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7 Easy Steps to Check Your Website Findability in 15 minutes
You spend hours silently reading and judging other people’s websites – but what about your own? Often times our own sites are the last ones we look at and judge critically. Below are 7 easy steps to check your website findability in 15 minutes. You don’t need any experience to do this and its a good quick way to make sure your website doesn’t have any major issues that need to be fixed.
Step 1 – Google Yourself or Your Business
Chances are this is what everyone else does if they’ve heard about you or want to learn more. Your website’s first impressions in the search results can have a huge impact on how people form their perceptions. If you look sloppy here, you’re behind right from the start. You might not even get a click to bring people into your site in the first place.
Pro Tip – Before you Google Yourself, do it PRIVATELY
Don’t just open Google and type in a search – make sure you do it using Incognito mode in Chrome (Chrome Ctrl + Shift + N) or in a New Private Window using Firefox (Firefox Ctrl + Shift + P). This is an important step because web browsers will return different results to different people for the EXACT SAME SEARCH QUERY.
Your web browser will factor in things like your past search history, your location, recent sites you visited etc. and factor that in when it shows you search results. This is meant to give you the more relevant results, but it also means you might not see exactly what others see. Chances are when you’re Googling yourself or your business, Google might realize who you are (maybe you’re signed into Gmail or on your home or corporate network) and understand you want to see your own website.
It’s important to use a Private Search Window or Incognito mode when Googling yourself because it will give you a more neutral and objective view of what others might see.
While you are doing this, be sure to fill out any contact forms you might have and click on any phone numbers. You want to make sure any and all of your contact info is accurate and up to date and you’re getting forms if people submit them.
Step 2 – Google Your Friends or a Competing Business
Just like in the previous step, it’s best to use Incognito Mode or a Private Window in this step too. See how your results compare to other people and make sure nothing is way off or weird with your site compared to others. Remember – this is probably what other people are doing when researching you. Try to pretend you are just doing some neutral research and objectively judge the results and impressions you see.
Step 3 – Do the same thing from your Phone
This might sound redundant but keep in mind the mobile search is a little different than your desktop results – especially in different locations. Be sure to click on a few links of both yours and any competitors and see how the mobile format looks when comparing the two. Google is now using what they call a mobile first index when factoring in search results. This means that mobile optimized sites will rank better. There are a lot of ways to optimize for mobile, but we won’t go into that in this post. At minimum, make sure your site is responsive and formats automatically to all devices and screen sizes.
Step 4 – See how many Pages of your site are indexed by Google
Whether your website is big or small, you want to make sure Google knows about every page. Just because you publish pages and users can click on them and read them doesn’t necessarily mean that Google knows about them. If Google doesn’t know about them, then they won’t ever appear in search results to other people.
It may sound strange but even Google has limits to how many web pages they can crawl and keep track of in their search index. Every time they crawl and store pages it uses both money and resources. Making it as easy and functional as possible helps them, in turn helping you.
Type this into a Google search to see how many pages you have indexed (without the quotes)
“site:https://yourwebsitename.com” (replace with your own website name just make sure to include the “site:” at the beginning.)
This will return all the different pages of your site that Google is aware of and has indexed. If you don’t see all your pages here (or worse don’t see any) you’ll want to address this right away. You might need to request that Google index any missing pages using Google Search Console or ensure that you’re Robots.txt file isn’t preventing your site from being indexed. (we won’t go into how a Robots.txt file works but if you aren’t seeing any pages on your site appear this is most likely the culprit. Check out our past post on Google Search Console for more on using this free tool to help see how your site is indexed.)
Sometimes the fastest way to make sure missing or update pages are indexed is to check your Sitemap.xml file. This is file that lives behind the scenes on your website but informs Google of all the pages you want indexed. For most dynamic sites (WordPress especially) this should get updated automatically and is easy and fast to setup.
