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Today, it is no longer just about having a beautiful web design, but that it is functional and technically correct. Users on the internet take only 50 milliseconds to form an opinion about your website. So if you don’t make a positive impression, the user is likely to end up in the competition. One of the most important aspects when designing a web page is precisely the web design since it helps the aesthetics of your site. It is clear that the aesthetics of your website is important when judging your services, but you should not forget another aspect that you should not overlook, SEO. Search Engine Optimization is important for website ranking. And in this article, we are going to see how web design affects SEO and mention some tips on how to make a web design, which will help you to have a good positioning of your page.
We all turn to search engines like Google, Bing, or Yahoo to find answers, so optimizing your website for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a must, it is more important than design, as SEO ensures that your website can be found by your customers. At the same time, the design of your website goes beyond aesthetics. A website with poor User Experience (UX) not only makes navigation frustrating for your users when browsing your site, but it also affects the SEO and the position in which your website will appear in search engines such as Google.
Let’s take look at different aspects of web design and How Web Design affects SEO
Optimized Web Design for Mobile Devices
The use of mobile phones is unavoidable. There are an estimated 3.5 billion smartphone users and it’s growing. With these figures, you will understand that the mobile version is not an option, it is a requirement. In fact, Google separately analyzes the indexing of your website in the mobile version when it comes to displaying the results. This means that Google will use the evaluation of the mobile version of your website in mobile search results.
Currently, a high percentage of visits to web pages are made through mobile devices, smartphones, and tablets. Which makes it necessary for the website to have an optimized design for these devices. The most used option today is responsive web design or adaptive design. Since this technique is the one that adapts perfectly to the size of any device. Google considers this option essential. A responsive website has the advantage of offering a better user experience, which will improve both your brand image and the time spent on your website. You must make sure that your site not only works in a “user-friendly” mobile version but that it is optimized for it.
Speed of Website
When it comes to positioning a page, search engines take into account the time it takes to load and its weight of it. One of the causes of slow loading is the presence of Flash in the template. That is why you should avoid using Flash elements as much as possible. This factor is also important to reduce the bounce rate. Google of course uses load time as one of the multiple ranking factors. All things being equal, a website that loads faster than your website will rank higher in search results.
It doesn’t matter how beautiful and well-designed your website is if it doesn’t load quickly. If your page is late:
- 1 to 3 seconds drop chance increases by 32%
- 1 to 5 seconds drop chance increases by 90%
- 1 to 6 seconds drop chance increases by 106%
- 1 to 10 seconds drop chance increases by 123%
The ideal load time for a user is below 3.3 seconds, which corresponds to the highest sales rate.
Typography and Color scheme on Website
Typography and color are other aspects of web design that affect SEO. There is nothing more frustrating than arriving at a website and finding that the text is small, the typography or the color contrast makes it difficult to read. If this is your case, most users will leave your website, you must make them feel comfortable. Without forgetting again the great Google with SEO, which will evaluate if the font size and color contrast are adequate to facilitate reading and navigation.
Having a professional web design is important and mandatory, but there are certain rules that must be taken into account. Use an appropriate font, font size, and color contrast to make your services easy to read on all devices, including computers, tablets, and mobile phones.
Correct use of Headers
In order to have a correct structure on our web page, it is essential to use the header tags correctly. In terms of code, the headers correspond to the tags <h1><h2><h3>… and they are the ones that tell Google which keywords and content to give more or less importance to. A misuse of headers can confuse search engines, as well as overuse them. For example, more than one <h1> per page is not recommended.
Avoid Large Images (Use Attractive Images)
There is no need to use images that are too large if the screen sizes are not. The difference between a larger px image and a smaller one is simply that the former is heavier and takes longer to load. On the other hand, the use of attractive and correctly labeled images allows Google robots to read them correctly, and give consistency to the content in the text. This will give a satisfying experience to your users.
Today there are programs that help you optimize the size of your images without sacrificing their quality.
Use HTTPS Protocols
The protocols HTTP and HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) are the same. Both are data transfer protocols between the user’s browser and the server where a certain web page is hosted. The difference between them is the way they send the information.
The HTTP sends the information through a direct channel that can be intercepted by anyone, while the HTTPS sends it through a more secure connection through SSL encryption that protects the personal information of the users.
Google positively values that we use the HTTPS protocol, so it is recommended that we use it for better SEO positioning.
Optimized Calls To Action (CTA)
Calls to action (CTA), are one of the most important elements of a web page or product landing page. CTAs help users find what they need on your website. By making it easier for them to access the content they are looking for, they increase engagement and improve the odds of conversion. To optimize your calls to action, it is necessary to have a good understanding of their objective. That is, knowing the product, the resource, or the linked service, so that we do not hesitate when labeling the CTA, and make it clear to the user where he is going and what he will receive if he clicks.
Conclusion
As you can see, how web design affects SEO as well as the aesthetic part of web page and website but is also the key tool for the correct SEO of your site. It means that when designing your site, you should not only take into account the objectives you pursue for your business but also what search engines require when rewarding a website with a good position.
