When marketing themselves online for the first time, many companies assume that SEO is all about getting people to their sties in the first place. As important as it is to get visitors to stay and purchase, they assume, this is a separate concern from raising the site’s search rank. In fact, optimizing your site for search engines goes hand-in-hand with keeping visitors there. Only by designing a convenient, navigable site can you raise your search rank for the long haul.

Web Design & Search Engine Optimization

Search engines want their users to find relevant sites, as this improves their experiences. They thus rank pages higher if they are designed well, paying particular attention to:

  • Navigability– Web users are more likely to stay on a site if they can easily move from page to page. For this reason, it is essential that you make navigating your site as simple and intuitive as possible.
  • Mobile Optimization– As a growing portion of web users perform their searches on smartphones and tablets, search engines have begun ranking pages higher if they are optimized for mobile devices. Design your site so that it is as easy to view and navigate on a phone or tablet as it is on a desktop computer.
  • Loading Speed– The longer your site takes to load, the lower its rank will be. You should thus design your site to load as quickly as possible. You can do this by removing redundant characters from the site’s HTML and CSS code, reducing the number of pages that redirect to other pages, and ensuring that all images on the site are formatted properly.

For more information on site design, SEO, and other keys to successful online marketing, contact Intrackt today.