Step 5 – Check if your site uses “WWW” or not
Some websites choose to use the ‘www’ in the domain name and others choose not to. Neither way is really better than the other, but the important part is that you choose one and stick with it. You don’t want to be in the scenario where some pages use www and some pages don’t as it can dilute your ranking, get confusing to users and generally is just lazy.
The easiest way to check this is to just type in your website name and see what happens. Use ‘www’ the first time and then type it in without the second time and see what happens. Ideally one of the versions should automatically change/correct to the other so that no matter which you type in, after the page loads there is only one consistent address for every page.
If you get errors here or see both versions load fine you have issues. This can cause ranking issues with duplicate content and just generally needs to be resolved. Another good way to check on this in the previous step (Step 4), look at each of your pages in the search results and see if they all either use ‘www’ OR do not use it. If there is a mix and some pages use it and some don’t then you have issues.
Step 6 – HTTPS vs HTTP
It’s a recommendation that all websites use HTTPS now (this means there is a SSL Certificate installed on the server) and go ahead and type in your website and see if this shows up in the address bar. For personal sites that are more casual, this might not be a big deal. All business sites should transition to this and it isn’t too complicated to setup with your web host or agency. Again, as in step 5 – type in both the HTTPS and HTTP version of your site in a browser and be sure that the HTTP changes to the HTTPS automatically. You don’t want to have both versions mixed up across different pages.
Step 7 – Ask a Friend what they think
Most people have looked at their own website so much they are too impartial to judge anything or see any glaring errors. Ask a friend or partner to spend a few minutes looking at your website and see what they think. There might be something obvious to them that needs to be addressed or updated.
Summary
We hope these simple steps help to improve your website. Anyone should be able to perform these (regardless of skill level or experience) and there isn’t any special software or technical tools involved. If you’ve done this and have issues you can’t solve or just want to take your website to the next level, give us a call and see how VWM can help improve your website.
- Google Yourself or Your Business (using incognito or private window)
- Google Your Friends or a Competing Business
- Do the same thing from your Phone
- See how many Pages of your site are indexed by Google
- Check if your site uses “WWW” or not
- HTTPS vs HTTP
- Ask a Friend what they think
Below are some good resources on a few of the items mentioned in the article above if you want to take your website search a bit deeper
More about how a Robots.txt file works
More about using a Sitemap
Static vs. Dynamic – Which Website is Best For You
Static websites are making a comeback, but dynamic websites still dominate the web. Here’s an overview of each with some pros and cons if your company is considering a new website.
Table of contents
What is a static site
What is a dynamic site
Are Static Sites better than Dynamic Sites?
Dynamic Website Pros and Cons
Static Website Pros and Cons
Should you build a Static or Dynamic Site?
What is a static website?
Static websites serve the same content to every visitor from a fixed file that is coded in HTML. In the early days of the Internet this is how the first web pages were built. For each individual page of a static website, there is a unique HTML file on a web server with all the content and styles etc, for that complete page. When a website visitor types in a URL or visits a static page on a website, the page that loads will be the exact same for all users.
Static websites typically a more straightforward collection of files (or a collection of files and folders in a directory structure) that are managed by a web master or programmer that is familiar with HTML or some code. When updates need to be made or new pages added, it needs to be done manually by someone who is familiar with code and can code in HTML.
For example, a simple static website with a Home Page and a Contact page will contain two HTML files called something like ‘index.html’ and ‘contact.html’ (for almost all web servers the home page file is named index.html by default). These files would display the same information in a web browser to any user that requests them.
Static websites don’t have a database or require much server side thinking or processing before they deliver or generate a page to the user. They are typically more simple and efficient ways to create and server simple web pages. This site had a good click through illustration on dynamic and static websites (although the words run together in later slides)
As loading speed and security have become more important, static pages have started to re-gain some popularity – particularly with smaller sites that don’t change very often.
What is a dynamic site?
