Service

SEO-audit, SEO-promotion

Project

Outdoor advertising software

Objective

– Search engine optimization of the website
– Attracting the target audience

Niche

Focusing on outdoor advertising operators and advertising agencies

Period

January, 2020  - present

Region

USA

Challenges of the project

About the project:

The client’s company specializes in outdoor advertising software development. This software is developed for outdoor advertising operators and advertising agencies: it simplifies and systematizes the work of the agency: sales, accounting, project management.

The client provides cutting-edge technology and offers innovative solutions in the field of outdoor advertising, developed over many years of international activity. These solutions significantly increase the effectiveness of outdoor advertising.

Project analytics prior to collaboration:

Project Visibility:

If a project shows “No Data” for both Visibility and Estimated Search Traffic, this could indicate several potential problems:

  • Lack of keyword ranking;
  • Google penalties or algorithm changes;
  • Inorganic traffic: if the website relies mainly on inorganic traffic sources: social media, direct traffic or paid advertising. It may not have significant organic search traffic or visibility;
  • The website is poorly indexed by search engines.

1. Website Technical Issues: Improperly configured robots.txt that can block access by search engine crawlers, incorrect or broken redirects, slow page load speed and SSL certificate issues.
2. Website Structure and Internal Linking: Poor content organization, illogical URL hierarchy, lack of or improper use of internal linking can all make indexing difficult.
3. Content Quality and Uniqueness: Duplicate, low quality or thin content that does not provide value to the user may be ignored by search engines.
4. Lack of Improper Use of Meta Tags: Tags like title, description and H1-H6 headings should be optimized for proper indexing.
5. Lack of Mobile Optimization: Since most search engines prefer websites optimized for mobile devices, the lack of such optimization can affect indexing.
6. XML Website Map Problems: An incorrect or outdated website map can prevent search engines from effectively indexing pages.
7. External Factors: Bad or toxic backlinks, and penalties from search engines for not following their guidelines.

To improve indexing, it is important to regularly conduct technical audits of the website, optimize content and meta tags, improve the structure and speed of the website, and monitor the quality of backlinks.

Conclusion of SEO-specialist about the reasons for poor indexing of the website by search engines

Analysis of the Positions Distribution, Traffic and Visibility:

Distribution of keywords by position:

Distribution of keywords by position:

Summary:

At the time of launch, the website was out of search engine visibility. There was no increase in traffic. The bulk of the key phrases of the domain is outside the TOP 100, i.e. far outside the main traffic generating zone – TOP10.

Team actions

Project Problematics:

  • Lack of correct customization of technical files:

Example of elaborated robots.txt for CMS on which the project is implemented:

In the robots.txt, we recommended the following:

1. Exclude technical sections and pages from indexing: registration pages, authorization, login to the website control panel, shopping cart and others;
2. Do not index pages with internal website search results;
3. Exclude print pages from indexing;
4. Specify in the Sitemap directive a link to the website map file (e.g. Sitemap: http://miysite.com.ua/sitemap.xml);
5. In the Host directive, specify the main domain of the website.

Advice from an SEO expert on how to customize your robots.txt

Project Problematics:

  • Lack of metadata optimization for relevant key queries:

Failure to optimize metadata for relevant key queries can have serious consequences for the website’s visibility in search engines. Metadata, including the title and description meta tags, play a key role in how search engines understand and categorize page content. If this metadata is not optimized for targeted keywords, the website may not appear in search results for relevant queries, and this will result in lower traffic.

To optimize the metadata, the following has been done:

  1. Keyword Analysis: An in-depth analysis was conducted to identify the most relevant and high frequency keywords for the target audience.
  2. Optimized Title and Description Meta Tags: Each page’s meta tags were optimized to include targeted keywords while keeping in mind their natural inclusion and user appeal.
  3. Improved URL Structure: The URL of each page has been reviewed to ensure clarity and to include keywords where possible and relevant.
  4. Content Adaptation: Page content was adapted to better match target queries, ensuring relevancy and quality.
  5. Mobile Optimization: Made sure the meta tags are optimized for mobile devices as well, taking into account the differences in display on different devices.
  6. Monitoring and Analysis: Continuously monitor and analyze the effectiveness of optimized metadata to further improve and tune your strategy.

Example of elaborated semantic core for the current project:

Project Problematics:

  • Incorrect server settings. Non-existent pages, i.e. pages that should give the server response code 404, gave the server response code 200 OK:

As an SEO specialist, I can tell you that incorrect server settings can seriously affect SEO and user experience. Especially when non-existent pages instead of the expected response code 404 give the code 200 OK. This configuration can cause problems with indexing and lowering the quality of the website in the eyes of search engines.

