Understanding the connection between web design and search engine optimization is crucial. Web design determines the experience of your customers. At the same time, it helps search engines to better understand your website and rank it higher. That’s why we want to explore the impact web design has on SEO.
Website structure improves crawlability and indexation
When discussing web design, we must consider more than just the website’s aesthetics. Website structure includes the correct position of elements and the structure and hierarchy of pages. It’s important to design a well-structured website if you wish to improve Google rankings. That substantially improves the crawlability and indexation of the pages.
Improved user experience reduces the bounce rate
Reduce your bounce rate by improving the web design and user experience.
Let’s consider how many websites there are today. Each website has a unique design, aiming to provide value to its clients.
However, some websites fail to do so. Users who visit a website that doesn’t deliver a smooth customer experience will quickly leave the page. This increases the page’s bounce rate, and that hurts your search rankings. If you use web design to make the user experience better, that will also benefit your SEO.
Understanding these SEO basics is crucial to help your small business grow. It’ll help you better understand the impact web design has on SEO and how you can use that to your advantage.
Good web design improves the loading speed
Another way to reduce the bounce rate through web design is to ensure the website loads quickly. A well-designed website won’t be overcrowded with unnecessary bells and whistles. Often we see websites that use too many sliders, pop-ups, or ads that slow down the page speed.
Your web design should be crisp and clean. It should focus only on customer value. Once you accomplish that, the pages should load faster. There are also a number of technical solutions to a page that’s too slow, like condensing CSS, caching, and other things your web designer is familiar with.
The importance of mobile-friendly web design
It is no secret that Google values mobile-friendly websites since more than half of all searches are done from phones. If your website isn’t responsive to mobile devices, you have less chance of competing well against other websites: Google will tend to rank them higher.
Even if customers find your website, they may still be discouraged by the lack of responsiveness. That can also affect the bounce rate and your overall SEO ranking. In other words, don’t overlook the importance of mobile-friendly web design to ranking well on search engines..
Social media in web design
Add social media share buttons on your website to help the visitors share your content.
An underused social media technique in web design is adding social media “share buttons” on your website. Sharing website content on social media is very important. Allowing users to more easily share your content can improve the visibility of your website and provide more organic traffic.
If you add “share” social media buttons in addition to the more common “follow” buttons on your website, you’re making it possible for your clients to share content on their social media profiles. See the floating share buttons on the left side if this blog for an example of this technique in practice. By improving website visibility through this strategy, you may also improve your search engine ranking.
Internal link optimization
Link building is one of the most important SEO strategies you can use. When it comes to internal links, they can play a big part in the website’s aesthetics. Just think of a web page stuffed with links so much that they distract the user from the flow of information on your page. Too many links will have users quickly switching pages, which is not a good practice. We also recommend having your links open in a new browser tab instead of permanently directing users away from your page.
Properly placed links will add value to your users and connect pages on your website. Both parts are essential for on-page SEO. You want to address key parts of your website holistically and make sure that they all contribute to search engine ratings.
Website accessibility
Another essential element of web design is website accessibility. It’s important that you allow all users to equally experience your website. Those who suffer from various disabilities may not be able to perceive traditional web design like everyone else.
Website accessibility is now a standard in quality web design. You want to ensure that all pages are equally accessible to all of your customers. This not only improves the customer experience but also may increase search ratings.
In some countries, your business might even be legally prosecuted if it’s not accessible. Some claim that website accessibility is as crucial as responsiveness to mobile devices. It’s one of the Google ranking factors.
Web design consistency
Link building is an essential element of web design that greatly impacts SEO.
A website is just a part of your business. It is one platform that works together with other elements to create a brand image. You should show consistency across all website pages and across other business materials like brochures and stationery.
If each page is designed in a different style, that can cause confusion. What you want is to create a familiar feeling for your customers. No matter what page they visit, they should be able to predict where each element is. Web design should make your customers feel at home.
