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2013-07-10

5 Reasons Why Web Design is Important for SEO in 2013

The world of web design is often considered to be little more than pretty pics and a bunch of fluff, but that's a complete misnomer and even disrespectful to the art involved. Great web design is as much a form of art as the best paintings and sculptures. The following are some of the reasons why well designed web pages are also great for your search engine optimization and getting the cash register to ring with consistency.







Pleasant Designs Attract People



A lot of search engine optimization actually isn't just about search engines themselves. While they and their various technologies are important to the overall operation, the technology isn't everything. Ultimately, human beings are an important part of what makes any kind of site popular with search engines. This comes down to the initial view of the page, the general layout's impression, how the pages relate to each other and the information they express thematically.

The point to consider first and foremost is that SEO isn't really about the search engines — it's about the people. User optimized sites get more traffic. They have better click-through rates and conversions with fewer bounces. When you choose a website design, make sure it's one that is consistent and puts forward the right vibe.




Proper Link Design Encourages Everyone


With the point thoroughly made about how the search engines are of secondary importance, they're still a vital part of your web design. While most people will never consciously register the link design of any given site, everyone who visits will eventually find out if it's hard to find what they're looking for. This can manifest itself in a lot of ways, from not being able to find a given link to having broken links. A surprisingly large number of websites actually suffer from these problems, and it often comes down to the designer knowing the site so well that they never notice these tiny details.

Keep in mind that search engines look for proper link arrangement. If the links are truly messed up, the "spiders" may not be able to find some of your deeper pages. Similarly, human beings may have difficulty finding these pages. In a situation like that, you could have a problem with retention and drawing back previous visitors.




Easy Functionality Means Easier Navigation


Navigating your website should not require a manual. If it does, you've done something wrong and need to fix it immediately. When you take someone to your site, how quickly do they find a given thing you ask them to click on? The average search time is only a few seconds — longer than that, and the traditionally attention deficit-ridden online reader will generally click somewhere that's more accessible. While the search engines can find links in your code anywhere, most people find this difficulty to be frustrating and intolerable.




Well Designed Sites are Shared More Often on Social Media


Have you ever had someone share something awful with you? Naturally, such things happen, but there are several kinds of low quality. Among those kinds are simply awful content, which is reasonably easy to update, and awful overall design, which can be a serious and time consuming challenge. When your website is well designed, people are more likely to share it, post it, pin it, and otherwise draw positive attention to it with their friends and fellow readers. Remember that shares tend to result in better rankings.




Little Touches Add to Search Engine Appeal


You have meta tags, carefully chosen search keywords sprinkled throughout the content and highlighted on specific deep pages, and are using the alt notation for images, right? While these and other small touches are not necessarily crucial to making your website search engine friendly and helping people find your site, there are ways to go from doing a good job to doing a stupendous job. When you add the little touches, such as surrounding pictures and videos with text, you will be doing wonders for both the SEO aspect of your design and for the accessibility of your page.

While it's rare for anyone to be using an interface that doesn't support pictures or videos, it does happen. Also, media that has text around it is more easy to catalogue when the search engines go crawling through your page.

The way websites are designed have a lot to do with their SEO effectiveness. Think carefully about the details, and try to branch out your design style to find what works best for your site.



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