If anyone knows about how SEO and web design go hand in hand, it’s us – but will a poorly designed website really make that much of a difference to the success of an SEO campaign? All of the websites we build are designed to be SEO friendly and ready to rank, but not all websites are created equally. Here are a few of the common mistakes that developers make when they fail to think about SEO during the design process.
Conversion not considered
A website which sits at position one in the search results might be impressive on paper, but conversion is the thing that really matters. A spot at the top of Google might result in fantastic levels of site traffic, but if all of this traffic leaves as soon as it lands on the website, nothing will be achieved. Clever, creative design and a close attention to user experience are needed to create a website which encourages visitors to stick around. Making a website responsive is a good place to start, and will help to convert visitors who reach a site through their mobiles or tablets.
Slow to load
Users hate them, and so does Google. Slow loading pages could really damage a website’s SEO. Nobody wants to wait around for a page to load, and they are going to be even less likely to stick on a site if the page that does load is irrelevant to their query. This could lead to a high bounce rate, as could pesky broken links which could cause both user experience and rankings to take a hit. Sort out load speed, fix broken links and make sure all pages feature relevant, engaging content.
Outdated or duplicate content
Duplicate content is the foe of SEO, and websites which are riddled with text copied from other sources will struggle to perform successfully in the search engines. Similarly, a news feed which is rarely updated or information which is outdated could have an effect on how impressive your website is to its visitors. Things need to be kept fresh to keep their interest.
No call to action
From a simple phone number to a quick contact form, it really isn’t difficult to call those visitors to action, and a site which is sat at the top of the rankings is no use if nobody can get in touch with you. An SEO-friendly website will be designed with the goal of converting visits into enquiries in mind. Equally, it should be easy for users to engage with a website through social media, so sharing icons need to be prominent on the site.
All of this helps to demonstrate just how important it is to find a web designer who understands SEO. And if you’re reading this blog, then you’ve come to the right place!