Websites that follow the practice of consistent web design will create a personal connection with your customers. That can affect their brand image and indirectly positively affect SEO.
Website navigation affects user experience
Another web design element that significantly affects user experience is website navigation. Visitors should be able to quickly navigate your website without too many issues or questions. Just like with other elements, web navigation should also be consistent across all pages, including your blog.
The idea is to help users have a smooth experience and find all the information they need as quickly as possible. Website navigation also has an impact on SEO. It’s a part of website structure, and it helps search engines to better understand your website.
The impact web design has on SEO – explained!
We hope that you now understand the impact web design has on SEO and that you see how important the connection between the two really is. Ensure your web design is always straightforward and aligned with the latest trends and your business goals. Remember to introduce new changes to your website from time to time. It is crucial to provide a fresh experience to your customers and ensure a high-ranking position. A good way to assure fresh content is to have a blog, for example.
About the Author
Marcus Johnson is a seasoned web designer specializing in visually appealing and user-friendly web design. He wants to share his knowledge of web design and SEO with the help of his passion for writing.
Online reviews, whether positive or negative, affect your reputation.
That in turn impacts your revenue. For example, BrightLocal found that 57% of consumers will only use a business if it has 4 or more stars.
That’s because customers see your online review profile and believe those reviews. According to Inc. Magazine, 84% of people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations from family and friends.
Don’t go nuts. Watch your review velocity; review sites and Google certainly do. If you get too many reviews too fast, they may be seen as purchased links or spam and be filtered out.
Diversity is important. If a citation site you’re listed on features reviews and you have none there, your citation is incomplete. It reduces your authority and your credibility.
Action Plan: how to manage your online review profile
Look yourself up by name
The first thing that jumps out at people is your Google Knowledge Panel at the top right. This is probably the most important place for you to have online review stars. If you don’t have any stars here, this is the first place to get them.
What other citations appear on the page? Your Facebook page may show up, perhaps a MerchantCircle page, maybe a Yelp listing, and maybe others. Do they have review stars? If not, those should be the second priority for you.
Online reviews don’t just happen
A good online review profile doesn’t just happen. If you have an unhappy customer their anger or disappointment provides built-in motivation for them to leave you a bad review. Happy customers are less likely to write a review without a little prompting.
Some businesses post a sign that says something like “We welcome your review on Yelp.” Or some variation on that. That plants the suggestion in the customer’s mind that they can (should) share their opinion of you.
Beyond that, you can also ask your customer for a review. Some businesses do that at checkout. Others that have customer email addresses send them an email request for a review with a link to your listing on the platform of your choice to make it easy for them.
Check out your niche
Do a keyword search like car repair shop in Morristown. Or New Jersey elder law attorney. Which industry sites and local directories show up? You may find something like a Morristown business directory. Or you may find a directory of elder law attorneys. If those directories accept online reviews, you need to have some there. If the site is fee-based, you may need to consider the relative value, but many are free.
Check out your competitors
Which of your competitors show up for your most important keywords? Search those keywords and make a note of which competitors are showing up on the first page or two. And then look up those competitors by name and see where they have citations with review stars. Those are all places you should also have reviews. Go through at least the first three pages of results for each competitor to catch the most important citation/review sites.
Consider broader sites as well
There are a number of more generic sites that are powerful sources of online reviews. Some of the best ones include:
It’s not enough to just ask customers for reviews. You need to respond to reviews as they appear. It’s normal for reviews to appear that you haven’t requested. And not all of those reviews will be glowing.
Responding to reviews promptly is associated with a 33% increase in conversions. We talk about the importance of monitoring and responding to reviews in our post Respond to Reviews and Get More Business.
As you might imagine, it can be quite time-consuming to monitor all of the places that host reviews for you. Fortunately there is the relatively easy solution. Most of our local SEO clients subscribe to a service that, among other things, sends them an email every time a new review is posted, with a link to that review so they can reply. If that’s of interest to you, reach out to me and I’ll explain how it works.
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