When it comes to the subject of search engine optimization (SEO), the majority of people think about topics such as keywords and phrases, link building, page relevancy and so on. Very few website owners are actually aware that their website’s design and make-up could actually affect how it ranks in the Google SERPs. With so many different factors which all have a say in where your website ranks, it’s no surprise that web design is often overlooked.
Photo by fantasista at freedigitalphotos.net
SEO Friendly Navigation
The whole navigation system of your website is basically a map which is laid out for your visitors in order to ensure that they can find their way around. A website which is designed well, with a navigation system that is easy to use and understand, is going to ensure visitors stay on pages and on the site overall for a longer period of time. On the other hand, a website which is difficult to navigate may have a good amount of traffic, but these visitors are unlikely to stick around for long. Along with this, an SEO friendly navigation system makes it easy for search engines to crawl, index and display the website and pages in search results. Often, navigation systems which are designed to have cool aesthetic effects can use software which makes it more difficult for search engines to crawl your website.
Responsive Design
As this experienced Philadelphia SEO consultant will tell you, a responsive website design is an absolute necessity when it comes to good SEO. Recently, Google began giving favor to those websites which provided a seamless experience to customers using any device, rather than having a website design which only worked well if viewed on a laptop or desktop computer. Due to the drastic increase in mobile device use over recent years, it’s no surprise that Google have made a responsive design an absolute must if you want to have any hope of your website making it into the first few results in the SERPs.
Correct Coding
It’s not just about how long it takes your site to load up for visitors, how well they can navigate it, and whether or not it is responsive to mobile devices are both important when it comes to search engine optimization. What goes on behind the scenes is also important; your website’s HTML code should also be optimized for search engine crawlers. If HTML is generated using word processing software and then copied onto the site, search engines can often see lines of coding which does not relate to the content of the site. If your website’s design is not coded correctly, it could lead to serious problems with SEO and even prevent search engines from crawling, indexing and displaying your website in the SERPs.
Web design might not be the first factor that springs to mind when you think of improving your site’s SEO, but the truth is that your website’s design might have a bigger effect than you think on its ranking!