More than 5 billion Google searches happen daily, which means search engine optimisation (SEO) is an essential part of connecting with your audience. If you want higher Google rankings, then completing some of the things on this list is a sure-fire way to start your growth. Read on to see our SEO checklist for web design.
Why does SEO in web design matter?
One mistake that many businesses make is assuming that SEO and web design are separate things. SEO has everything to do with visibility, and design by its very nature involves visual aspects. Look at it this way, what good is a great-looking website if no one can see it?!
Set up the Google Search Console
The Google Search Console is a very powerful SEO tool. It is designed to help you track your site’s performance in Google Search. It’s packed with useful features such as;
- Showing which keywords bring you the most traffic
- Submitting your site map
- Fixing website errors
- Seeing your page experience scores
- Reviewing internal and external links
- And lots more
It’s not a necessity to use Search Console to rank better, and it isn’t a ranking factor. However, the usefulness of the Search Console makes it truly indispensable for helping improve search performance and bringing more traffic to your website.
Have a responsive web design
You need to consider many things when designing a website, including the layout and look of the site. Google recommends building a website that responds well to multiple platforms, most importantly, mobile devices.
First impressions matter, and with many users spending only a few seconds on a landing page to decide whether it’s valuable or not – you need to get it right.
Mobile accounts for approximately half of all web traffic worldwide. In the second quarter of 2022, mobile devices (excluding tablets) generated 58.99% of global website traffic, consistently hovering above the 50% mark since the beginning of 2017, before permanently surpassing it in 2020.
If you’re serious about your SEO rankings, you need to design your website for mobile. Failure to do so could negatively impact your rankings. Google’s mobile-friendly test is an easy way to check whether your site is optimised.
Make navigation search engine friendly
Navigation is another vital element of web design and is so much more than a menu at the top of your site. It is how you direct users and search engines to the most relevant content you have to offer. Your site structure, URLs, site map and other components need to provide more information to show what each page is about.
Think about the overhead signs in a supermarket and how they help you find what you need. A website is the same. When users land on a page, they need a quick and easy signpost to find what they’re looking for. Some of the most common issues that can lead to poor navigation include:
- Java programmes, flash files, audio and video files
- Embedding content from another site
- Splitting content into subdomains instead of subfolders
- AJAX pages
Make sure content is crawlable by search engines
Creating informative and unique content is one thing, but making sure users can actually find it is a whole different matter. This is where the term ‘crawlable’ comes in. In other words, can search engine spiders discover every link within your website?
Web crawling bots are programmes used by search engines to locate and revisit content on web pages to determine how many pages of these sites are crawlable. If a bot can’t follow a link, it won’t be found in search results. Here’s how to avoid that:
- Make sure your most important links are easily found
- Don’t ignore meta content
- Fix any broken links
- Fix 404 pages
- Remove any unnecessary URLs
Do you need help with your SEO in web design?
As you can see, SEO and web design work hand in hand. For web designers and developers, it’s not something that can be ignored. If you want your website to not only look great but show up in search results, then the team at Ame can help you reach that goal. Take a look at our web design services, paired together with our SEO services and you’re onto a winner. Get in touch to get started, we look forward to hearing from you!
