One of the most frequently asked questions by many online marketers – Does web design affect SEO? The idea of how a website looks is not one would consider because Google and other search engines cannot see the site. But, there are some ranking factors that Google uses in its algorithm, and you should consider those before designing a website.
There are several misconceptions that when you approach SEO company Sydney, they will be able to not only make the website rank in search engines but also increase business, no matter how the site looks.
Unfortunately, this is not true. While an SEO specialist can implement all strategies to improve search visibility and generate more leads, the effectiveness of your work remains on the web design Sydney of your webpage.
Importance of good web design:
Design elements are more powerful than the contents. According to recent research, when asked explain why they mistrust a website, about 94% of visitors commented about the web design, while only 6% referenced content. This stat shows the importance of good web design and how it significantly impacts search engine rankings.
Here are few website elements that lead users to mistrust a website:
- Complex layouts
- Annoying pop-up ads and flamboyant ads
- Boring or dull website design
- Slow loading website
- Small prints that are hard to read
Here are three ways the website design affects Search Engine Optimisation:
- Conversation optimisation:
It is human nature to make judgements based on the first impressions. It takes a lot of effort and time to design a webpage, but it takes only a few seconds for a visitor to decide if they like your site enough to stay. Studies also show that the design of the “above the fold” area on your homepage needs to be attractive and functional. If not, people won’t scroll down.
Pay close attention to navigation, colour, and wording. The wordings you use in call-to-action have a direct impact on conversation rate. Make sure your web design is easy to navigate.
Your visitors must be able to have a concise path for contacting you, downloading or purchasing from your website.
- Content layout:
When search engines like Google crawls the websites to fetch the content, they look for specific details. If those contents are not there, then it is harder to rank higher in search engines. For example, when Google crawls to fetch contents for the query Sydney web design, they look at:
- Meta title
- Meta description
- Page Headings
- Content
- Image tags
- Rest of the pages
Pay close attention to these details and implement the right SEO strategies for on-page optimisation.
- Site performance:
Research reveals that visitors want the website to load in a few seconds and tend to close the page if it loads slowly. Google and other search engines consider the site performance too. If your website is slow, then you may not rank well in search results.
Get help from SEO specialists who can build a search engine optimised website that helps increase search visibility and increase traffic to your website.
