You can increase website traffic without a full redesign by fixing technical issues, improving site speed, and optimising your content for search engines.
At www.mattersolutions.com.au, we’ve helped Brisbane businesses grow their organic traffic since 2000 through technical SEO and website optimisation. And over the years, our team found that updating colours, fonts, or page layouts rarely fixes deeper performance issues.
So what should you focus on instead? In this post, we’ll walk through the areas that have the biggest impact on your search engine rankings and website traffic. We’ll cover:
- Fast fixes for website performance and search engine visibility
- The SEO (search engine optimisation) factors that help Google rank your site
- What to focus on before spending money on design
Let’s start with your site’s technical foundation.
Website Optimisation Tips That Support Higher Search Rankings
Website optimisation begins with fixing the technical problems that search engines use to rank your pages. Google looks at how fast your site loads, how cleanly it can read your content, and how trustworthy your brand appears across the web.
We’ll break down each point to show how they lead to big improvements in your search results.
Loading Speed
Google made page speed an official ranking factor back in 2018 with its “Speed Update”. You might already know the reason: slow sites frustrate users, and frustrated users leave before they become paying customers.
Loading speed also affects how efficiently Google can crawl your site. If pages take too long to respond, search engine bots spend less time indexing your content. So, fewer of your pages end up showing in search results.
The good news is that most speed issues have simple fixes. Image compression, for example, can reduce file sizes without losing quality, and browser caching stores files locally so repeat visitors load pages faster.
You should also remove unnecessary scripts and plugins (usually outdated tracking tools, unused sliders, or extra pop-up features). This can reduce bloated code like heavy JavaScript files and duplicate CSS that slows everything down.
Duplicate Content and Crawl Issues
Duplicate content happens when the same text appears on multiple URLs across your site.
For example, you might have one page at example.com/services and another at example.com/services/?ref=home that shows the same content. It can also happen when you list a product in multiple categories. We’ve even seen this happen for a page with a separate version meant for printing, which created a second URL with the same text.
Now, Google doesn’t technically penalise duplicate content. However, search engines struggle to decide which version to rank when they find multiple copies of the same page. This wastes your crawl budget and dilutes the ranking signals your best pages should be collecting.
So how do you catch these problems early? Tools like Google Search Console can help you spot crawl errors and indexing issues before they hurt your visibility. Just look for flags under “Duplicate without user-selected canonical” in your Page Indexing report.
Online Reputation Management
Google measures your website and brand’s trust using things like reviews, brand mentions, and consistent business information. That’s why online reputation management should be a part of your SEO strategy.
BrightLocal and Moz report that online reviews make up about 16% of the factors that determine Google’s local search rankings. This means that when potential customers see positive feedback and accurate business information, they are more likely to click through and engage with your site.
If technical issues are piling up and your reputation needs attention, working with SEO services or a technical SEO consultant can speed things up. They can run a full audit, prioritise your fixes, and help you build the kind of trust signals that both users and search engines reward.
How to Use SEO to Attract the Right Visitors
You can use SEO to attract the right visitors by matching your content to what people actually want to find. This means targeting the right keywords, building authority through links, and using local search to reach nearby customers who are ready to buy.
These are the four areas where a focused approach can deliver faster, more measurable results for your business.
Keyword Research Should Match Intent
Wondering how your pages rank for keywords, but they don’t turn into leads or sales? This common issue usually happens when your content doesn’t match what searchers actually want.
These search queries actually fall into four different categories. First up, informational searches come from people looking to learn something, like “how to fix a leaky tap.” On the other hand, transactional searches are made by people ready to take action, like “plumber near me open now”.
Then there are navigational searches. This is when people are looking for a specific website or brand (for example, “YouTube login”). Finally, commercial investigations are searches like “best plumbers in Brisbane,” or from people researching products or services before buying.
So, if you use informational keywords (like “how to fix a leaky tap”) on a sales page, you may attract visitors who are just looking for information.
Good keyword research helps you understand which of these queries are likely to generate leads and which ones simply build awareness.
Local SEO Delivers Faster Wins Than Broad Competition
Many businesses overlook local SEO because they think it’s only for shops with a physical storefront. In reality, your service business and Brisbane-based brand will see faster results by targeting local search queries instead of competing nationally.
In fact, 76% of people who search for something local on their smartphone visit a related business within 24 hours. That is a lot of potential customers actively looking for what you offer, right in your area.
The best place to start is your Google Business Profile. Firstly, make sure your business name, address, and phone number are accurate and consistent across the web. Then, create pages for the specific suburbs or regions you serve.
A Brisbane SEO expert can help you focus on these quick improvements while also planning a longer-term strategy to boost your organic search visibility.
Internal Linking and Backlink Building Strengthen Authority
Internal linking helps users navigate your site and find related content. At the same time, it signals to Google which pages on your site are most important. And when you link from a high-authority page to a newer one, you pass some of that ranking power along.
Backlink building works on a similar principle, but in this case, the links come from other websites. Quality is more important than quantity here. This means a single link from a respected industry publication or local business directory carries more weight than dozens of links from low-quality sites.
Together, internal linking and backlink building create a web of authority that supports higher rankings. This way, if you focus on earning links that are relevant to your industry or location, your SEO efforts will compound over time.
Using Google Ads to Support Organic Growth
SEO takes time, and we understand how frustrating that can be. Generally, most businesses will need four to six months before they see meaningful results from organic search. So, if you are tired of waiting, Google Ads can help by generating immediate traffic while also guiding your SEO strategy.
But we’d like you to think of Google Ads as a testing tool for your keywords and messaging. You can run small campaigns to see which keywords get the most clicks and conversions. Then apply the messages that perform best in your ads to your page titles and meta descriptions to improve your SEO.
This approach lets you validate your SEO priorities before investing months of effort into content. Plus, you get immediate web traffic while your organic rankings build in the background.
Improve Your Site’s Performance With Foundational SEO
So, does your website really need a fresh coat of paint, or could a few foundational fixes do the trick instead?
We know it can feel overwhelming when every click and search is an opportunity to reach your ideal customers. However, focusing on technical SEO, local SEO, and well-structured content can give your website the improvement it needs to attract more traffic and rank higher in search results. The best part is that you don’t need a full redesign to make this happen.
If your site is struggling with lead generation or you are just not seeing the results you expected, it might be time to bring in some help. A technical SEO expert in Brisbane can audit your site, find deeper issues holding you back, and put together a plan to make traffic into paying customers.
At Matter Solutions, we’ve been helping Brisbane businesses grow through SEO services since 2000. So if you are ready to stop guessing and start seeing results, get in touch with our team today.