Avoid Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Mistakes With These Top 10 Web Design Tips

Search engine optimization is not carried out just by SEO specialists. It runs through content marketing, social media marketing, and UX & UI.

An SEO strategy is critical to your business' success if you have an online platform. Over 60% of B2B marketers state that organic traffic and search engine optimization drive more leads than other marketing strategies. 75% of people will not scroll past the first page of a search engine. And 51% of users have discovered a new product or company while conducting searches on their smartphones.

You may not think that your web design has much to do with search engine optimization. However, web design can, in fact, make or break it.

Consider this article a part of SEO for beginners 101. Let's dive in.

Introduction

SEO marketing is only getting harder.

Sites like Google are increasingly in tune with how web design mistakes harm customer experience, and their algorithms are frequently updated to reflect this.

To make sure that your site isn't one that slips down the rankings, here are 10 web design tips that will help keep your site on the first page of your search engine.

10 Web Design Tips to Boost Your SEO

Tip #1: DO use graphics

The first step of image optimization is to make sure that your web design and content teams are including images in the first place.

Content with at least one image outperforms those with none, so take an extra minute to insert a picture into your layout.

Tip #2: DON'T use too many graphics

This SEO strategy sounds counter-intuitive, but hear us out.

While the addition of one image to a page creates a boost in Google rankings, studies show that the use of too many can cause a poor customer experience. This in turn could have a negative effect on search engine optimization.

Of course, determining how many is "too many" is subjective; it takes a specialist to understand the right amount for your site.

Tip #3: DON'T embed important text inside images

The importance of this tip cannot be overstated.

While images are better for catching a reader's eye, they're useless to those who can't view them.

Both search engine crawlers and some users are unable to access text in images, so always keep central text-like page headings and menu items in regular HTML.

Tip #4: DO give images relevant filenames

Image filenames give search engines insight into the contents of the image, allowing them to use this information for rankings.

Rather than using something like "IMG00001.jpg", try something more descriptive, such as "CN-tower-view.jpg".

Tip #5: DO put an effort into alt text

The alt attribute is a way to describe the contents of a graphic or picture to search engine crawlers.

You can expand on the description you created for the image filename to improve its contribution to the site's overall SEO.

Bear in mind that search engine algorithms are just as sensitive to keyword stuffing in alt text as in regular HTML and perceive it as potential spam, which of course is destructive when it comes to SEO.

Your local SEO agency will be able to help you out with alt text, if you don't know where to start! And if you're not sure that's for you? Check out our primer on outsourcing SEO and whether it will actually suit your business needs.

Tip #5: DO optimize your site for mobile

80% of smartphone users use their devices to access retail information monthly, and 40% of them will leave a site if it's not mobile-friendly.

As a result, Google has been rewarding sites that are responsive to mobile and other devices for over a year.

Tip #6: DON'T design a mobile-only website

Unless your company demands it, avoid designing a dedicated mobile website.

This will force you to split your resources and budget between your site for web and your site for mobile, and is one of the biggest search engine optimization mistakes. It could lead to:

• Divided rankings between two versions of a webpage

• Duplicate content issues

• Faulty redirects (mobile users being redirected from a desktop URL to the appropriate mobile URL)

Tip #7: DO switch to responsive design

This is how to reconcile tips #6 and #7.

Responsive UX & UI enable your web or app design to work efficiently across devices of all types and sizes, including mobile phones, tablets, laptops and desktops.

From an SEO standpoint, this is a huge plus. Google doesn't need to index separate URLs for the mobile version and the desktop version of the site. The same HTML is consistent among all devices.

Responsive design ensures that your website is easy to navigate regardless of where it is being viewed.

Tip #8: DO make loading time a priority

An Aberdeen Group study showed that every 1-second delay in page load decreases customer satisfaction by 16%.

Fast website response time is a crucial aspect of quality user experience, and search engines know it.

Make sure that this topic is addressed from the wireframe & prototype designing stage and not left to the end.

Tip #9: DON'T bog down your HTTP requests

Up to 80% of end user loading time is the number of HTTP requests on the site. The easiest way to cut down on these quests is by not using many images, scripts, CSS, Flash, etc.

You must find your website's unique balance between rich design and efficient use of web elements to impress both customers and SEO crawlers.

Tip #10: DO maintain tidy code

The company WP Curve experienced an immediate 54% increase in page speed from improved coding alone. It's only natural that search engines reward efficient code.

The more code you have, the more they have to sort through to find relevant information.

Conclusion

And there you have it! A guide to better search engine optimization through proper web design.

If you need someone to do all the hard work for you, BluEnt is just a click away!

We are a web design and digital marketing company with over 13 years of experience. Our developers create code that meets only the highest standards in efficiency and works towards your SEO optimization.

We believe in creating web solutions that begin with clean code and that can evolve and grow with your site's needs. We serve Fortune companies, energy companies, funded startups, and other SMEs.

Want to see what we've done for other businesses like yours? Check out our portfolio!

Contact us now if you want the SEO services you deserve!

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