Why Website Design Matters in SEO
Good website design and search engine optimization (SEO) have a symbiotic relationship. If a brand is to achieve online success, one should exist with the other.
This article takes a deep dive into the connection between awesome yet affordable web design and SEO.
Beyond keywords
Even as the Google algorithm evolves, keywords remain one of its most important ranking factors. Having your main keywords on your domain name, title tag, and H1 tag is still a must today.
However, as search technologies evolve, other elements of a website fall under greater scrutiny. Quality content is crucial these days to attaining that authority status on Google. Flawless yet functional design and user experience (UX) is also something that search bots are looking at.
Design is a big deal now
If you want to crack the ranking’s game, you need to put careful thought into the aesthetics of your website. Is it easy to navigate? Does the color scheme make a good first impression? Is the user interface so easy to use that it encourages visitors to linger on the website?
Bounce rate and time on site are two of the ‘new’ ranking factors Google uses to determine the value of a website. Bounce rate refers to the percentage of visitors to a particular website who navigate away from the site after viewing only one page.
A web page is perceived as having low value if it has a high bounce rate. Meanwhile, time on site literally refers to how much time the user spends on the site once they’ve clicked in from the SERPs. The more time on the site, the greater its perceived value.
Both bounce rate and time on site can be improved by making positive changes to design and UX.
Say your favorite website recently unveiled its new website and is actively encouraging regulars to try ordering online. You eagerly visit the site but find that it’s just a single page with incomplete information and no links or tabs that could take you to where the food selection is. Unsatisfied, you then close your browser window.
This example illustrates just how important UX and design play in adding value to any website. After all, a website is meant to be an online space where people can get reliable information.
Keeping the relationship alive
How do you make sure that website design, UX, and SEO all coexist happily on your website? These questions published in the Wood Street Journal are a good place to start.
Look at any of your website pages and consider these questions:
First things you see?
How many tasks are there?
What can be taken out?
What’s a distraction and serves no purpose?
What are the website goals?
Does this page support those goals?
What’s the page goal?
Is this clear?
Hire a reputable yet affordable web design team to remove anything that gets in the way of providing a great user experience to visitors to improve bounce rate, time on site, and even the quality of your backlinks.
Finish off with well-written content and you have a website worthy of landing on page one in Google Search.
G4 Design House is proud to offer its services nationwide, but especially locally in San Diego and surrounding areas and cities: Chula Vista, Encinitas, Escondido, San Marcos, Del Mar, Oceanside, Carlsbad, Temecula, Anaheim, and Los Angeles.