A website is a great way to generate leads, promote a brand, or create a meaningful customer relationship. But these are only possible if the site is well-designed and SEO-optimized. Web design doesn't just revolve around creating a beautiful and professional-looking website. It should focus more on the customer experience first.
Using SEO to create a well-designed site is a smart move because they employ similar strategies to improve the browsing experience of the viewer. If done right, it can drive more traffic to the site not to mention increase the revenue for e-commerce sites. Here are some tips that will help improve your web design using SEO.
1. Proper use of keywords
Keywords, or keyphrases, are terms that are added to online content to improve search engine rankings. The majority of the keywords are found during the process of keyword research. They are chosen depending on the search volume, commercial intent, and competition.
Keywords are important SEO terms because when content is optimized around phrases or words that people regularly search for, the site's ranking increases for those terms. It goes without saying that a site with a higher ranking will generate more attention and revenue from consumers.
To get ahead of the competition, there are several best practices in order to find the best keywords for the site. One such example is making use of Google Suggest.
Many people often end up using the same types of keywords or keyphrases that they find themselves in a tough competition which is why many experts suggest using long-tail keywords. Difficult to figure out but effective when done right, you can turn to Google Suggest to find long-tail terms easily.
2. Careful using Flash elements
In simple terms, Flash is a type of vector animation software that was designed to create animations for websites. Vector graphics are preferred for use on web sites because they are light.
Flash elements play an important role when it comes to SEO. Online business owners want their sites to be optimized and load faster which Flash can offer. But too much use of such elements can make the site look cluttered and confusing.
Not only that, flash elements on web sites can make it harder for search engines to rank the site because flash elements are often devalued by the search engine. So not only are you taking up unnecessary space on your web pages with these flash elements, but they also don't do you any good ranking wise.
That's not to say you should avoid flash entirely. They do have their merits but you should use it sparingly. Try using a few elements at a time per week and see how it affects the traffic of your website.
3. Accessible design
The design of a website is a huge part of a site's SEO and, when done right, will serve to increase the site's visibility. But if the design isn't accessible, it could harm not only the ranking of the site but it's potential revenue as well.
The goal in making the design of a web site accessible is to make sure everyone can use the site regardless of hardware and software they're using to access it. The fact of the matter is, millions of internet users online have special needs, impairments, and disabilities that can make it hard for them to access certain sites.
There are certain actions you can take to start your journey towards full website accessibility.
- Ensure that your site is keyboard-friendly. This means the site can be accessed without the use of a mouse. The simple solution is using the tab key to jump between areas on a web page that is 'keyboard focus.'
- Include Alt text to all your images. This text will show up should the image fail to load and it can be read by screen readers for viewers who are visually impaired.
- Select the colors carefully. Different people perceive colors differently. You have to ensure your site has enough contrast so that everyone can differentiate the various elements on the page.
4. Make the design responsive
More and more people are accessing the internet through their phones and tablets. There is even more pressure for designers to make web pages as responsive as possible. Responsive web design means it can be accessed through any device.
Google's search engine also prioritizes sites that are mobile-optimized. There's no need to develop a separate mobile-friendly site to rank higher. You can create a responsive template for use on your site. The template will automatically adjust and reshape the pages according to the type of screen accessing it.
5. Optimize your images
Running an online store means relying heavily on images. It's crucial, therefore, that your images should be optimized in order to attract consumers as well as reduce the load time of the web site.
Optimizing site images involve reducing the file size of the site's pictures in order to load it faster all without sacrificing the quality. It also involves getting Google to put a value on the product and decorative images on your site in order to boost your search ranking.
Optimizing web images means:
- Making sure the name of your file images is as descriptive as possible using plain language.
- Maximizing alt attributes in images so even if the picture doesn't load, viewers can still read the description of the image.
- Choosing the right dimension and angles of your images to show as much detail as possible.
- Reducing the file size of your image to increase the page load time.
6. Use text-based navigation
One way to help visitors navigate their way to your website and at the same time increase your search engine ranking, you can turn to text-based navigation. This is when all the navigation info on your site is listed in the text. There are a lot of benefits for why text-based navigation is better for your site.
- It's easier for search engines to read the content of your site and use the navigation text as anchor text to put relevance to your pages.
- Text is also cleaner, simpler, and easier to use. You don't risk users not being able to see the links since all browsers can read the text.
- Text-based navigation is also highly customizable and controllable. It's easier to add JavaScript and Flash elements into the text using CSS.
- Image maps are not effective as site navigators because it doesn't help with local SEO and there's no anchor text for you to take advantage of.
- Flash navigation is also not optimal because it can break, increases the load time of the page, and will often start playing videos and music without warning.
7. Redirecting
When you're making changes on your site and delete some old and irrelevant posts, if viewers link on the link, they will get an error 404 which can be very unsightly on your website. You need proper redirecting to a new page.
When a website redirects, it will take on the URL and direct it to another. So if a visitor clicks an old link with no content, they will be taken to a new page or site without having to change the original URL. Permanent redirect means 301 redirects. This is the most common type of redirect and passes on all the link content of the existing domain. This happens on both the browser and server level.
8. Integrate social media
Social media is an important element for any search engine, even local SEO. Before it was only used for advertising but nowadays brands have turned to social media to engage their customers.
As part of an effective SEO strategy, the e-commerce business is required to be active on social media. Most traffic is gathered on social media platforms and directed to web sites. On the flip side of things, when viewers see that your shop or brand also has official social media accounts, it's a mark that the brand is open for engagement which drives customer interest and loyalty.
9. Avoid JavaScript
I've mentioned about avoiding the use of Flash elements on a site. The same advice applies to JavaScript as well. Many have fallen trap to using JavaScript for their entire site but that will only make it harder for search engine crawlers to index your site.
Also, JavaScript is also not optimized for mobile use. JavaScript might be perfect for data presentation but it is not reliable for data validation. Like Flash, it's okay to use some aspects of JavaScript on your site but use it sparingly. Avoid using it for validation purposes.
Conclusion
There you have it, some SEO tips to make your web design cleaner, optimized, and an overall better site for visitors. To conclude, the main goal of a well-designed website boils down to accessibility and better user experience. It's important to put yourself in the shoes of first-time visitors to your website, looking at the pages with fresh eyes. The focus of the design should be making the site efficient for the visitor.
