The site with the most web pages doesn’t automatically get the win when it comes to search engine rankings. Search algorithms award for web page quality over quantity.

Quality pages:

• Get visits
• Generally earn time spent on the page
• Lead to return visits

To accomplish these things, your page needs to be found by people who are looking for the content you offer. That’s where search engines and SEO comes in. You need your page to be visible when people use search.

SEO is not just about using the right keyword a few times. Search engines look at many factors to determine what people are actually looking for. The best matches rise to the top of the rankings.

Determine Web Page Quality

Search crawlers pay attention to traffic. So, a quality page has to get visited. Google Analytics can help you understand which pages visitors access as well as get a general sense of the most valued content at your site.

Google Analytics tells you which pages are being visited most and how long people tend to stay on each page. All of this helps you determine the quality of your individual pages.

Any page that you think should get more visits and time than shown in your analytics needs attention to improve the page quality. You can’t argue with the numbers.

As you look at low-performing pages, consider these common issues:

• Is the page slow to load? People are impatient.
• Is the content unique? When the exact content can be found on different pages, that negatively affects search rank.
• Does the page make sense? Does the title of your page – in the navigation, on the page and in links from other places – accurately portray the content of the page or is it misleading?
• Is the page easy to read online, with text and images that convey the main point?
• Is the page outdated or no longer needed?

How to Improve Page Quality

Your goal is for every web page to be worth visiting. Each needs to share content and information that the web visitor will value. Make each page worthwhile, or consider deleting the content. If you delete the content, be sure to set up a redirect to the most relevant remaining page and remove any links to the removed page.

When you want to improve the quality of a web page, make sure you understand why someone would visit the page. Then, make sure your content delivers what they need or want.

Hallmarks of the right content include:

• Uses the keywords that people are currently likely to use when looking for the content.
• Has valuable information, sharing content not found elsewhere or pulling content together in a useful way.
• Offers your unique, insightful, useful look at the topic of the page.
• Written in a way that is easy to read online.

Establish Your Expertise

There is a lot of content out there. Frankly, a lot of it is not worth reading. It is important to rise above the clutter and show readers and search engines that you are an authority in your field. This doesn’t just help your pages show up in the search results, it also helps users reach the level of trust they need to do business with you online. Share thoughtful details about your business and your expertise.

Focus on Site Performance

The best content will still fall flat if it is slow to load or access. People won’t wait in hopes of getting to great content. They will move on.

The speed of your website is a factor that impacts your Google rank. Google and other search engines know that users don’t like slow websites.

User experience, also called UX, is all about how users experience a site or product. Search engines want to provide their users with the best result for their question or search query. The best result doesn’t only mean the best answer, it also means the best experience. So even if you’ve written an excellent answer in a post, but your site is slow or has complicated navigation, Google won’t consider your post the best answer.

Your site also needs to function well on small screens. Mobile searches are growing, and many sites get more traffic from mobile devices than desktop computers.