How Does Web Design Affect SEO?

With so many websites battling it out for the crucial page one listings on Google’s search engine, SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) has become a vital component for any company with an online presence. As well as the site’s written content being hugely important in improving search engine rankings, the design of a website can also play a crucial role.

Sometimes the written content can be prioritised over web design, and this could be detrimental to your website, as to how a site is designed can have a great impact on visitor engagement. A solid web design that is user friendly and looks good is more likely to attract repeat visitors as well as retain new viewers. In this blog, we are going to talk about the specifics of how web design can have a direct impact on SEO and tips on how to optimise the design of your website to boost SEO results.

Easy Site Navigation

As new prospective customers find your website, they will want to be able to find their way around the site as easily as possible, finding any information they require. A big part of allowing visitors to be able to do this is the web design. The use of clearly labelled menus and page dividers will ensure that website users can navigate their way through all of the information, finding exactly what it is they are looking for.

If your website is designed so that it can be navigated easily, it is likely to improve the amount of time users stay on certain pages, will improve the amount of engagement, increase the conversion rate, and will decrease bounce rates. All these aspects are monitored by Google and having positive results will show the search engine that your website can be trusted and is of high quality.

Interactive 404 Pages

If someone has searched for a page on your website where the content has been deleted or moved to another place, they are likely to receive a 404 error page. These pages make the user aware that what they are searching for no longer exists on that specific web page. When a user comes across a 404 error page, they can get frustrated and give up with the site altogether, however, by making them user friendly and interactive, prospective customers can be retained.

A useful trick you can use to help keep customers on your website even if they happen to come across a 404 page, is to make said page interactive and user friendly. This can be done by communicating clearly to the user why they have landed on a 404 page, and give them clear instructions as to how to return to the website. Adding a level of functionality to a 404 page will make it more likely to click back onto your site, as opposed to simply getting frustrated and clicking away.

Overall User Friendliness

There are many web design features that can be incorporated into your website to make its content as user friendly as possible. If someone is visiting your site for the first time and is having trouble reading the available information or cannot easily find the information or services they are looking for, they are more likely to find themselves somewhere else to go. This means that they are also far less likely to revisit the website or recommend the site to others.

Some easy ways to ensure that your website users have a positive experience when visiting include using appealing, welcoming colour schemes, avoiding dark backgrounds, incorporating sub-headings, and choosing an easily readable font style and size. These features may be simple, but they can be massively effective in improving customer usage, leading to improved SEO rankings.

Mobile Responsivity

In order for your website to be ranked favourably, it needs to appease Google’s core web vitals, which are a set of factors that Google deems crucial to presenting a good user experience. One of these factors is whether the website is responsive – meaning it will work properly across various screen sizes and devices.

A large amount of traffic that will arrive at your website is likely to have come from people using mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets. If your website is only suited for desktop users, this can make the formatting of your website skewed, making it very difficult for mobile users to navigate. Google will penalise this by dropping your website’s search engine rankings, so it’s definitely wise to make sure your site is suitably designed for all devices.

If you would like to read a more comprehensive overview of website responsiveness and why it is important for your website, you can take a look at the blog we have published about this topic.

What Active Internet Marketing (UK) Can Offer

Active Internet Marketing (UK) is fortunate to have a team of highly skilled, experienced professionals. We are dedicated to ensuring that your website reaches that all-important page one ranking on Google.

Our team of dedicated website developers work alongside our clients to deliver a website that both fits in with Google’s core web vitals, and also portrays their company’s individuality. We pride ourselves on our customer service and being able to provide top quality websites to each and every client.

Contact Us

If you would like any further information about any of the services we provide, feel free to get in contact with us. You can get in touch by filling out our online contact form or by calling 01604 765 796.