Opinion from search engine optimization specialist RegisTeam

Problems caused by this error:

  • Indexing Confusion: Search engines may index non-existent pages as valid pages, diluting the importance and relevance of the website.
  • Index Bloat: Unnecessary pages increase the amount of indexed content, making it difficult for important pages to be indexed effectively.
  • Poor User Experience: Users encountering non-existent pages do not get the expected information. Which can lead to an increased bounce rate.
  • Reduced Search Engine Trust: Improper management of status codes can negatively impact search engine trust in a site.

Works that have been carried out to eliminate this error:

  1. Server Settings Audit: Conduct a full audit of server settings to identify why non-existent pages are giving a 200 code instead of a 404 code.
  2. Adjusting HTTP Response Settings: Configuring the server so that it correctly returns 404 code for non-existent pages.
  3. Creating a Custom 404 Page: Develop a user-friendly 404 error page that helps redirect visitors to useful sections of the website.
  4. Revision of Sitemap and robots.txt: Removal of links to non-existent pages from sitemap.xml file and correction of robots.txt file to exclude indexing of these pages.
  5. Monitoring and Validation: Regularly monitor the website status after changes are made to verify that the status codes are displayed correctly.
  6. Using Webmaster Tools: Check your website using webmaster tools such as Google Search Console to identify and correct indexing errors.

Project Problematics:

  • Not unique content on commercial pages:

Having non-unique content on a website can have serious negative effects on its search engine optimization and overall visibility in search engines. To avoid risks, the RegisTeam team developed and published a unique, relevant to the interests of the target audience.

This not only improved SEO, but also attracted the interest of website users, as evidenced by the traffic and view duration metrics of these informative materials.

Project Problematics:

  • The presence of little informative pages:

Having empty, incomplete or little informative pages on a website had a negative impact on its search engine optimization and overall user perception of the product. Here are some of the key problems associated with such pages:

1. Low Content Quality Score: Search engines like Google evaluate the quality and relevance of a website's content.
2. Increased Bounce Rate: Users who encounter blank or uninformative pages are likely to leave the website quickly, resulting in an increased bounce rate. A high bounce rate can be interpreted by search engines as a sign of a low-quality website.3
3. Poor User Experience: A lack of useful content can frustrate visitors and degrade the overall perception of a website, negatively impacting its reputation and brand credibility.
4. Conversion Decrease: Low-information pages do not provide the user with enough data to make a decision to buy, subscribe or otherwise interact, i.e. lead to a decrease in conversions.
5. Dilution of Internal Linking: If such pages are included in a website's linking structure, it can dilute the weight and importance of internal links, reducing the effectiveness of SEO optimization.

To fix these problems, we regularly audited the content of a website and removed and reworked low-information pages so that they provided real value to visitors.

The opinion of a search engine optimization specialist at RegisTeam

Project Problematics:

  • Lack of optimization of some pages for mobile devices:

Here are the main risks associated with a lack of mobile optimization:

Downgrade in Search Engine Rankings: Modern search engines, especially Google, prefer mobile-optimized websites. Lack of mobile optimization can lead to lowering the position of a website in search engine rankings.

Poor User Experience: Users who visit the website from mobile devices may experience navigation issues, slow loading pages and incorrect content display, which will negatively affect the perception of the website and may increase bounce rates.

Decreased Conversions: If a website is not optimized for mobile devices, it can make it difficult for a user to perform certain actions, such as buying a product or subscribing to services, and result in the loss of a potential customer.

How we fixed this problem:

  1. Transition to Adaptive Design: We updated the website design to ensure that it displays correctly and is usable on a variety of mobile devices.
  2. Improved Load Speed: Optimized images and scripts to make pages load faster on mobile devices, which is critical to keeping users’ attention.
  3. Simplified Navigation: We’ve simplified the menu structure and controls to ensure ease of navigation on the mobile devices.
  4. Testing on Different Devices: Regularly tested the website on different mobile devices and operating systems to ensure stability and an equally good experience for all users.
  5. Optimization of Content for Mobile Devices: Adapted the size and format of content, including text and media files, to make it easy to read and comprehend on mobile devices.
  6. Use of Mobile Technologies: Adopt technologies such as AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) to speed up page loading on mobile devices.
  7. Performance Monitoring and Analysis: Continuous monitoring of the website performance on mobile devices using analytical tools to promptly identify and fix potential problems.

Through these actions, we significantly improved the mobile optimization of the website, which had a positive impact on its search ranking, user experience, and conversion rates.

