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Top 20 Google tips #20 - Google won't like Cookie Banners!  

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In his 20th tip, Clive Loseby from Access by Design looks into his crystal ball…. you heard it here first!

If you have enjoyed this series, please do let us know!

 

*** TRANSCRIPT ***

Hi I'm Clive Loseby from Access by Design and I'm here today to talk about 20 things you need to know about your website and Google in 2017 (and 2018!).q

We're on to the final one! No 20 and I'm slightly sticking my neck on the line or more like I'm predicting the future!

Cookie banners! We all know what cookie banners are, even Google has got a cookie banner!

It's that banner at the top or at the bottom in small text saying "we use cookies if that is okay please click on this thing"

NO NO! Cookie banners are bad!

Why are cookie banners bad?

Because they break accessibility guidelines because they are not part of the main navigation on a website.

If you're partially sighted you wouldn't even see that cookie message It's a bad thing.

The cookie law was introduced by the EU a few years ago. I'm not going to go into the technicalities of it. It was introduced with a good idea, about trying to weed out the dodgy sites that kind of track you, wherever you go.

That is also a bad thing but a cookie banner breaks accessibility!

Now I reckon there is a time that's going to come, probably in the next couple of years, where Google is going to realise that those cookie banners break accessibility and if websites have got them they are going to be less accessible than websites that don't have them and you're going to see a massive sea change.

By the way, you still need to have on your website, and it's a legal requirement, information about cookies but what we need to do is put them in our T's and C's.

By the way having Terms and Conditions of use on your website has always been a legal requirement. If you haven't got T's and C's on your website you need to get it sorted and make sure you drop you in a paragraph about cookies into there and you're all covered.

Cookie banners - not good!!!

So we're coming to the end of my series of 20 tips.

I hope you found some of them useful, all of them useful, if you come away with just a few and it helps your website rankings, I'd be really happy to hear about how it's helped you.

If you'd like to have a free review of your website please get in touch Thank you very much for watching!

Goodbye

Clive Loseby

Access by Design. Award winning web design, Chichester

Top 20 Google tips #19 - Google doesn't like popups!  

In his 19th tip, Clive Loseby from Access by Design explains why Google doesn't like popups!

 

 

*** TRANSCRIPT ***

Hi I'm Clive Loseby from Access by Design, I'm here today to talk about 20 things you need to know about your website and Google in 2017 (& 2018!)

No 19 Google does not like pop-ups! Do you like pop-ups? I hate pop-ups!

You know if you go into a shop and you're kind of browsing around and and then the shop assistant kind of shuffles over and it's that "can I help you?". It's that thing isn't it?

Pop-up that appear after 15 seconds, "Call us now" "Let us assist you" Why are pop-ups are bad?

Pop-ups are bad because they break accessibility guidelines. The accessibility guidelines are very clear.

Everything that is on a web page should be there from the second that you go there. Pop-ups that appear after a fixed period of time break accessibility guidelines. If somebody has got limited vision, they may not see the pop-up, Certainly that pop-up would not appear on the navigation to a blind person because it breaks accessibility guidelines it's going to be frowned upon.

If you've got pop-ups, get rid of them!

I'm not saying that "call to actions" are bad, by the way, you can have a "call to action" down the side of a page, as long as it's just repeating content that is available at the top but it must be there from when you go to the web page.

Don't pop up afterwards, it annoys people and it annoys Google.

If you would like a review of your website please get in touch, I'll do it for free

Clive Loseby, Access by Design. Award-winning web design, Chichester

Top 20 Google tips #18 - Google doesn't like disappearing content!  

In his 18th tip, Clive Loseby from Access by Design explains the importance of making sure that you don't remove old content!
 

 

*** TRANSCRIPT ***

Hi I'm Clive Loseby from Access by Design I'm here today to talk about 20 things that you need to know about your website and Google in 2017 (& 2018!)

No 18: Google does not like disappearing content!

We've all done it, we've got blogs that go back years into the past and "It's an old blog don't need it anymore" and it's gone.

Problem is, if Google doesn't know that it's gone it will still possibly send people to it, if they're looking for some obscure thing that happened a few years ago.

It doesn't matter how old it is as long as it gets people on your website, it is a good thing

If you take it off and you don't tell Google that you've taken it off, it will get marked out as a "page not found" and that will affect your rankings.

