The essential questions website owners have to ask – fast!

Google certified SEO specialist Lisa Baker discusses the issues website owners need to consider in 2018

2018 is bringing huge changes for website owners.

Not content with new GDPR rules throwing a huge spanner in the works, Google are also making a major change to their algorithm which will leave websites that aren’t fully responsive out in the cold.

In plain English, if your website won’t work as well on a mobile phone as it does on a desktop, your Google rankings will be affected.  Furthermore, if you don’t have an SSL certificate for your website, Google will now flag your website with the warning ‘not secure’.  This is an even higher priority if you sell online.

Chances are you’ll need to do some updates – ensuring compliance is your responsibility unless you engage a company to do that for you.   Even if your company has been checked for GDPR compliance, it’s important to check your website too – with possible GDPR fines of up to 20 million Euros, you can’t afford not to.

Here’s the vital questions website owners need to be asking:

• Is my website cookie notice GDPR compliant?
• Do I use third party tracking cookies?
• Is any data we collect online stored in a way that is GDPR compliant?
• Does my website have an SSL certificate?
• Does my website work well on a mobile phone?  (you can test this by clicking here)
• Have you checked your website terms and conditions are GDPR friendly?
• Is my website secure enough to protect vital data from potential hackers?

Web Team Manager Amanda Deere advises:

 “It’s becoming increasingly complex to keep up to date with Google and the legislation, and both are essential.  ITCS has a full web compliance team and we’ll be happy to not only answer those questions for you, but also to provide the solutions if your website doesn’t comply.  Click here to contact us.”