Articles > Caffeinating Your Website
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Caffeinating Your WebsiteHow to optimise your website for Google CaffeineIf you want me to check your website for Caffeine-friendly features, just give me a call on 0274 777753 or contact me here. I'll do that promptly and for free. Some questions to consider when you are wondering how to make your website more Caffeine-friendly: Is your website fast? Google is going to judge your website based on how fast your web pages load. You should aim to have your page load in 3 seconds or less.If you are clocking in at over 3 seconds, you might try some of the following techniques (which your web master or website designer can help you with): use CSS; limit the amount of Flash on the site; use image heights and widths; check for broken links; compress your JavaScript and CSS; cut back on cookies; review server or hosting provider performance; and remove unnecessary images and links. If you have a Zeald.com website, all those factors have already been addressed. Is it fresh? Same old, same old is just not cool anymore – no matter how popular your site is. The demand is for fresh and new content. Make sure your content is updated frequently and is keeping up with the times. It should incorporate a news feed and a blog. If you are not sure what to blog about, then you should subscribe to industry newsletters or blogs. Similarly, sign up for Google Alerts, or check out Yahoo Answers to get the ideas flowing. Does it look good? Caffeine likes visually appealing websites so make good use of images on your website. Don’t go overboard here or you will adversely impact on your website speed. Be sure to optimise your images for SEO by using the following techniques: a. Make sure your alt attribute, description and surrounding text include blends of your keywords b. Have your file name include your keywords; make sure keywords are separated by hyphens c. Use image header titles – H2s or H3s with your keywords d. Add an images sitemap e. Make sure your incoming link anchor text is relevant to keywords Using Social Media? Google’s Caffeine results also blend in real-time results from social networks, so it’s important to make sure you have an active and popular presence in those spots. If you haven’t already – create a Facebook page and Twitter account for your business and get active. a. Make sure your social profiles here are optimised with the same keyword focus as your website b. Be active in the communities with frequent, relevant posts c. Become popular in the communities – get lots of fans and followers from the popular people of your space Are You Local? It is looking like the local search results are about to get even more important. If you don’t already have a local business centre account – get one now. a. Complete your profile – optimise it for your top target keywords and include blends of your keywords in categories and descriptions. But don’t include too much stuff that will dilute your true focus b. Make sure your local geographic areas that you service are clearly included on your website c. Make sure your website is registered to the correct address d. Get links from local press and have inbound link anchor text that includes your geo-target e. Include photo and video content f. Get your customers and partners to post positive reviews for your business g. Monitor your reputation and address negative reviews Got breadcrumbs? Instead of that single URL SERP, Google is now displaying breadcrumbs in the search results – giving your display a chance to be much easier to digest and providing multiple links for searchers to click on so they can easily get to the best spot on your website. For instance: www.websitename.com > Product Line > Product Name If you think your SERP listing would be better served with this display, you’ll need to make sure your website has clear breadcrumb navigation. If you have a Zeald.com website, that is a built-in option. So are you ready to start caffeinating? But I suggest that you ensure your website is in good shape first before you caffeinate it. So make sure you’ve got the basics covered:
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