Countless business websites depend on advertising for much of their revenue yet few ever take into consideration the effect it will have on their overall SEO strategy. Advertising that is not properly placed, according to Google’s preferences, will actually hurt your SEO and your ranking in the long run.
- The most serious blunder made by most companies is placing too much advertising “above the fold”. This is an antiquated newspaper term but translates to mean what a visitor sees when they first arrive at your website. You can’t have more than one banner or tile ad on that first glimpse or you will be penalized by Google for not displaying enough content. Also, your content is the key to your SEO and ranking strategy so that is what needs to be prominent.
- Another huge annoyance is what’s known as “floating ads”. They pop up and hog the entire screen until one can figure out how to get rid of it. The thing is, however, most visitors don’t bother. They simply click away and go and visit your competitor. If you are doing this at your site, stop it right now. You are alienating potential conversions and increasing your bounce rate which, of course, simply kills your SEO attempts.
- Video plays a vital role in your SEO strategy and they should be prominent at your site. Video ads, however, should not. They are annoying and draw attention away from your content. Do you really want potential customers to be focused on an ad for dog food instead of what you are trying to sell? If visitors shut the ad off and stay at your site, count your blessings because most will just bounce away.
- Keep you advertising to a minimum and set it up as a rotation situation. Don’t interrupt your content presentation with an ad in the middle of it. Keep your ads to the top, the bottom, and the right side of your webpage. Visitors are used to advertising but they don’t want it to be intrusive and you don’t want to annoy them to the point where they leave and spend their money with your rival.
-Written by Kevin Sawyer
SearchPro Systems
2024