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Recently, a comprehensive audit of pawnshop websites in Minsk was carried out. To do this, the query “Pawnshop Minsk” was entered into search engines and 20 sites were selected that occupied places on the first three pages of results. We looked at both sites from contextual advertising and those that were included in organic results. Based on the analysis, a ranking of SEO optimization of these sites was compiled.
It is important to understand that this rating reflects only the SEO aspects of websites, such as visibility in search engines and technical parameters, and is not related to the business activities of companies.
For the analysis, we used the following criteria: indexing, link mass, tag optimization, micro markup, reputation (maps), uniqueness of descriptions, site performance and ease of use. Each site was rated on these parameters and an overall score was calculated based on the importance of each criterion. The maximum a site can score is 500 points.
Only 10% of sites had no problems with indexing. We noticed that 70% of sites had duplicate pages, 20% did not have a Sitemap.xml file, and 5% did not have Robots.txt.
What to do: Check the number of pages that Yandex and Google see, using SEO services or manually (enter “site:yoursite.by” in the search bar and compare the results). If the difference is significant, you need to figure out what exactly is causing the problem. Perhaps one search engine sees unnecessary pages, while another skips the necessary ones. Also check the Sitemap.xml and Robots.txt files that control the indexing process.
If you have duplicate pages, they should be hidden from indexing or removed from the site.
For most sites, the number of referring domains does not exceed 30, while the leader in the ranking has 841 links. The difference in the number of links is impressive.
What to do: Gradually build up your link mass, keeping the process natural. Links should come from topically related resources, as well as from authoritative sites in your niche. There is a whole area of SEO for this – link building. Check out the latest link building techniques to improve your site's visibility.
For analysis, we assumed that the optimized Title should contain 50-100 characters, and the optimized Description should contain 150-270 characters. Only 40% of sites had a properly optimized Title, and 35% - Description. The main problems are texts that are too short or too long, tags that match or lack thereof.
What to do: Fill out tags in accordance with the content of each page, focusing on user requests. Use keywords in the Title and Description to improve the visibility of your snippets. Also, don't forget that you can use emoji symbols to make your snippets more attractive.
Approximately 25% of sites did not use OpenGraph microdata, and twice as many did not use Schema. Moreover, even those who use microdata often encounter errors or warnings.
What to do: If there is no micro markup, implement it. If it is present, but there are errors, they need to be corrected. Micromarking helps make snippets more visible and informative in search results, for example, by displaying information about location, reviews, prices or videos.
All companies from the sample are present on mapping services. However, most pawnshops have few reviews, both in Google and Yandex.
What to do: Place QR codes at your points of sale that redirect users to review pages so customers can easily leave a review. It is important to remember that buying reviews can lead to problems with moderation in search engines, so be careful.
Most websites (80%) have poor performance on mobile devices. This is despite the fact that most requests for pawnshops come from mobile phones. On the desktop the situation is slightly better, although only 15% of sites have high performance.
What to do: Study materials on how to improve site loading speed. Read articles about image optimization and site speed, and then apply these recommendations. If problems persist, it is better to contact specialists who can speed up your site.
One of the most noticeable problems is the absence of a button to order a call on many sites or its difficult accessibility.
What to do: Make sure the call request button is easy to find on your website and placed in a visible place. Also make sure the phone numbers on your site are clickable, making it easy for users to call directly from their mobile device.
The situation on pawnshop sites in Minsk shows many points for improvement: performance problems, insufficient number of reviews and unoptimized tags. However, every site has potential for growth. By following the recommendations, you can significantly increase the visibility and effectiveness of your website in search engines.
If you have questions or need help with SEO, please contact the SEO studio "SEO COMPUTER" by email info@seo.computer.
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