Web Design & SEO: Everything Designers Should Know

Website development and SEO go hand in hand, and both play an important role in the success of a website. A powerful website is a combination of creative web design, quality content, online and offline marketing and handful of SEO efforts. Quality content and SEO optimization both a interlinked to make a website open for organic search results.

The major role of web designer is to not only build an entire website but to also build its reputation online which only happens when it is optimized for search engine. Some basic insights of SEO and proper implementation of it can help but designers need more than just attractive designing. When it comes to SEO, website designers should have a deeper knowledge about the commercial aspects of websites.

In this article, we will understand how designers can work with SEO in the web designing.

Choosing a domain name

There always exist a misconception where it is thought that stuffing the domain name with various keywords can help, but it actually doesn’t. in most of the cases this looks more like a spam and can cost you ranking and visitors. In a world where there are n number of domain names, how can one remember it? it can happen only when the domain name is memorable and catchy. And not just this but the domain name should resemble to your brand name, complement your business and should be easy to spell and pronounce too. if you want users to find your site easily, best way to do it is by putting your brand name in the domain.

Mobile-friendly responsive website

Data states that mobile browsing rules the online global markets. Numerically 68.64% online traffic generated was mobile traffic. So it is pretty clear what drives traffic more. Search engines too help you get more traffic if your website is mobile friendly. Every web designer needs to focus on how to get the responsive website in the right manner. Responsive websites are customizable as per the screen resolutions of the device making it easy to access. It adjusts pixel width of the screen the website has been used upon. It not only enhances the user experience on every device but also increases the stay time of the visitors. So if you want users to recommend your website, make your website mobile friendly.

SEO tip for responsive design:

Google has a mobile-friendly testing tool which helps you meet the Google’s design standards, but it is also important to understand that it optimized for the mobile experience and user experience.

Usability

Web usability is a combination of various factors such as design conventions, page loading speed, device-specific design as well as an intuitive approach for the end user’s needs

Some key factors worth considering are:

• Visual hierarchy- Use this when you want to highlight any specific point or make it bigger for more visual attraction.
• Page layout- Helps in making the important elements on top.
• Web usability is a combination of other factors- device-specific design, page speed, design conventions and an intuitive approach to putting the site together with the end user in mind.
• Site navigation- Keep the directions for the users very clear and intuitive
• Search- Every site should have a search option in case the visitor is not able to find anything.
• Form entry- Forms should be less time consuming and easy to fill.
• Designing- This needs no different explanation. The unique the design, the better.

Now these points are very generic and can alter from site to site. The more customization the better.

Investing in the right hosting provider

When is comes to website speeds there should not be any compromise at any cost. Nothing is worst that site abandonment due is site speed. The right hosting plan will directly impact your website speed in a positive way. Not just speed but the performance of the server and uptime/downtime. These factors rule the top list of Google’s ranking algorithms.

Keyword Research and Meta Tags

If you want to go for a thorough process of keyword placement, you need to go for On-page SEO. On-page SEO is the process where each and every page of the site is optimized for a higher ranking. This is not an easy process; it needs detailed keywords research and optimization.

• Optimize your title. The title is the first thing any visitor will see on the SERPs. The title should be creative and authentic which stands out from any other result for that keyword. Another thing to remember is to make sure that the keyword placement is natural, and the title length is not too long.
• Another important and limited way to grab the attention of the visitor is by using meta descriptions. Now meta descriptions cannot be too long which means in limited words you need to make sure that the searcher is aware of what the page is all about.
• Give out headings. When you put headings on the text content, it not only increases the readability but also improve engagement and interaction. The best way to use this is by dividing your texts into paragraphs and give sub headings to each one of them. This makes it easy for the reader to find what they are looking for.
• When you go for optimization of images and infographics, make sure that you caption the images with the keywords and provide brief descriptions as Google cannot understand the visual content. Also, the brief description should not be too long.

 The Impact of Page Loading Speed on Search Rankings

If we say that loading speed tops the ranking factors of the search engines, it is one hundred per cent true. not to overlook the 2018 speed update, the mobile devices are also considered in the ranking algorithms. Page loading speed is given prime importance because it directly impacts the user experience and are directly related to conversions and bounce rates. Data states that visitors wait for maximum 3 seconds to load a website and then leave. Not only does the loading speed impacts on the conversions and leads but also affects the ranking and online performance of the website in long run.

Here are some ways you can boost your website speed-

• By compressing the high-quality images
• Try using browser caching
• Remove the auto-play content
• Try reducing the number of plugins and popups