Boost Your HubSpot Website Grader Score with These 10 Strategies

Your website serves as the first impression for your sales and marketing teams in attracting and converting leads, building brand awareness, and demonstrating expertise in your industry. However, creating a successful website can often seem like guesswork. Which changes are important, and which aren’t? Luckily, one tool that helps evaluate and enhance your website's performance is HubSpot’s Website Grader. This free tool evaluates your website's strengths and weaknesses across various parameters such as security and SEO.

Related Blog: HubSpot CMS vs WordPress Websites: Which Is Best for Driving SEO, Lead Generation, and Business Growth?

To help you better understand these results and implement improvements, here are ten strategies to boost your website grader score.

Website Performance: The Key to Boosting Traffic, Conversion Rates, Leads, and Revenue

Performance is a critical factor in determining your website's overall effectiveness. A fast, responsive website keeps visitors engaged and reduces bounce rates. While you'll receive various insights in this category, let's focus on some of the most essential improvements:

Page Size

A smaller page size means quicker load times and a better user experience. Large pages take longer to load, which can frustrate users and negatively impact your HubSpot Website Grader score. Here are some things to optimize to improve your page sizes:

1. Optimize Images: Full-size uncompressed images on your website can severely slow it down. It's essential to compress images before uploading them to your website pages or blogs. Tools like TinyPNG or JPEG-Optimizer can help compress images without losing their quality.
2. Remove Unnecessary Plugins: Deactivate and delete plugins that are not essential to your website's functionality. Plugins only add to the page size so making sure you only have essential ones will decrease your page size.
3. Minimize Use of Custom Fonts: Although custom fonts can add to your unique branding, they can significantly add to the size of your website pages. To combat this, use system fonts or limit the use of custom fonts to essential areas only.
   
   

Page Speed

Page speed is a crucial factor for both user experience and search engine rankings. Slow-loading pages can lead to higher bounce rates and lower conversion rates. Here are a few things you can optimize to increase your page speeds:

1. Leverage Browser Caching: Enable browser caching to store frequently accessed files such as images, scripts, and stylesheets on users’ devices. By doing so, the browser retrieves these resources locally instead of making repeated server requests, significantly improving load times and enhancing the user experience.
2. Enable Compression: Use Gzip or Brotli to compress HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files. Compression reduces file sizes, which lowers the amount of data transferred between the server and the client. This leads to faster load times and a more efficient use of bandwidth.
3. Reduce Server Response Time: Choose a reliable hosting provider with optimized servers. A fast server response time ensures quicker page loads.
   
   

Image Size

Large images can drastically slow down your website, impacting performance and user satisfaction. Optimizing your images is crucial for maintaining a speedy website. Here are some ways to optimize image sizes:

1. Use Appropriate File Formats: Use JPEG for photographs and PNG for images with transparent backgrounds. You can also choose to use WebP which provides superior lossless and lossy compression for images on the web. These formats offer the best balance between quality and file size.
2. Resize Images: Scale your images to the appropriate dimensions before uploading them to your website. Avoid using HTML or CSS to resize images, as this can still result in large file sizes.
3. Lazy Loading: Implement lazy loading to defer the loading of off-screen images until the user scrolls to them. This technique improves initial page load times.
   
   

Minified JavaScript

Minifying JavaScript files removes unnecessary characters, such as whitespace and comments, resulting in smaller file sizes and faster load times. To work on this, try the following:

1. Use Minification Tools: Utilize tools like UglifyJS or Google Closure Compiler to minify your JavaScript files automatically.
2. Combine Files: Combine multiple JavaScript files into a single file to reduce the number of HTTP requests. Fewer requests result in faster load times.
3. Defer Parsing: Use the `defer` attribute in your script tags to delay the execution of JavaScript until after the HTML has fully loaded. This ensures that critical content is displayed quickly.
   
   

Minified CSS

Minifying CSS files follows the same principle as JavaScript minification, reducing file sizes and improving load times.

1. Use Minification Tools: Tools like CSSNano or CleanCSS can automatically minify your CSS files, removing unnecessary characters and reducing file sizes.
2. Combine CSS Files: Similar to JavaScript, combining multiple CSS files into a single file reduces the number of HTTP requests, speeding up your website.
3. Eliminate Unused CSS: Remove any unused CSS rules from your stylesheets. Tools like PurifyCSS can help identify and eliminate unnecessary styles, further reducing file sizes.
   
