A site that gives a user what they need and assists the company in succeeding is the desired outcome when using tools such as good web design and SEO. You want to give the visitor the very best experience when they come to the site. Designers will focus more on the aesthetic elements while those dealing in SEO will focus on what helps it to rank well within the search engines.
But to provide users with the information they want so they ultimately become a customer, the site needs to be both visually appealing and functional. These are qualities that should be easily achievable for a good designer. And it should be simple for customers to find, which is the responsibility of the SEO.
IS SEO OR WEB DESIGN MORE CRITICAL?
The debate among site owners is that great design outweighs that of bad SEO and then there are those that feel the opposite is true. Many are in the crossfire with a need to know which is truly more important. To state it simply neither is. Strong SEO is going to draw a user to the site, but great design is going to make them stay there.
You can have the most visually pleasing site of any on the market, but it’s useless if there is no one to see it. It’s also true that you can have the top-ranking site out of all of the search engines, but it means nothing if the poor design appeal causes them to leave – which will also ultimately hurt the rankings.
Making Web Design and SEO Work Together
SEO and Web design are so closely intermingled in the marketing world, you must have them work well together. This is why the typical process for site owners where they hire the designer to layout the design and then create the site, followed by bringing in the SEO after that step has been completed should be prevented.
The site designer and SEO should collaborate from the beginning stages of the project. This will allow for an architecture that is both visually appealing and SEO friendly.
Some feel the best way to ensure that the design and optimization will come together is to hire a sole individual who does both of these processes. This is something that you need to be careful with. Web design and SEO are very specialized fields and hiring a different person for each step who is skilled in that particular task makes more sense than hiring one person who is mediocre in doing both.
An even better solution altogether is to hire the best internet marketing agency. In today’s market that would entail possibly working with companies like International Internet Advertising Services to reach a global audience. By allowing this established group of developers, designers, and SEOs to work in collaboration on your site, you can rest easy that the end result is going to be cohesive and that every aspect is completed by a skilled professional.
Mobile-Friendly
An ever-growing number of internet users search sites on their smartphones and various other mobile devices meaning your site needs to be easily accessible to them. This will offer better user experience and help your ranking now that being mobile-friendly is a ranking factor for Google.
Readable
Designers are going to focus on the non-text concepts of the site, but it’s imperative to select fonts and sizes that are simple for users to read. The designers also need to realize to leave enough space for copy, unless the body copy is getting pulled from a site that’s existing or text that is prewritten. You will want a lot of optimized, informative content in an attempt to rank well, and having a design that is only going to look good with a couple of sentences will frustrate the SEO.
Images
The copy is not the only part of the site that can be optimized. The designers need to use the best practices when images are being uploaded onto the site.
Naming Files
Images need to have file names that are both descriptive and logical. It will require a bit more effort than allowing them to remain with the standard given name, this allows the search engines to see the images and they can then be put in context.
Size of Files
File sizes should be kept to a minimum even though a large, higher quality image can be much more visually appealing. A larger file is going to slow down the load time of your page, which will give the user a poor experience. This increases your bounce rate and, in turn, hurts your ranking.
Architecture
The influence that the designer has with the architecture of the site is going to vary based on how involved you and the SEO choose to be in the process, but it will have a huge influence over the capability of the site to rank. Read about out site architecture here.
- Navigation. Being able to navigate easily is one of the most critical elements for a good user experience meaning this should be simple. The easier a user can find what they want, the more chance they will convert. Easy navigation is also going to decrease chances for confusion and ultimately the loss of users which will reduce bounce rate and enhance ranking.
- URL. Every page needs to have a descriptive URL of the content that is on that particular page with words that are divided with a hyphen as opposed to underscores. URLs that offer descriptive words rather than random letters and numbers are easier for search engines to comprehend and will also be simpler for visitors to remember.
Web design and SEO should go hand in hand to make the visitor experience a positive one and to ultimately make your company top ranking. By investing in an internet marketing agency, you will have a team of professionals working in conjunction with each other to ensure all of the components of your site work cohesively and successfully.
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