By now, most businesses understand that they need to think about search engine optimisation (SEO) when it comes to their web presence. There are a number of things to do and techniques to employ help improve your website’s standing in search engine rankings.
Search Engine Journal recently highlighted how to use web design to support SEO and make websites more appealing to consumers or users.
The news provider also explained that search engine marketing is incredibly competitive, and that big businesses spend considerable sums developing their SEO strategy and hiring senior search engine marketers who not only have technical SEO knowledge but also an understanding of why usability is important.
The most effective way to approach web design is to take a holistic approach that encompasses web design, marketing and SEO.
To start doing this, you need to look at the data behind your site and try to understand the stories that this data tells.
Questions you should be asking include why does one page perform better than another? Who comes to the website? What brought them there? Why was there a spike in referral traffic? Can this be replicated?
Businesses should use this data to find out more about their customers and should look for any data that could challenge their assumptions about who their customers or users are.
The information you glean from this data can help you identify where you should adjust your web design. In many cases, there will be numerous subtle improvements that can be made to particular web pages that could improve conversions.
The news provider also noted that websites can’t be successful if they’re badly designed. But what’s required from an SEO perspective is constantly evolving as new technology is introduced. At the moment, the focus is on visual and voice activated search, for instance.
When it comes to web design, it’s essential to consider usability, crawlability, readability, accessibility and findability. Among the top things to avoid, according to the news provider, are the likes of mega menus, infinite scroll, oversized images at the top of the page and not including the alt text option for image uploads.
The navigation and overall site structure is crucial for improving the customer experience on your site. Customer Think recently pointed out that consumers want to see menus that are simple and easy to understand.
It takes less than ten seconds for someone to lose interest in your site’s design, which means you need to give them every reason to stay. The layout needs to be simple and intuitive.
Branding your web design is also essential to create a connection between your business and consumers. The aim should be to generate emotion between consumers and your brand.
“One simple, but profoundly powerful, way to do that is to brand your web design all the way from the logo, every image you post, to consistent font and colour usage throughout the site,” the news provider stated.
If you need some help with website design in Surrey, get in touch with us today to find out about our expertise and how we can be of assistance.