It's easy to tell Google that you've taken some content down, loads of information about how to do it (is) freely (available), Google just likes to know.

If you would like to have a free review of your website, please get in touch.

Thank you

Clive Loseby

Access by Design. Award winning web design, Chichester

Top 20 Google tips #17 - Google doesn't like it if you get hacked!  

Top 20 Google tips #17 - Google doesn't like it if you get hacked!

*** TRANSCRIPT *** Hi I'm Clive Loseby from Access by Design. I'm here today to talk about 20 things that you need to know about your website and Google in 2017 (and 2018!)

No 17. Google doesn't like it if you get hacked. Hmmm, nobody likes it if you get hacked, least of all you. However it's not about getting hacked, because it happens to corporations, to big businesses, you know - everybody, governments whatever. It's not about being hacked, it's about what you do about it.

Now, everybody can have a free Google account. Get yourself a Google account, get yourself a free Webmaster Tools account and get your website registered on that. If your website gets hacked, Google will then let you know about it and it will let you know where it's been hacked, so you get that information and you get it straight away.

Like I said, getting hacked isn't the issue, it's about how quickly you resolve that. Free Gmail account, free Webmasters Tools account. If it's your website, it is in your interest to be aware if there are any issues with it!

If you would like to have a free review of your website, please do get in touch.

Thank you

Clive Loseby, Access by Design. Award-winning web design, Chichester.

Top 20 Google tips #16 - Google cares where you hosted!  

In his 16th tip, Clive Loseby from Access by Design explains the importance of making sure your website is hosted in the Country from what you are based!

*** TRANSCRIPT ***

Hi I'm Clive Loseby from Access by Design and I'm here today to talk to you about 20 things you need to know about your website and Google in 2017 (& 2018!).

Number 16: Google cares where you are hosted!

If you host with GoDaddy actually Google thinks you're in Sweden because that's where they host There's other places where you'll be hosting, in America, all sorts of far-flung places

The problem with that is if your business is in this country, in the UK and you're not hosted (here), we have a bit of an issue and Google will have a bit of an issue.

Very very simple.

Whoever you host with, make sure they are hosted in the country in which you do your business whether that is the UK, France, America whatever; because Google knows where you are hosted and it can find that out that information in a nanosecond.

If you would like to have a free review of your website, please do get in touch

Thank you.

Clive Loseby, Access by Design.

Awaerd Winning Web Design, Chichester.

 

Top 20 Google tips #15 - Do NOT use Google Images!  

In his 15th tip, Clive Loseby from Access by Design explains the importance of only using licensed images and how not doing so cost one of his customers a lot of money!

 

 

*** TRANSCRIPT ***

Hi I'm Clive Loseby from Access by Design and I'm here today to talk to you about 20 things you need to know about Google and your website in 2017 (and 2018!)

Number 15 - do not use Google images for your website. Do not use Google images for anything!

The reason I say this is that Google images, a lot of the images on there and I mean a lot, are owned by companies like Getty. Getty Images have little bits of code in inserted into their images so that they can track them and if you use images from Getty, from Google images if you like, and you use them on your website you will get in trouble.

We've got a license with Getty, so people who buy them through us actually buy them licensed. One of our clients had a holiday or has got a holiday property website and they have all their Google images through us, so they're all quite legitimate.

They also advertise other people's properties and they didn't think anything of it. The person sent across some images for their page and a lot of information that they just put it up.

Unfortunately two of the images were taken from Getty and they weren't authorised. What Getty did is they sat and they watched and about ten months later they dropped him a nice little email and they said

"You've been using two of our images and they're not authorised so we'd like £945 just to pay for the license used up until this moment and then we can talk about using it in the future."

Now because they own the website, because it was their website, even though the images were given to them, because they put them up, they are legally responsible for them.

This doesn't just apply to websites, it applies to social media Another person I know has used Getty Images on a Facebook page. Same issue.

It's really simple. Only use images that you have taken yourself or you have got licensed.

If you are going to use them in any kind of public forum, such as a website, it is really important because it could be really expensive otherwise.

Hopefully that will save you some money!

If you'd like to have a free review of your own website, please do get in touch.

