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How Does SEO Affect My Website?

SEO is the lifeblood of your website, and it will affect just about everything that happens with your site. Here are some important points any SEO agency would consider when thinking about SEO: keywords, links, title tags and descriptions, page titles, and headings. This article will explore each one in more detail so you can get a good understanding of how they work together to increase search engine rankings. Let’s dive right in!

Utilize Keywords

Your “keyword” is the word or phrase that people will type into a search engine when looking for your website. Google, for example, uses data from your common keyword to determine how relevant it is to a search result.

Plan for Links

Links are the currency of the web. Whenever you link out to another site, whether it’s sending someone to an outside resource or linking back to one of your own pages, that is a positive signal for search engines. The more quality links you have coming to your site, the better you will rank.

Check Your Title Tags and Descriptions

Just like how people use keywords to find your website when using search engines, people viewing your website will be using those same keywords to figure out if they want to stay. Your title tag and meta description are the titles that show up in search results next to your link, so make them compelling enough for people to click.

Create Unique Page Titles and Headings

Page Titles and Headers are the most important information on a page from an SEO perspective. You want your title tags to be interesting, but they also need to provide the reader with the information they were looking for. In addition, you will use subheaders throughout your writing to highlight certain topics. Just like how you used keywords in your title tags and meta description to match what people are searching for, use headers and keywords in your content so that both humans and search engines know what your page is about.

Alltogether, SEO can have a dramatic effect on how successful a web page will be. The more relevant information you provide with your keyword usage, links, title tags and descriptions, page titles and headings, the more likely you are to have people find your web page in search results. If you are unsure of how to link all this together, it’s time to hire an SEO agency to help you. Remember, the more SEO-friendly your web page is, the higher ranking it will have, and the more likely people are to find it!

PS: When designing and developing websites, Artkenya always uses pemium themes which are ‘SEO-friendly’. And when hosting your website with us, we install premium plugins that give you everything you need for fast, powerful WordPress SEO with industry-leading features like:

  • Automated SEO checkups and reports
  • Sitemap auto-generator and search engine notifications
  • Titles and meta descriptions
  • Full support for default schema.org types
  • Site crawls, scans, and reports
  • Automatic linking
  • 301 Redirects
  • Advanced social media sharing

Please contact us today for a free consultation.

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Why an SSL Certificate is Essential for the Security of Your Business Website

When seeking reliable website hosting services, you must consider keeping your site secure. Today, the standard is to make your site “HTTPS” instead of “HTTP” if you want to avoid the embarrassment of your visitors seeing a “not private” security warning.

What is SSL?

SSL stands for “Secure Sockets Layer (also known as “Transport Layer Security”.) and is a cryptographic protocol designed to provide communications security over a computer network. It involves scrambling data to make it almost impossible for hackers to read. Most websites these days have an “SSL Certificate,” which helps anyone who visits that site to feel safe. Having SSL protection increases the trust level among site owners and potential customers. The free version offers the same benefits as the paid version but doesn’t have a verified signature other than what a site owner might sign themselves.

How Do You Get an SSL Certificate?

Website hosting companies usually provide a free one through the “Let’s Encrypt” version. It offers the standard protection expected by most site visitors. You also can receive paid versions that usually come with advanced support and might cover a validation period of one or two years versus only 30-90 days. Either free or paid, you receive the option to order one for your website when you sign up for website hosting services.

Is an SSL Certificate Necessary?

If you just have an informational domain that doesn’t require visitors to register, you might not need an SSL certificate for your site. If you do have forms that collect sensitive information such as last name, phone number, birth date, or social security number, an SSL certificate is recommended. Even if you have a web form that just requires a first name and email, it wouldn’t hurt to have SSL encryption to make visitors feel better about signing up to your newsletter, special offers, and free products.

SSL Certificate Renewal

You can usually sign up for your domain at the same time you purchase website hosting services. When you do, you could coordinate this renewal service with your SSL certificate. Make sure you check on your domain status before it expires, which usually happens once a year.

You also can purchase multi-year plans that extend your domain ownership and SSL certificate out to at least two years or longer. Whether a year or more, make sure you keep both your domain and your SSL certification active so customers can find you.

PS: When signing up for Artkenya’s ‘Managed Web Hosting’ service, we provide a FREE SSL.

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