine optimization advice. There are many additional factors Lighthouse does not score here that may affect your search ranking, including performance on Core Web Vitals." Basically the checks focus on whether or not your structured schema is setup - however, Google shifted to have more emphasis on other factors. 📈 Beyond Structured Schema: If you have structured schema issues you'll have serious problems but it should be assumed that you do. To gain real organic traction you need to look at core web vitals, add in blogs, connect your socials to your site, and most importantly address performance issues. Don’t settle for a high “SEO” score; expand your reach with a robust keyword/content prospecting strategy. You may see that your "SEO" score drops, but now you're reaching a broader market. 📱 Mobile Experience Matters More Than Ever: If your site fails to load, render, or resize correctly on mobile devices, or mobile has a bad experience you’re in trouble. Google’s new policy will soon index based on mobile experience alone. Neglecting this could lead to a drop in traffic across all devices—or worse, no indexing at all (see my previous post) 🛒 Shopify and Wix Woes - Misery loves company, right? Well, many sites built on platforms like Shopify and Wix face similar challenges and we tend to see the similar scores "SEO" is great, the clients aren't getting any non-brand traffic and their "Performance" score is terrible. It’s time to prioritize performance, mobile optimization, and strategic content. 🔑 Choosing the Right SEO Agency: In the past, I worked with SEO teams that didn't do any dev work or had never built a site themselves. We’d propose updates, but they often went unimplemented due to competing priorities. When it came time to renew the contract, clients would ask to see the results and we'd show a wish list that their devs never put in place. Now, I partner with SEO experts who handle dev work, site design, copywriting, CRO, and more. 🔍🚀 Ready to talk? If you’re interested in improving your site’s performance and unlocking organic traffic, let’s connect! 📩 #seo #google #siteperformance #webdev #corewebvitals #digitalmarketing