Dynamic websites are capable of serving different content to web visitors, even if the web page visitors are requesting the same exact page or viewing the same URL. Most dynamic websites require a database. When visitors request a dynamic web page, code on the web server works to kind of assemble the components of a web page before delivering them to the user. Server side code determines what components or pieces are needed to assemble a complete web page before it is delivered to the user. This can involve a huge variety of variables and logic depending on a websites architecture and purpose.
As an example, web visitors that visit the same URL might see different content in a dynamic site if they are one different devices, different countries, different times of day or even different networks. A web page generated from a dynamic website might have server side code that assembles content from different areas of a database, outside sources, page templates and other elements that are all in different areas of the server. In some dynamic sites, you might even see different elements or contents just by reloading the same web page twice.
Most dynamic sites use a Content Management System (CMS) that allows internal users to make updates or publish changes. Most CMS’s are accessible through a web based login that allows website owners or their staff to manage the site using a more easy to use visual interface. When updates or changes are saved they can be published immediately. Dynamic websites that use a CMS make it much easier to control larger websites.
Are Static sites better than Dynamic Sites?
There’s not a right or wrong answer here and it’s kind of like asking if red crayons are better than green crayons. If you need to color fire, red is better. If you need to color plants, green is probably better. Static sites do seem to be re-gaining popularity lately but the large majority of websites on the Internet are dynamic. At the end of the day it really depends on what the website you are planning to build is for.
Dynamic Website Pros & Cons
Pros
- Greater Interactivity with Users
- Increased Functionality (Ecommerce, Login Portals etc.)
- Easier to manage using a CMS, especially large sites
- Less coding skills required
Cons
- Less secure and more vulnerable
- More complex to setup depending on functionality
- Slower load time
- Generally more expensive to setup and maintain
Static Website Pros & Cons
Pros
- Faster load time and displays page quickly
- More secure – less vulnerable to hacks without a database
- Less expensive to host and maintain
- Less complex to setup
Cons
- No CMS, developer required to make updates
- Can’t display dynamic content to users
- Less engaging then interactive sites
Should you build a Static or Dynamic Site?
Here are some questions that help determine if you should build a dynamic or static website.
How large is the website (now and in the future)?
A simpler website with a few pages might be a good candidate for a static website. Websites with lots of pages or content that is continually being updated might be better as dynamic websites. If your website is going to be continually updated or grow large over time, it might be easier to manage a dynamic website.
Who is managing the website?
If the person that will be managing your website doesn’t know HTML or how to code, you might want to consider a dynamic site. Most dynamic websites have web based Content Management Systems or Web based logins where administrators can login and manage changes without having to code. Static sites need to be updated manually and if you can’t make updates on your own, it might get expensive to pay developers for every update.
How often will the site be changed or update?
Making updates to static sites will be more time consuming than dynamic sites. If there are a lot of updates or multiple people working on the website at the same time, a dynamic site is probably the best.
Some general resources to get started with static or dynamic websites:
You can spend hours researching this on-line so we won’t go into detail, but here are some good places to start.
WordPress – If you haven’t heard of WordPress it is a great place to get started for Dynamic Websites. This is the most popular framework for creating dynamic sites in the World, it is free and open source, and there are countless resources, developers and plugins available.
W3schools – This is a great resource to learn more about HTML and get started with static websites.
Bootstrap – This is one of the more popular frame work for both static or dynamic sites. A bit more for users who are not afraid of code
About the websites we build at Van West Media
Van West Media specializes custom built dynamic websites, although we have built static websites for specific situations. VWM’s custom websites include a CMS that allows clients to manage most aspects of their own site, reducing client cost and increasing the interaction with visitors. A majority of VWM’s custom websites are built on WordPress – the most popular CMS in the world.
Static vs Dynamic Website Infographic:
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The Secret Method to Creating the Perfect Amount of Simple
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The Path of Least Resistance
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Understanding the Differences of Good (and Great) Design
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How a Mobile-Optimized Design Impacts User Experience
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A Modular Approach to Increasing the Productivity of a Designer
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Why Technology Matters
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