Project Problematics:

  • Duplicates of the H1 header were sent to a separate block with the “display:none!important” attribute. So, to the naked eye they were not visible on the website:

This is how the RegisTeam solved the problem with duplicate H1 headings that were sent to a block with the “display:none!important” attribute:

  1. Audit and Problem Identification: the audit identified all instances where duplicate H1 headings were used. This was done using specialized SEO tools and manually to make sure the problem was accurately identified.
  2. Analyzing the Causes of Duplication: After identifying the problem pages, the team analyzed the causes of duplicate H1 headings. They determined that the duplication was the result of incorrect implementation of certain features on the website that required two H1 headings for different purposes (e.g., for visual display and for SEO).
  3. Solution Development: The team developed a strategy that involved removing duplicate H1 headings and replacing them with other relevant HTML elements that better fit the structure and semantics of the web page. In cases where duplication was unavoidable, they made sure that only one visible H1 header was used. And other elements were properly structured and styled so as not to affect SEO.
  4. Removing the “display:none!important” Attribute: The “display:none!important” attribute has been removed from all unnecessary H1 headers. Thus, they eliminated the possibility of hiding important content from search engines.
  5. Testing and Validation of Changes: After making the changes, the team conducted testing to ensure that only one H1 headline remained on each page and that it displayed correctly for both users and search engines.

These steps helped improve the website’s structure, eliminating the problem of duplicate H1 headings and improving its overall SEO performance.

Project Problematics:

  • Pagination pages are not set up, which additionally created duplicate pages:

The RegisTeam team has fixed the error of no optimization of pagination pages on the website as follows:

  1. Identification of Pagination Problems: duplicate content, improper use of meta tags, and lack of a clear link hierarchy between pagination pages.
  2. Canonical Links: in some cases, canonical links have been used to indicate the preferred version of a page to index. Especially where the content was very similar or duplicated.

These steps allowed RegisTeam to successfully optimize pagination pages, improve indexing, and increase overall SEO on the website.

Project Problematics:

  • Overloaded code with unnecessary elements:

If a website contains redundant code, it can make it difficult for search engines to analyze the content. This can lead to slower indexing of problem pages and longer load times. Therefore, it is important to find and remove all unnecessary code. Large style blocks should be placed in a separate external CSS table.

RegisTeam team eliminated the error of HTML code overload with unnecessary elements and styles on the website as follows:

  1. Detailed HTML Code Audit: The team conducted a comprehensive audit of the website’s HTML code. They used various code analysis tools to identify redundant elements and styles that did not affect the functionality or appearance of the website.
  2. Identification and Removal of Unused Styles: the team identified unused or redundant CSS styles using CSS optimizers and other similar tools. They then removed these styles from the style files, reducing their size and simplifying the code.
  3. HTML Structure Optimization: The team revised the HTML code structure, removing unnecessary tags and improving the hierarchy and semantic cleanliness of the code. This improved the readability of the code and made it more efficient.
  4. Utilizing Modern Web Standards: To improve the performance and compatibility of the website, the team updated the code using modern web standards such as HTML5 and CSS3.
  5. Consolidation of Style and Script Files: Where possible, the team consolidated multiple CSS and JavaScript files into one to reduce the number of HTTP requests, which sped up website load times.
  6. Resource Minification: The team applied minification to HTML, CSS and JavaScript files, which helped to reduce their size and speed up page loading.

Results

Increased website visibility:

Implementing an effective content plan had a significant impact on the success of this project. First of all, thanks to carefully thought-out content, the project has significantly improved its visibility in search engines.

Users began spending more time on the website, better interacting with content, which drove higher engagement and satisfaction. This, in turn, has led to an increase in repeat visits and a decrease in bounce rates.

Regular publication of relevant content has helped to increase the authority of the website. Quality content that is regularly updated has built the trust of users and industry experts, which has had a positive impact on the website’s link profile. As a result, it has improved the ranking of the website in search engines.

All these factors combined had a positive impact on the SEO performance of the project. Improved content relevancy, user experience and website authority have led to an increase in organic traffic, which is a key indicator of the success of any online project.

Growth in the Dynamics of Website Visibility by Queries:

Growing Traffic Dynamics:

Summary

The RegisTeam team successfully eliminated a number of technical errors on the website and performed text optimization, which resulted in a significant improvement of the website’s performance. These improvements not only increased the usability of the website for users, but also helped improve its position in search engines.

Analysis of Current Positions in Search Engines:

In general, the actions of the SEO RegisTeam team led to tangible positive changes in the work of the website, which had a positive impact on the company’s business indicators.

*Only information that is within the parameters approved under a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) between the parties is disclosed within the scope of this case.

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