The impact of design on SEO is much greater than many webmasters and SEO specialists think. It is closely linked to the usability of an online resource, yet these concepts should not be equated — there are as many differences between them as similarities.
Behavioral factors are what the appearance of a web resource influences the most when it comes to its relationship with search optimization. Online stores, portals, and blogs with a harmonious color palette, properly chosen fonts, and graphic elements are perceived by visitors as reliable. And further you will learn which actions need to be taken first so that the influence of website design on promotion is positive.
How to Optimize Design for Visitors
Despite constant talks about the death of SEO, websites are not going anywhere. On the contrary, according to DemandSage, about 252 000 new online projects appear every day, while 73% of businesses have their own official web resource. And this is not surprising, because nowadays anyone can create a web resource; it is enough to buy virtual hosting, register a domain name, install and configure a CMS.
To stand out from the competition, it's worth carrying out comprehensive work on optimizing the website design for visitors:
- Fix unpleasant design that hurts the eyes and causes negative emotions. Otherwise, visitors will leave your online store, forum, or blog immediately after landing on it. Website design optimization is a task for an experienced designer or a creative agency.
- Check the website for responsiveness — a task we recommend giving high priority. Even well-designed online resources that look perfect on widescreen monitors may display incorrectly on smartphone screens if the code and graphics are not optimized for mobile devices.
- Improve fonts — invest effort and time to choose the right font family, size, and color. Texts are the most important part of blogs, portals, forums, and an equally important element of online stores. But very few people will read even the coolest articles if they're written in light gray 9-pixel Comic Sans on a white background.
- Think through the navigation down to the smallest detail. This is a design element that greatly influences whether a visitor will return to your site or go to your competitors.
Additionally, we recommend reading our article on modern website design trends.
How to Optimize Website Design for Search Engines
In addition to your target audience, pay attention to search engines. In SEO, the rules of the game are constantly changing: Google is starting to focus on mobile responsiveness, interaction metrics (INP), layout stability (CLS), and loading speed (LCP). A modern website must not only appeal to visitors but also be technically efficient — convenient on mobile devices, load quickly, and respond to actions without delays.
That’s why it’s important to regularly check your web resource using tools like PageSpeed Insights, following these tips:
- Don’t overload web pages with style sheets or script files just to make them look nicer. With each new line of code and each added graphic element, the "weight" of the pages increases, leading to slower loading. Try not to exceed the 80 KB limit; otherwise, the search bot will not process the portion of the code that goes beyond this value.
- Don’t create navigation using JavaScript or Flash — search engines don’t treat these technologies particularly well. It also negatively affects the website’s usability — in browsers that don’t support Flash and JavaScript or where they’re disabled, the web resource will be unusable.
- Place important textual content at the top of the web page — this trick helps speed up the site’s movement toward TOP-1.
- Add internal search to the site. Some search engines regard it as a feature that makes using the online project more convenient, and reward portals and online stores with internal search by ranking them higher in search results.
You’ve learned how website design affects promotion and what actions to take first for its optimization. By applying this knowledge in practice, you’ll create a beautiful online resource where visitors will spend a lot of time, and search engine bots will prioritize it on the way to the TOP of the results.
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