Contrary to common belief, web design is not solely the task of developers. It has to involve marketers if you want to get the most out of it. However, many businesses have their marketing and development departments work separately. This is a mistake that will result in you neglecting factors influencing your website’s performance.
Many people are unaware of how seamlessly SEO and site design work together. In turn, they fail to maximize what good design and correct optimization can do for their website.
When a customer wants to learn more about you, they tend to check your website first. This is why web design is important. Design influences how visitors perceive your brand or company. It communicates your image and messaging to visitors and motivates them to perform desired actions. On the other hand, SEO raises your site’s visibility and allows it to be discovered by the proper individuals. To obtain the maximum return on your website investment, use a web design that appeals to both people and search engine crawlers.
Here are 5 ways you can integrate SEO and web design.
Mobile-Friendliness
Anyone with even a rudimentary understanding of SEO or web design should be aware of the importance of making your site mobile-friendly. If you haven’t taken the effort to do it yet, you’re already a few years behind. For several years, the number of individuals spending time on desktop computers has been falling, while the number of people searching on mobile devices has been consistently increasing. You could risk alienating half of your users by not having a mobile-friendly website design.
In 2015, Google adopted mobile-friendliness as a ranking consideration, and in 2017, they introduced mobile-first indexing. About 80% of users today use a mobile device to access the internet. So, if you don’t have a responsive site yet, you’re limiting your earning potential. A website not loading properly on a phone or tablet will likely gain a high bounce rate that may send negative signals to Google. Your rankings may suffer as a result.
Sitemaps
A sitemap is a crucial component that can help search engines explore your site more efficiently. It contains information about your website’s web pages, images, videos, and other items. It shows which pages and files you consider the most significant, as well as how frequently a page is edited, when it was last updated, and if there are any alternative language versions of the page.
A sitemap can also be used to provide information on various sorts of content on your website. A sitemap video entry, for example, can specify the video type, duration, age appropriateness, and so on.
This is a very critical aspect to get properly particularly for larger websites, as well as newer ones that may not yet have any external links. A new visitor to your site can use the sitemap to find their way around.
Trustworthiness
If your company provides goods and services, such as storage facilities in North York, trust is important. Trust is also a consideration when it comes to getting your website to rank higher. People form their opinions quickly, and they often reflect this online. And once they do, it can be difficult to persuade them to change their minds.
The website is meant to reflect your company, and websites have been geared towards delivering exceptional user experiences over the years. Accordingly, people have been expecting that when visiting websites. They want something simple to use, straightforward to browse, and quick to provide the necessary information. These are the types of websites considered more trustworthy. If it appears old and outdated or is too difficult to use, most consumers will have a negative view of the website, and they may leave and never return.
Your website could have the product or service that is exactly what people are looking for, but if it doesn’t communicate this properly, it will give the impression that your company or group is uninterested in putting forth the necessary effort.
User-Friendliness
If you’ve been working on boosting your SEO, you’ve probably spent a lot of time thinking about content. Some people may not know how much of an impact a website’s design has on your content, or at least how it is presented. Poor web design can affect the ability of users to read or consume what you have published.
You’ve probably been on a website with text that was difficult to read due to the page design at some point. It could have been the poor choice of color, like a dark text on a black background. It’s also possible that the text is too big or small, or that it’s written in a difficult-to-read font.
People will quickly abandon websites that are difficult to read or navigate on any device, including desktop, just as they will abandon websites that are not mobile-friendly. Web designers know how to construct websites that make it simple for customers to consume your content, ensuring that you get the most bang for your buck.
Website Speed
If you have been wondering what’s slowing down your site, it may have something to do with your website design. One of the most significant components of technical SEO is website speed, which is a major flaw for many websites. A sluggish website may cause visitors to leave soon, affecting your rankings. A quick fact: 47% of consumers expect a page to load in less than two seconds.
Because page speed is an established ranking consideration, you should focus your efforts on optimizing your images, removing unneeded plugins, enabling browser cache, etc. Users are not the only ones concerned about page speed, but Google is as well. Google’s ability to crawl your website is influenced by its speed. You won’t have as many pages indexed if your page speed only allows Google to crawl fewer pages. It will be difficult for these pages to rank at all if this happens.
While aesthetics and content are important, your team should also make SEO best practices a priority in your future site design. Good design boosts your SEO ranking while SEO enhances your website’s exposure. If you want to know how to effectively use the two together or how much SEO services cost, consult with a professional. It will be worth it.