5 Ways Web Design Supports SEO
Learn five ways in which your web design supports SEO and high rankings.
Most business owners understand the importance of an appealing web design as well as powerful SEO. However, many may not realize how much web design supports SEO and how the two work together to provide an excellent customer experience. When both your web design and search engine optimization are executed well, your site’s visitors should be able to find exactly what they are looking for. The following five elements are how SEO and web design collaborate best.
Mobile-Friendliness
In 2015, Google made mobile-friendliness a critical ranking factor. Then, in 2017 the search engine introduced mobile-first indexing. This means that Google assumes most people are searching for websites from their mobile device, and so they will present the user with your mobile site view in the search results. Without a mobile-friendly website design, you may alienate close to half of your users. Additionally, if your web design is poorly designed, your bounce rate will increase, which decreases your rankings.
Easy-to-Read Design
Web design supports SEO by building an easy-to-read and coherent site. Lousy web design can make it impossible for your users to find what they are looking for or even discover what services you offer. Pages with content blocks, too many hyperlinks, and hard-to-read text can all raise your page bounce rate.
Website Speed
If your website is slow, it may have something to do with your web design. If you haven’t been raking well in search results, it may be that your site is too slow and people are leaving too quickly. You can increase site speed by optimizing your images, eliminating unnecessary plugins, allowing browser caching, and more. Ideally, your site should load in 2 seconds or less. Page speed is even more critical on mobile devices when people are less likely to wait for a page to load.
Website speed is essential to Google, as it allows Google to “crawl” the site and index it for Google’s search engine. Pages that are not indexed cannot rank at all.
Sitemaps
Your web design supports SEO by helping search engines be smart about how they crawl your site. Sitemaps provide search engines with a guide to all pages and content on your site. This can tell search engines which pages are most important and can aid in user navigation. Additionally, sitemaps contain crucial metadata for your web pages that increase the chance of them ranking well.
Gaining Your Users’ Trust
Unlike other SEO factors, you cannot measure in numbers how much people trust your website. However, gaining trust can help your site rank higher. People are used to seeing beautiful websites that operate quickly and are easy to navigate. Customers tend to think of these websites, and businesses, as more trustworthy and competent. If your website is old, outdated, or difficult to use, most people will be left with a bad impression.
SEO is best done together with web design, so if you’re ready to receive those high-quality services, contact Adventure Web Interactive.
Contact Adventure Web Interactive Today
For more tips on how to optimize your web content and drive more traffic to your website, follow our blog. Adventure Web Interactive offers expert marketing solutions, including blog and copywriting and social media management. Take the stress of planning, posting, and plotting off of your team and contact us online or by giving us a call at (410) 788-7007. To see more information about our team and services, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn.
