Webcraft Webmaster Services

If your site is hosted on a server with various other URLs, Google may ding your rankings. It is now recommended that you have your very own dedicated server, so as not to be affected by the mistakes others make. Ensure your caching and compression tools are in top shape, with adequately fast response times. Most importantly, monitor your site's stability and note any significant downtime; if you're down for more than 24 hours, search engines will notice and likely penalize you. Stability is critical. my motto is "Keep it simple" and "don't leave anything for tomorrow that can be done today." Regards Gerald Crawford Stellenbosch South Africa Cell: +27-0720390184 (mobile) E-mail: gerald@webcraft.ws

If you really want to see your SERPs plummet, create a user-interface that's confusing, convoluted, and slow to load. Page speed does in fact matter, as does intuitive navigation. Studies show you have less than 3 milliseconds to establish engagement and trust with a new visitor. This means the site needs to communicate what it is, and in a clear manner, quickly.   If your site doesn't pass this test, Google will notice eventually. More importantly, so will your users. If you're not doing a decent job of guiding visitors down the ideal path, your conversion rates are surely reflecting this failure.   Next, clock the speed it takes for your site to load. Many argue the validity of a fast loading site; the fact is, even if only a small percentage of pages are affected by this stat, it's foolish to have a sluggish site from a user perspective. Aim for a score above 90, and you might see an increase in rankings – but you will surely see a dro