Why Web Design is fundamental to SEO

When you read or hear people talk about  Web Design optimization , you are more likely to hear them talk about content and links. Not surprising, considering that  Google itself  said that content and links are two of the three most important factors in the ranking (Rankbrain being the third).

However, while these three may very well gain more attention, you are also likely to hear that there are “more than 200 factors” that influence a website’s ability to rank on SERPs (search results pages). These can range from title tags to preparation for Google’s mobile first. You can even hear someone tap into integrated marketing campaigns where advertising words or social media marketers work alongside the SEO team to deliver results.

Teams working together generally show more progress.

In the last decade, website optimization has stepped out of the shadows and into one of the leading solutions in digital agencies. It was just a matter of time while Google tried to take over the world! Anyway, global domination aside, means that search results have become an increasingly competitive arena, requiring an Abdul Rimaaz agency specializing in SEO to use all the tools available to them.

About the website design

On a Friday at   the Moz Whiteboard , Rand Fishkin talked about how structuring the content on his pages can help deliver SEO results, which made us think about how we used  web design  to create a more successful SEO campaign. So, here you go, four reasons why not using your web design team for SEO can be disastrous.

SEO is about conversions

Although having a high ranking for your keywords is great, it is not the main factor for a successful campaign. For agencies and teams at home, if the high ranking does not result in the ultimate goal of the business being achieved, then you could argue that the campaign was not successful. If you subscribe to this theory (like us), then addressing issues within your website design is a critical factor for any SEO campaign.

This subject is a little more complex. There are a number of factors that must be taken into account when  creating a responsive website  and individual pages that have high conversion rates, including UX / UI, use of images, website speed and use of content. The point is that, without analyzing site pages and user flow across your site, you run the risk of not capitalizing on organic search traffic.

Regardless, investing in  conversion rate optimization  is not specific to organic search traffic. If the buyer’s personas have been accurately identified, changing the design of your pages will help convert traffic from multiple sources. Especially if your teams are talking to each other as part of an integrated marketing strategy!

Home optimization

A recent study showed that agencies and SEO teams at home valued both technical optimization and the most influential factor for campaigns. Don’t worry, content and link building were also featured! The point is that if both website designers and developers do not have a clear view of the optimization that will be implemented on the website, you run the real risk of having to go back and redo parts of the website to include them.

 A few years ago, parallax sites were “the beast”, but they were junk for SEO. The lack of clearer website structures and individual page URLs to target specific search terms with highly targeted content meant that performing optimization on a parallax site was notoriously difficult. Difficult, but not impossible, but difficult, nonetheless.

Usage and User Data

Google keeps their cards close when it comes to the exact metrics they take into account when ranking sites. They give some of the main information, but not all. However, there is a school of thought in the SEO world that user and usage data is used by Google in its ranking algorithm, although some may argue that Google would only take into account data directly related to SERPs, such as CTR.

If you believe that Google strongly considers user and usage data or does so only to a limited extent, it is still worth addressing as part of your SEO and therefore the design of your website. In the same vein as producing conversions, you don’t want to see high bounce rates or downtime on your site as part of the reviews for your site.

If you’re  redesigning your site , you can use Google Analytics data from your previous site to highlight problems to avoid on the new site, or if it’s a new site, make sure the correct amount of thought has been given to the experience user (especially above the fold).

Don’t wait to make changes!

Whether you’re creating a new site or redesigning your current site, it’s much easier to get some of the details from this article into your design process, rather than trying to address them more in the future. You have a great reason to work, allowing designers and marketers to work together to  develop a website  that not only looks great, but also delivers your broader marketing strategy.

There will have to be compromises. There always is. Web Design and SEOs often headache when it comes to the amount of content, heavy images or videos that can slow down loading times and call-to-action buttons that can have an effect on the true aesthetics of the site. If you manage to manage these commitments, you will avoid a beautiful website that receives less organic traffic because of its inability to rank, or a website that ranks well, but fails to convert its traffic.

Implementing changes to a website after it has been designed not only costs more in time and money, but will also deliver a lower quality product than if these considerations had been part of the strategy from the start!