   

SEO: The Essential Tool for Driving Organic Traffic

Search engine optimization (SEO) is essential for driving organic traffic to your website. A well-optimized website ranks higher in search engine results, attracting more visitors. Let's explore some critical SEO elements:

Meta Descriptions

Meta descriptions provide a summary of your web page's content and appear in search engine results. Well-crafted meta descriptions can improve click-through rates and drive more traffic to your site. Here are some ways to optimize your meta descriptions:

1. Write Compelling Descriptions: Create concise, informative, and engaging meta descriptions that encourage users to click on your link. These descriptions should provide a clear overview of the page's content and highlight its unique value. Be sure to include relevant keywords naturally to improve search engine visibility, but avoid keyword stuffing.
2. Unique Descriptions for Each Page: Ensure that each page on your website has a unique meta description. Duplicate meta descriptions can confuse search engines and negatively impact your rankings.
3. Optimal Length: Keep your meta descriptions between 150-160 characters to ensure they are fully displayed in search engine results.
   
   

Descriptive Link Text

Descriptive link text enhances user experience and SEO by providing clear context about the linked content. When users know what to expect before clicking a link, it improves navigation and accessibility on your website. Avoid generic phrases like "click here," which can be vague and uninformative, and use descriptive text instead that accurately reflects the destination or purpose of the link. This not only helps users but also assists search engines in understanding the relevance and structure of your content.

1. Use Keywords: Incorporate relevant keywords into your link text to improve search engine visibility. However, ensure the text remains natural and informative.
2. Be Specific: Clearly describe the content users can expect when they click on the link. This helps users decide whether the link is relevant to their needs.
3. Avoid Over-Optimization: While it's essential to include keywords, avoid overloading your link text with too many keywords. Maintain a balance between readability and optimization.
   
   

Mobile: Maximizing Impact on Small Screens

With the increasing use of mobile devices, ensuring your website is mobile-friendly is crucial. A mobile-optimized website enhances user experience and improves your HubSpot Website Grader score. Let's look at some of the ways to improve your mobile scoring:

Responsiveness

A responsive website adapts to different screen sizes and devices, providing a seamless user experience across desktops, tablets, and smartphones. Here are some ways to optimize your responsiveness:

1. Use Responsive Design Frameworks: Utilize frameworks like Bootstrap or Foundation to create responsive layouts that adjust to various screen sizes, ensuring a seamless user experience across devices.
2. Flexible Images and Media: Ensure that images, videos, and other media elements scale appropriately on different devices to provide a seamless user experience. Use CSS techniques like max-width to ensure media elements do not exceed the width of their containers, maintaining their aspect ratio.
3. Test Across Devices: Regularly test your website on various devices and screen sizes, including smartphones, tablets, and desktops. This ensures consistent performance, appearance, and a seamless user experience across all platforms.
   
   

Tap Targets

Tap targets refer to clickable elements on your website, such as buttons and links. Properly sized tap targets improve usability on touchscreens, reducing user frustration.

1. Size Appropriately: Make sure tap targets are large enough for users to tap comfortably. The recommended size is at least 44x44 pixels.
2. Spacing: Ensure sufficient spacing between tap targets to prevent accidental clicks. This is crucial for user experience, especially on touchscreens where precision is lower. Avoid placing clickable elements too close together, as it can lead to frustration and errors.
3. Feedback: Provide visual feedback when users tap on a target. Changing the color or appearance of the tapped element helps users understand they've successfully interacted with it.
   
   

Website Security: Valued by Both Users and Search Engines

Website security is paramount for protecting user data and building trust with your audience. A secure website also positively impacts your HubSpot Website Grader score. Here are some ways to improve your security score:

HTTPS

HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) encrypts data exchanged between your website and users, ensuring secure communication and protecting sensitive information. Work on adding items such as:

1. Obtain an SSL Certificate: Purchase and install an SSL certificate from a reputable provider. SSL certificates encrypt data and display a padlock icon in the browser's address bar, indicating a secure connection.
2. Redirect HTTP to HTTPS: Set up automatic redirects from HTTP to HTTPS to ensure all traffic is encrypted. This prevents users from accidentally accessing the non-secure version of your site.
3. Regularly Update SSL Certificates: Ensure your SSL certificates are up-to-date and renew them before they expire to maintain continuous security.
   
   

Improving your HubSpot Website Grader score is a worthwhile investment in your website's performance, user experience, and search engine visibility. By focusing on key areas such as performance, SEO, mobile optimization, and security, you can create a robust and efficient website that meets the needs of your audience. 

Ready to see how your website stacks up? Use our free website grader now!