Thank you

Clive Loseby
Access by Desigm. Award-winning web design, Chichester.

 

Top 20 Google tips #14 - The truth about SSL  

Internet Security Access by Design 01243 776399

Blog rewritten in light of recent changes

Sometimes developments on the internet happy extremely fast. The video is made for this topic is already out of date, so I have decided to drop it and replace it instead with this blog I wrote recently... just imagine I am in front of camera as you read!

SSL Certificates. This subject has so much incorrect information, I wanted to explain what SSL Certificates are, what they do and the things to consider before getting one. By being informed you will be able to make a decision as to whether it is right for you.

What is a SSL Certificate?

SSL stands for Secure Socket Layer and it a piece of code that sits on your website, allowing people to browse your website through what is known as a secure connection. Depending on the browser you are using, you may see a padlock symbol and the address of the actual website will begin with https:// rather than the usual http://.

There are lots and lots of different SSL certificates available, with different levels of encryption. For many years, 128 bit encryption was the standard but this has been superseded by higher levers of encryption: 256, 512, 1024, 2048 bit and so on. In layman’s terms, the higher the bit value, the greater the level of encryption and the more secure your connection to the website will be.

It is absolutely essential to have if your website takes card payments. However if your customers are directed to another site to actually make the payment (Paypal, World Pay etc..), a SSL Certificate is not necessary but if your customers choose to return to your website after making a payment and your website does not have a SSL certificate, your customers are likely to get a warning pop up, stating that they are moving from a secure site to an insecure site.

Technically it makes no difference, as sensitive card information isn’t passed back to your website. However people tend to be quite nervous making payments online so anything you can to do reassure them is worth thinking about. 

More businesses are choosing to have SSL Certificates on their websites, even though they are not technically necessary, as they inspire confidence in the visitor that the website is safe to use. In reality, it does not stop a website from being hacked, it just ensures that the visitor's connection to the website cannot be intercepted by anyone else.

What about Google?

Google has been using SSL as a ranking factor for 3 years now (you can read about it by following this link) and from October, if your website has got any forms on it (contact forms, for example), Chrome and Firefox users will see warning message that the information they are entering is not secure. If you have a WordPress site, for example, you will already be receiving this warning when you log into your Dashboard.

This is going to affect every single website that does not currently have a SSL certificate and you might think that you should get this resolved immediately. You will probably do a Google Search and find someone that will do it very cheaply and go ahead and order one.

The difficulty is that many SSL certificates are not worth the (virtual) paper they are written on. Symantec (who own Norton Antivirus) nearly had 30,000 of their websites delisted by Google because Google considered that they had not been issued correctly. A lot of hosting providers offer free or low cost shared certificates but again they will not be trusted by Google in the long term.

What should I do?

What does this mean for you? Well Google recommends 2048 bit encryption. This is likely to cost you in the region of around £150+ per year, which is an expense that you will have to budget for on top of your hosting. If you do go ahead then it will benefit your website from Google’s point of view.

Ranking is always relative, if your competitors have got them, then you should consider getting it yourself sooner rather than later but, whatever you do, make sure it is done correctly, getting it right in the first place will help you in the long run. 

Clive Loseby

Access by Design. Award winning web design. Chichester based.

Top 20 Google tips #13 - Google Hate Duplicate Content!  

We may now be into 2018 but these tips are just as relevant! Here's my 13th tip, essential information about avoiding duplicate content with a valuable tip at the end!

 

 

*** TRANSCRIPTION ***

Hi I'm Clive Loseby from Access by Design and I'm here today to talk about 20 things you need to know about your website and Google in 2017 (and 2018! )

Number 13. Google hates duplicate content. Whether that's duplicate content on your own site, copied from another page or, far more likely, content copied from another website, don't do it!

If you use copy from another website Google has already read it. It won't affect that website's rankings, it will affect yours Don't think you can be really clever and rewrite the content either because Google has got a "similarity checker" so it understands. I think the threshold is around about the high 20s, 28%, something like that, so if your content is more than 28% similar to content that's already out there then Google will flag it up as duplicate content, which will affect your rankings.

The best advice I can give you is to write naturally, write as yourself in whatever your business is about.

