From functionality and appearance to navigation and coding, a lot goes into creating an eye-catching, and user-friendly website. In this article, we discuss some of the important elements that Google and the other search engines take into consideration when deciding on where to place a site in the organic results for a given search query.

These are some of the technical elements all websites need:

1. Encryption
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a global standard security technology that enables encrypted communication between your website browser and the website server. In other words, SSL allows for a private “conversation” amongst both parties and is used to decrease the risk of sensitive information (e.g., credit card numbers, passwords, emails, etc.) from being stolen or tampered with by hackers.

Google search supports encrypted websites and automatically ranks these types of websites higher in the search results pages. When visitors see that your website is secure, they are more likely to do business with you, because having an SSL certificate will deem your business credible. Also, remember that there are browsers that can detect insecure websites and these browsers can send warnings to discourage people from visiting insecure sites.

Installing an SSL security certificate can be a complex task for non-website designers, so it is a good idea to request this during your website design process.

2. Security
Cyberattacks can damage your reputation, discourage visitors from returning to your website, and are expensive to fix. Making sure that your website is safe and secure is an essential part of managing your website. Create strong and unique passwords that are difficult to crack on your website server and admin areas.

It’s important to keep up with the latest software updates too. It can be frustrating because every time you log in, there are new updates but remember that those updates are released for a reason and a lot of times, it’s to make your website more secure. Don’t miss them.

3. Search Engine Marketing
There are over a billion websites online today. How are you going to compete? Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process of trying to attain more organic (not paid) traffic to your website through improving your content and keyword relevancy. Many technical elements fall into this category, such as meta descriptions, image captions, header tags, and page titles.

Content also plays a major role in SEO. It is important to create content that is original and engaging and with specifically-chosen keywords.

4. Spam Protection
Everyone hates spam, but it’s not going away anytime soon. Prevention is the key. Not only will your pages and posts get hit with spam comments, but even worse are spam submissions on your forms.

Many companies choose to use CAPTCHA to prevent spam through their online forms.

5. Support/Maintenance Plan
Keeping your new website fresh, accurate, and working well will maintain your company’s strong online presence while increasing visitors and activity. If your website isn’t working properly or is out of date, you may lose out on significant opportunities, such as new leads and sales.

Website maintenance refers to the tasks required to keep your website functioning properly and up to date. It involves regularly checking your website for issues, correcting any issues, performing backups, and executing updates.