Every term from our mini audit explained in plain language, without the jargon. Written for business owners who want to understand what is going on under the hood of their website.
Each article explains one term. Click through for a plain-language explanation and concrete steps.
HSTS is an extra layer of security that makes sure visitors always reach your site over an encrypted HTTPS connection. Explained in plain language, with concrete steps.
Read more →If your page does not load properly (for example status code 404 or 500), Google cannot index it and visitors see an error message. The foundation of everything: your page simply has to work.
Read more →The PageSpeed score is a number from 0 to 100 that shows how fast your site loads on mobile. Above 90 is good, below 50 is a problem. What the score measures and what you can do about it.
Read more →LCP measures how quickly the largest visible element on your page loads. Google uses this score to decide whether your site is fast enough. Under 2.5 seconds is good.
Read more →CLS measures how much your page 'jumps' while it loads. You know that moment when you go to tap a button and it moves at the last second? That is a high CLS. Under 0.1 is good.
Read more →TTFB (Time To First Byte) measures how quickly your server starts responding to a visitor. Anything under 500 milliseconds is good. Slow TTFB = slow site, no matter how well optimized the rest is.
Read more →The total size of a page determines how fast it loads, especially on mobile. Under 500 KB is light and fast. Above 2 MB it starts to hurt on slow connections.
Read more →More than 60% of visitors reach your site on mobile. Google also indexes your site primarily through the mobile version. If your site scales poorly on phones, it costs you customers and rankings.
Read more →UTF-8 is the universal standard format for text on the internet. Without the right UTF-8 setting, accents (é, ü, ç) and emojis show up as strange characters. A small technical detail that makes a big difference in how professional you look.
Read more →With one simple setting you tell Google which language your site is in. Without it, Google gets confused and shows your site to the wrong audience or translates it automatically (badly).
Read more →The meta title is the title you see in Google's search results. It is often the first (and sometimes only) thing a searcher reads before deciding to click. Ideal length: 50-60 characters.
Read more →The meta description is the grey text under your title in Google. It is your sales pitch: once the title has caught someone's attention, the description has to make them click. Ideal length: 140-160 characters.
Read more →Your meta title (in Google) and your H1 (on the page itself) should make the same promise. If they say different things, Google gets confused and visitors leave because they think they are on the wrong page.
Read more →A good meta description uses persuasive words and invites action. Words like 'discover', 'free', 'instant' and 'proven', plus a concrete invitation like 'book a call', measurably increase your click-through rate.
Read more →With one simple setting you can hide a page from Google (noindex). Handy for thank-you pages or internal tools, but if it is accidentally switched on for your important pages, you lose all your traffic.
Read more →A canonical URL tells Google which version of a page is the official one when the same content can be reached at several addresses. It stops Google from treating your own pages as competitors of each other.
Read more →When someone shares your link on LinkedIn, Facebook or WhatsApp, a preview appears: title, text, image. Open Graph is the setting that controls what that preview looks like. Without Open Graph: bare, ugly previews.
Read more →Structured data is invisible code on your site that tells Google WHAT is on the page. That lets Google show stars, prices, opening hours and more next to your link in the search results.
Read more →The H1 is the biggest heading on your page. Google uses it as the second signal (after the meta title) to understand what your page is about. The rule: exactly one H1 per page, with your main keyword in it.
Read more →H2s are the subheadings that break your page into scannable sections. Visitors don't read, they scan. Without H2s, readers see a wall of text and click away. Aim for at least 4 subheadings on a long page.
Read more →Google rewards pages that explain a topic completely. Under 500 words is usually too thin for competitive keywords. Here's why, and how to make your pages more substantial without filler text.
Read more →An alt tag is a short text description of an image. Google uses it to understand what's in the photo, and blind visitors have it read aloud by screen readers. A must for SEO and for accessibility.
Read more →Images are usually the biggest thing slowing a website down. Uncompressed photos of 5-10 MB each are not unusual. Ideally, every image is under 200 KB, with no visible loss in quality.
Read more →WebP and AVIF are modern file formats for images. They look the same as familiar JPG and PNG files, but are up to 70% smaller. That means faster loading times and better Google rankings.
Read more →Lazy loading only loads images once they come into view as you scroll. That way the top of your page loads super fast and your visitors save mobile data. A simple technique with a big impact on speed.
Read more →Internal links connect the pages on your own site. They help visitors find their way, help Google understand your site's structure, and spread ranking power across your pages. Aim for at least 10 internal links per page.
Read more →Domain Rating is a score from 0 to 100 that shows how strong your website's backlink profile is compared to other sites. Higher = a better chance of ranking at the top of Google.
Read more →The number of keywords your site can be found for in Google is a good indicator of SEO health. More keywords = more ways for new visitors to find you. Under 50 is usually too few, over 500 is strong.
Read more →Organic traffic is the number of visitors who find your site through Google (or other search engines) without you paying for ads. When organic traffic grows, your business grows structurally.
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