Search engine optimization as we once knew it is dead. Yes, SEO is still a must for content creation, but the art of optimizing has evolved. Now more than ever, businesses must put a strong emphasis on SEO web design.
But why is this? What factors have made optimizing web design one of the best ways to improve your site’s rankings?
As you’re about to find out, everything from the code to user satisfaction has heightened the importance of web design. That said, here are seven reasons to prioritize your site’s design right now.
1. It’s All in the Code
Content may be king, but code wears a crown as well. Whether your site is coded in Python or C++, the underlying code is doing some important work. You just can’t see it.
The most important of this work is arguably the appeals the code makes to the “spiders.” These spiders “crawl” web pages in order to find information that can help give search engines some idea of what your site offers users. If your site is coded well, it can be an amazing asset to you and your business.
This code goes beyond the spiders and the crawling. It can also play a major part in user satisfaction and engagement. Social media integration and usability, for example, can be improved via the code, which we’ll talk more about later.
Of course, SEO web design isn’t really all in the code. Your site’s aesthetics matter as well. This means that your real challenge lies balancing the quality of the code with your site’s appearance.
2. The Importance of Mobile Experiences
Most of the world appears to be in the midst of a mobile mania. If you don’t believe us, you can take Tech Crunch’s words for it. According to one of the tech site’s contributors, “more users around the world are accessing the internet from mobile devices than from desktop computers for the first time.”
This development is fairly new, but it’s already extremely significant. In fact, many businesses today have taken to optimizing their sites for mobile devices before they do so for desktop computers.
And there’s no reason that you shouldn’t be taking this approach as well.
Think about it. When users encounter your site for the first time, chances are that they’re doing so from their cell phones or e-readers. If their first experiences are bad experiences, you run the risk of losing their attention.
Further still, designing the mobile site first just makes sense in today’s world. It makes for great overall SEO web design since mobile designs often require that designers find simple yet elegant ways to display content.
3. Social Media Integration Matters
Your business might have a Facebook page, an Instagram account, and a Twitter profile. But guess what? Simply having those pages isn’t enough to make you a social media maven.
You have to take things a step further and make social media an integral part of your site’s design. Fortunately, SEO web design forces businesses to think about how they should be using social media to strengthen their site’s designs.
But, honestly, why is this integration so important? You have great content; people will share it, right?
Not exactly. As it turns out, few people will actually bother to copy and paste your content’s URL and head on over to Facebook or Twitter to share it. That’s just too much work for the casual browser.
Including Facebook and Twitter buttons pretty encourage users to share your content once they’ve finished digesting it. These buttons serve as calls-to-action in a way, and they’re just easy for users to click.
Of course, this isn’t really something you’ll be thinking about if you prioritize optimizing your content instead… That’s just something to think about.
4. Branding Your Business
Okay. Branding your business is admittedly about more than your site’s design. Still, you have to admit that branding your business becomes a lot easier when your site’s design is superior to that of your competitors.
And if you don’t have to admit this, you just don’t know it yet.
Want to educate yourself? We’ve got you covered. Just keep reading.
How a Site’s Design Aids in Branding
A great site design communicates everything about your business that you want users to know. It also appeals to the users that your business is looking to attract.
Let’s also not forget that an aesthetically pleasing site gives visitors the impression that your business is professional.
Don’t, however, think that you can stop at your site’s design. SEO web design goes beyond your site; if you think bigger, you’ll find that your social media page should also be optimized.
They are, after all, on the web.
Social media pages can be optimized in many of the same ways that your site can. As a matter of fact, some social media platforms make branding your business surprisingly easy for you with some of their built-in features.
5. Usability Is Key
Not too long ago, we talked about the role of code in SEO web design. Though we spoke a bit about it, we only briefly mentioned how it affects usability. We’d now like to talk about why usability is so important.
To be blunt, a site can look absolutely stunning on the surface. What happens underneath, however, can determine how people view your site.
Which can, in turn, determine how Google and other search engines rank your site.
So which elements of web design contribute to usability? Let’s find out:
Loading Speed
The loading speed of your site’s pages matters. If your pages take forever and a day to load, people aren’t going to get much out of them. As a result, you’ll want to sure that your site’s host allows your site’s pages to have decent loading speeds.
Small Design Elements
Small design elements can also make or break your site. Color, for instance, can be a big offender. If you choose a color that is hard on some people’s eyes, you’re likely to drive these people away from your site.
Before they ever read your wonderful content.
Needless to say, there are several other consequential elements of web design. You can’t, though, address them all on your own, so we recommend seeing a professional about the more serious ones.
6. Bye Bye High Bounce Rate
Everything we’ve said thus far has pretty much been leading up to this. A site that’s masterfully crafted encourages people to actually stay on the site and browse your content.
When talking about bounce rates in the world of SEO web design, though, a nice design encompasses more than aesthetics and usability. It’s all about directing people, as you’ll find out below.
Guiding Users
A well-crafted site should guide users to where businesses want them to be. This starts with the SERPs. When people see your site on a search engine results page, what makes them want to click the link?
If they click that link, you must then guide them to your content. But what about your landing or home page makes people curious about your content? Do you put excerpts of your content on your home page? Is your content easy to find?
Your content should ideally lead your site’s visitors to your shop or selection of goods. This is really what great design is all about: converting.
And those low bounce rates? Well, they go a long way towards converting visitors.
7. SEO Web Design Is Concrete
We’ve loved the more traditional means of optimizing our content for a while now. Keywords and backlinks are powerful when used correctly.
But here’s the truth: Nothing is concrete about this type of SEO strategy in the long run.
Google, for instance, updates its algorithms so frequently that your SEO strategy could be semi-obsolete by tomorrow. It’s hard to know that your current strategy is “correct,” which is frustrating.
But SEO web design? Now that’s concrete. Find out more below.
The Longevity of Strategic Web Design
SEO web design is so concrete that it’s amazing. Don’t believe us? Then take a second and think about it.
How does a well-designed site that has impressive usability become obsolete?
Well?
That’s right. It practically doesn’t. Yes, different trends will dictate which looks are in style, but function is function.
Not only that, but SEO web design has results that can be felt almost immediately. In this way, it’s so unlike the SEO strategies we use for content. We’re not saying that you’ll suddenly have boatloads of traffic, but you’ll definitely notice that people seem to engage with your content more.
Because this type of web design is so concrete, it’s ultimately worth investing in early on. It gets results and can be addressed so quickly that not working on the design first would be a mistake on any business’s part.
So How About That Web Design?
So how are you feeling about web design at this point? It’s definitely our hope that you understand that it truly should be your priority, and not just for a season.
Having said this, don’t just go running to any web design company. You should always approach a design company with a list of essential questions in hand.
In fact, we’re so serious about that list of questions that we encourage you to send them our way. Our words aren’t just for show here; we mean what we say.
So go for it. Get in touch with us and ask us anything. We promise to address all of your questions and concerns to the best of our ability.
Not one for talking? We can skip the conversation altogether and you can go for our free website analysis.