Just in case you do need to quote something from your website. there might be some important article on a news site or something that you want to refer to, use a canonical tag because if you use a canonical tag, you are telling Google that actually you are quoting this and it's actually quite okay. It's like a citation and it's perfectly acceptable practice

If you'd like to find out more and maybe have a free review of your website please get in touch, thank you.

Access by Design. Award winning web design, Chichester.

 

 

Top 20 Google tips #12 - Google hates keyword SPAM  

seo cogs

Here's my 12th tip, essential information that will help you in writing your website content in a more Google-friendly way! Please Like, Share and Subscribe to our You Tube Channel to be amongst the first to get the next one!

 

 

*** TRANSCRIPT ***

Hi I'm Clive Loseby from Access by Design. I'm talking to you today about 20 things you need to know about your website and Google in 2017.

Number 12. Google hates keyword spam. It's probably one of the most important tips I can give you. In the old days people used to think that they just filled their content by repeating the same thing over and over again that would convince Google to get up the rankings it doesn't work the trick to do it to writing content is to write it naturally and then to use your keywords in a way that works effectively without bombarding Google.

Current thinking is that your content should be at least 350 words on a page if it's more than 500 that's fine but you might want to think about splitting into two pages. So I want to give an example. I've set up a fruit shop in Chichester so I'm looking to sell green apples and I'm looking to sell red apples. I'm wanting people to find me by looking for red apples Chichester and green apples Chichester.

Now those three words "red apples Chichester", that's Google speak for a keyword, it's three actual words but it's one keyword. I can use up to two key words on a page so I can use the phrase "red apples Chichester" and the phrase "green apples Chichester" but how much do I use it? Well, current thinking is that the keyword density should be about 3%. What that means is that is if you've got 350 words on a page, 3% of that is about 10 that means that you can use a keyword like "green apples Chichester" up to 3 times, that's kind of how it works out. You can use up to 2 keywords on a page so I could safely use the words "green apples Chichester" 2 or 3 times and the word "red apples Chichester" 2 or 3 times W

hat I'm talking about is Google's organic rankings. With the organic rankings, this is the stuff on the main bit of the page that doesn't have the AdWords around it. Google wants you to spend money with it and it wants you to spend lots of money on Adwords and that's fine but actually the organic listings, the natural ones, are what is really the golden nugget. So if people are searching for "green apples Chichester" and "red apples Chichester". you need to use the words in that order. If you change the order about then it's not going to be as effective. If it's an ad word campaign, Google will use any combination it likes but for natural organic listings, the keyword to use is the in the same order consistently.

My company, Access by Design, is a web design company based in Chichester. My keyword is "web design Chichester" in that order. Around 1,500 people a month type in "web design Chichester" into Google. Almost nobody types in "Chichester web design" or "website design Chichester", its "web design Chichester" that means I have to use those words in what I write. It becomes a little bit of a problem because "web design Chichester" doesn't really work grammatically so I might have to talk about Access by Design being an award-winning web site or web design Chichester company.

If you're a grammar kind of person, fussy about grammar you might have a slight issue with that or what I could do is talk about Access by Design being experts in web design full-stop Chichester based we are blah blah so because Google doesn't care about punctuation either. If grammar is really important, content is really important but, you're writing for Google because, at the end of the day, if you want to keep Google onboard, write it in a way.

So just to summarize this: the keywords need to be in the same order, use them two or three times and don't try to overthink it write naturally. Google's got the most brilliant algorithms for understanding and actually preferring people who write naturally.

That's my big tip for the day. If you would like a free review of your website please get in touch. Thank you

Access by Design. Award-winning website design, Chichester.

A simple Accessibility Test with the Tab key!  

A computer keyboard that has some keys spelling out the words TheTabTest

An easy way of checking whether a website meets basic accessibility standards!

Anyone can do this! Please watch this video and try it out on the next website you visit!

 

Let us all Change the World, One Website at a Time. Together.

Follow this link to watch my TEDx Talk on website accessibility for disabled people

Follow this link to visit our website about accessibility audits

Follow this link to download my free pdf on making your website content more accessible

Follow this link to book a 1-hour consultation with me

Clive Loseby

Access by Design

Accessible Websites, Beautifully Designed
Outstanding Website Accessibility Audits
Award-winning web design, Chichester

 

 

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