Why SEO Is a Huge Factor On Your Website Design
Many businesses have no idea of the extent to which website design Brisbane influences search engine optimization. They create content that attracts links and social shares but never think that their content is barely readable on a mobile screen, or that their web pages are buried deep in their site architecture without being indexed. It is vital to be aware of the ways that website design and SEO are linked together to help ensure that your site has every opportunity to rank for your business.
The following are ways to help you ensure that your website design aligns with your SEO efforts.
Determine the Usability of Your Website
Search engines reward sites that provide great experiences to their users. Search engines will not place a website in the first pages of the search results and have users click on it only to find out that difficult to use or low-quality. Poor usability results in an unpleasant user experience. But, a web design with good usability means user satisfaction, including the search engine.
The time spent on the web pages of a site will bear itself good user experience through its high volume of inbound links, social shares, etc. Search engines will see these factors as an indication of a quality site; thus, reward the site.
Make Your Website Discoverable
Your goal of a successful website design is to create an architecture that will encourage users to engage. On the other hand, the goal of search engine optimization is to have web pages that distribute internal links sensibly. Fortunately, you can align and achieve these goals simultaneously.
Prioritize your vital content at the top of the architecture, including top-level product or service categories, and mapping directly to your priority keywords. After that, create subcategories as well as an individual page for each product or service.
Have a Responsive Design
Search engines are looking to see which websites pay attention to their mobile users. People shop and browse online using their mobile devices today more than ever. Having a responsive design that can easily adjust your website to a mobile or other platform makes a huge difference in retaining customers. If your website design is mobile-friendly, it prevents people from going back to the search results and finding a competitor.
Create High-Quality Content
Before producing high-quality content, you need to plan for it before designing or redesigning your website. What do visitors need to know about this topic? What is the purpose of the page? What types of content can convey our message effectively? For every page you create, take into account these questions.
These factors are essential when creating your website design because it should accommodate the pieces of content you need. This is why web design should come after content creation. The last thing you want is to wedge content into a design that is difficult to alter because it is already entrenched.
Be vigilant When Redesigning
Redesigning is a critical time for a website and its SEO value. It is best the hire the services of a professional web designer so you do not put your business at risk of losing what it has spent a long time building SEO.
Before you start the process of redesign, crawl your site to determine the condition of your current site. Include all the web pages and relevant information such as current rankings, existing title tags, etc.
Which of your existing site pages rank highly for your target keywords? Are any of these pages redundant or outdated? If so, where can they be redirected in your new website design? Search and examine all of your content to ensure you do not leave anything behind in the redesign. It is crucial that you maintain high-value content on your new site. If you are changing your URL structure, you should have redirects in place the moment your new website goes live.
How to Create an SEO Friendly Web Design?
There are two key parts to search engine optimization on website design techniques; they are on-page SEO and off-page SEO.
- On-Page Optimization. The search world is always evolving, so you must always be updated with SEO. It is about optimizing your pages to gain organic traffic and increase your search engine rankings. On-page optimization includes strategies that have a vital role in how the search engines understand your website and its content, and how they will crawl on your site. Basic on-page SEO strategies to follow include:
- Using the meta description tag, title tags, image alt tags, and header tags correctly
- Publishing great content to help earn inbound links during off-page SEO
- Having a responsive website design to provide seamless user experience across devices
- Creating an internal link structure, an information architecture, and navigation that aligns with the expectations of your audience, and helps the search engines crawl your site effectively
- Utilizing multiple types of content such as text, videos, images, lists, etc.
- Performing keyword research, choosing the appropriate topics and keywords, and using them in right places on your web page
- Building a website design that represents your brand, is visually appealing, and has a consistent appearance and theme
- Creating a URL structure that is optimized for search engines and users alike
- Off-Page Optimization. It refers to the action that you take outside your website. Off-page SEO tactics are crucial to help you gain a competitive advantage in the search terms. Some off-page optimization strategies that effectively work are content marketing, link building, brand building, local seo, influencer marketing, social media, etc. These include:
- Choosing keyword-rich anchor text within your inbound links
- Earning links to content deep in your site
- Identifying your competition to understand what methods they are using to rank in the SERPs
- Earning inbound links from other authoritative websites
If you have a great website design and use the best SEO practices, you have a high chance of succeeding in the online world. Search engine optimization helps bring more traffic to your site, and in turn, increasing your potential sales. Having an attractive design can keep visitors remain longer on your site, and optimizing it will ensure a rewarding experience to the users, reducing your bounce rate and getting the desired results.