5 Tips to Create an SEO-Friendly Website Design

Are you among those who believe internet marketing campaigns begin only after launching a website? In reality, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a critical internet marketing process that starts long before your website becomes accessible online. When you’re working on website design, it’s also essential to consider SEO factors.

Search engines perceive websites differently from how we do. They crawl through the content, including text, images, infographics, audio, or video. There’s a universal truth in internet marketing: “Content is King.” However, many web designers, even experienced ones, often prioritize making the website’s graphics visually appealing to capture a visitor’s attention while neglecting optimization. But it’s equally crucial to grab the attention of search engines. Moreover, designing an SEO-friendly website can significantly help in driving more traffic.

Therefore, web designers and developers must have a basic understanding of search engine optimization. If you’re involved in designing a website, you need to ensure the design is both user-friendly and search engine-friendly. At Wp peoples  , you can learn how to make your website design SEO-friendly, helping you create designs that appeal to users and search engines alike.

Tips for Creating a Responsive Website Design

It’s no secret that global mobile internet usage reports reveal that the number of internet users accessing the web via mobile phones and tablets has surpassed those using desktops. Renowned analyst Mary Meeker predicted this shift, which became a reality in 2014. Therefore, ensure your website is accessible to mobile phones and tablets. A responsive website design makes your site easily accessible from any device. Moreover,Additionally, Google prioritizes mobile-friendly or responsive websites by granting them higher rankings in search results. The good news is that you don’t need to create and maintain separate websites for mobile devices and desktops. Using a responsive template or theme on your website will automatically adapt and adjust to different screen sizes. Platforms like WordPress, Joomla, and other robust content management systems enable you to design a website without requiring programming skills. Additionally, numerous free responsive templates or themes are available online that you can download and use. You can utilize a template or theme generator if you prefer a custom theme or template for your website. These generators allow you to automatically create themes or templates by dragging and dropping the desired elements into place.  

Include SEO Optimized Text

Text has always been and will remain an essential part of any website. Google constantly monitors the content you use on your website. If you use copied text or have spelling and grammatical errors, you risk penalties from Google’s Panda algorithm. Users often need to add significant content even after a website goes live. However, some text is usually added during the design phase. A website cannot be launched with blank pages.

The names and descriptions of the images or videos uploaded to your website should be keyword-based. Page titles should ideally be 50–60 characters long and include relevant keywords. Similarly, meta descriptions should be around 150–160 characters, incorporating focus keywords to ensure search engine optimization. Attention to these details will help your website rank better in search engines and provide a user-friendly experience.

Optimized Images

Using images and infographics is an excellent way to enhance the visual appeal of your website and improve engagement with visitors. Ensure that the text used in infographics includes essential keywords. You may have noticed slideshows on the home pages of many websites. Each slide often contains text added during the theme or template design phase. To make this text SEO-friendly, incorporate relevant keywords.

Naming images as “abc.jpg” or “image1.png” can prevent search engines from effectively indexing them. For example, if you run an online jewelry store, an image of a necklace should be named something like “goldnecklace.jpg.” This improves the image’s visibility when someone searches for a “gold necklace.”

Optimizing images also involves using appropriate HTML attributes and creating captions for them. Additionally, to avoid affecting your site’s overall load time, include only an appropriate number of images. Various graphic design software tools are available to help you achieve this. Properly optimized images enhance user experience and contribute to better SEO performance.

Text-Based Navigation System

 

Users and search engines depend on a well-structured text-based navigation system to access various website sections. Hence, designing and organizing navigation with SEO in mind is essential.

 Opt for a text-based navigation system so search engines can easily crawl and understand it. When using drop-down menus, ensure you use SEO-friendly technologies.

SEO-conscious web designers often recommend creating menus with CSS. Experts advise against using JavaScript or Flash-based menu systems, as these are less accessible to search engines. Also, deep linking structures beyond three levels should be avoided, which may negatively impact optimization.

Incorporate relevant keywords into your URLs to further enhance SEO. By employing text-based, SEO-friendly website designs, you can effectively increase traffic to your site while ensuring a seamless user experience.

 

Redirecting

Redirecting to the new version of your website without proper planning can negatively impact traffic and rankings. Deleting old pages without setting up accurate redirects to the new ones will lead visitors to encounter 404 errors. For search engines, these deleted pages are considered non-existent and, as a result, won’t appear in search results. Using a 301 redirect can prevent traffic loss. This type of redirect informs search bots that the old version of a page has been replaced with a new one. Moreover, it transfers all link equity from the old page to the new one. When redirecting to the latest version, use optimized keywords in the updated permalinks. Additionally, you can create a customized 404 page to redirect visitors to other relevant sections of your website, ensuring a smoother user experience even when errors occur.  

Conclusion

Indeed, making a website visually appealing and user-friendly is essential.  However, ensuring it is search engine-friendly is equally essential. Therefore, developers and designers should learn at least some key SEO techniques. They need to understand how crawlers work and how websites are ranked. Alternatively, an SEO professional should always be part of the team working on the website.  
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