Any business looking to be successful online should be aware of how intricately linked SEO and web design are to each other. This is because users are online for a myriad of reasons. If your website does not have a strong online presence and fails to cater to the users’ needs, your competitors will gladly take over. Therefore, it is imperative that your website design is able to perfectly represent your company digitally. At the same time, a wholesome website is also one which is able to be ranked on the 1st page of search results and maintain its position there. 

Thus, when trying to improve your website rankings, you will have to consider multiple factors simultaneously. SEO and web design elements actually are more intertwined than you might have realised. The various components of SEO and web design should look so natural to your website that users are encouraged to simply explore other pages on your site.

This is the true mark of a successful integration of SEO and web design. Here, we share with you key considerations for you to consider when factoring in SEO to your website design elements:

1. Easy Readability

While you might be aware that good content is a vital factor in your SEO efforts, are you taking note of the presentation of your content. Poor design or poor presentation of website content can make or break your website. 

Websites with design features that are confusing or does not serve a clear purpose can deter your users from visiting your website again. Websites that are difficult to navigate or are difficult to read will turn users away very quickly. This will then contribute to a high bounce rate. 

Thus, web designers should always take into account aesthetically pleasing presentations which is easy on the eyes for any user. 

2. Mobile-Friendliness

Since 2015, Google has made mobile-friendliness an important factor in their website ranking process. Additionally, we also see a pattern that the number of users on mobile are increasing at a steady pace. At the same time, users searching for information on the desktop are also declining at a steady pace. All these factors are further proof of the importance of ensuring that your website is mobile-friendly. 

Just to add gravitas to the situation, consider that a website that is not mobile-friendly means that you are neglecting up to 50% of all prospective users. That is a huge number of users that your competitors are happily serving for you.

3. Website Speed

If you find that your rankings aren’t improving, your website design might have a part to play. If you find that your website is loading very slowly, your website design might have a part to play. 

Slow loading websites and low search rankings are directly linked to one another. Thus, a slow loading website will result in low ranking as users are not willing to wait for your website to load. This will drive up the bounce rate, which is a further detriment to your rankings. 

Ideally, Google recommends that your website loads in under 3 seconds. Anything more than 3 seconds will result in users bouncing away from your website. 

Some key tips to improving loading speed are to look into optimising your images, removing unused plug-ins and even allowing browser caching. 

This is because website speed is not only important to retain users. Poor website speed will also adversely affect Google’s ability to crawl it. This means that Google is unable to index all pages on your website. Thus, you will lose out on ranking on those un-indexed pages. 

4. URL Structure

This is an important factor which helps Google to understand your website when they are crawling through it. Each page on your website should have a good descriptive URL that describes the page content. Important keywords should be included in the URL. Words should also be separated by hyphens and not underscores. 

For example, good URL structure are:

www.yourcompanyname.com/bakedgoods/muffins

www.yourcompanyname.com/bakedgoods/chocolate-muffins

On the other hand, avoid creating URL structures as such:

www.yourcompanyname.com/bakedgoods123/muffins-final-version

www.yourcompanyname.com/bakedgoods/muffins4sale

www.yourcompanyname.com/bakedgoods/muffinsforsale

Therefore, a good URL structure should be one which is easy for users to remember. At the same time, it allows for crawlers to quickly understand the page content. 

Conclusion

The ultimate goal of SEO and web design is to provide users with a good experience while allowing Google to seamlessly index the website. In this case, both web designers and SEO practitioners have a part to play in improving the site’s ranking. Web designers will focus on the aesthetic elements which SEO will focus on the technicalities. Eventually, the shared objective is to create a visually appealing and highly functional website, which aids in the success of the business.

Still uncertain if your website design is SEO friendly? Advice is just a button away. Get in touch with us and we can provide you with a comprehensive SEO audit to identify points of improvements. We will work with you to address these issues and get your SEO rankings higher than before.