The Link Between Web Design and Search Engine Optimization
People often look at a site and comment on the web design without stopping to think about what must go on behind the scenes. However, search engines do take the background of a site into consideration when they go to rank it. While content marketing, the user experience, and internet marketing are of great importance, a website will drop in the rankings if the structure of the site lacks in one or more ways. This is true whether the website is gorgeous to look at or bland and boring. For this reason, every business owner needs to focus on technical, on-page, and off-page SEO for excellent results.
The Structure
Do the links found on the site work or are they broken? Has the code been updated? Is the site accessible for the search engines to crawl? These are only three of countless questions a business owner must ask to ensure the structure of their website meets the needs of the search engine and the user. A site must adapt quickly to the screen the user is viewing, which is why mobile-responsive sites have been emphasized in the past few years. Site speed is critical, as users won’t stay on a site that loads slowly, and images need to be optimized. The URL structure must be effective, and the website must be easy to navigate. These are only a few of the many things the search engine looks for when crawling a site. However, they are also of great importance to the user experience.
Content
A website, nevertheless, cannot discount the importance of great content, material that is both relevant and engaging. Search engines consider numerous factors when ranking a site, such as the quality of the content and the authority of the website. Furthermore, they look at backlinks to see if the site is directing a visitor to spam or a reputable partner. Advertising on the site is also a factor when the search engines evaluate a website, so all content must be optimized. Additionally, site visitors don’t want to simply read the text. Web copy should include different mediums, such as infographics and videos. Companies that manage to combine great content with a solid structure obtain a higher ranking and more traffic to their site.
When you go to choose a web design company, keep the above information in mind. Having one provider for both your web design and your SEO makes life easier. The goal is to find a company that can create a fantastic website and one that can update it as trends change and algorithms are modified. Business owners that do so discover they have one less task on their plate and they can focus on other jobs, such as research and development or customer service. You only have two minutes to draw the visitor in, so make every second count. The right web designer understands how critical this time frame is and creates and optimizes the site to guarantee the visitor wishes to stay on the site and learn more.
