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You deserve to have a website that gets you found by your dream clients on Google. But in order to do that, you’ll need to at the very least understand the basics of SEO in web design.
And the good news is that’s what this blog post is all about. But you could probably gather that from the title, couldn’t you?
So, how about we dive right in!
What is SEO in web design?
First, let’s clear up what we mean by SEO in web design.
Web design is just what it sounds like — it’s the design of a website. Or rather, how you design a website.
And then we’ve got SEO, which stands for search engine optimization. Or in other words, how you optimize your website for search engines.
So, when we’re talking about SEO in web design, we’re referring to the process of designing a website in a way that’s optimized for search engines.
Why is SEO in web design important?
To put it simply, you’ll be leaving a LOT of money on the table if you don’t use SEO in your web design. Because if you don’t optimize your web design for search engines…. you’ll be missing out on alllll the passive traffic (and passive income!) you could be getting from Google.
Your website should be more than just a place taking up space on the internet. It should be attracting and converting your ideal clients. It should be your best unpaid salesperson, making you money while you sleep. And one of the best ways to do that? If you hadn’t already guessed based on the topic of this blog post…. it’s optimizing your web design for search engines.
3 SEO and website design mistakes you can fix today!
Optimizing your website for search engines doesn’t mean you shouldn’t also be optimizing for people. This is where sooo many SEO and website design mistakes can happen.
And there’s absolutely no need to be embarrassed if you’ve ever made these mistakes with your SEO and website design before, or even if you’re currently making them.
The reason we’re sharing these 3 big mistakes with you today is so that if you DIYed your site, you can fix it and have a website that gets ya found (and booked!) by your exact dreamboat clients.
1. Confusing Navigation
The first mistake we often see when it comes to SEO in web design is confusing navigation. The reality is your website should always be as easy as possible to navigate because it’s crucial for your user experience.
The harder it is for someone to find what they’re looking for, the faster they’re going to leave. This will increase your website’s bounce rate and lower your SEO ranking. And to make it worse, 88% of online consumers are less likely to return to a website after a bad experience. #YIKES
But if your website’s navigation is super clear, your visitors will have a better user experience and stay on your website longer. This will increase both your SEO ranking and your conversions. Win, win!
Pro Tip: Make your website easier to navigate by trimming down your options in the menu bar to the bare minimum. Anything more than 5 will be pushing it.
And DON’T list out your homepage in your navigation! People know they can click your logo and go home. So, if your logo isn’t currently linked to your homepage right now…. make sure you go and fix that today, too. :)
2. Keyword Stuffing
When it comes to SEO in web design, there’s one big mistake that so many beginners make — and that’s keyword stuffing.
Keywords are the literal words and phrases in your website’s content that make it possible for people to find your website via search engines like Google. And sometimes people get a little carried away and stuff those keywords they want to be found for in places they really shouldn’t be.
If you try to manipulate the system by stuffing those keywords anywhere and everywhere…. it’s only going to backfire on you. Google isn’t often fooled by this technique anymore and people don’t want a read a website that sounds like it was written by a robot either.
Keyword stuffing will also make your website inaccessible for people who use screen readers if you’re not accurately describing images in places like the alt text.
3. Responsiveness
The biggest mistake you can make with your SEO in web design would probably have to be this one. Your website must be responsive.... and a lot of the websites we’ve seen from small businesses just aren’t.
Having a responsive website means that it works from anywhere it’s being viewed. It means your website looks good and functions well on any size desktop, mobile device, or browser.
You can’t forget about that mobile view! More than half of global internet traffic currently takes place on our phones and the numbers will only go up from there. So, if your website doesn’t look good on mobile devices, it’s not going to look good to the majority of people who visit your website.
Beyond just the user experience, optimizing for mobile responsiveness is imperative for SEO because Google now predominantly uses the mobile version of a website for indexing and ranking.
Not sure if your website is mobile-friendly? Click here to quickly check your mobile responsiveness for free using the Google Mobile-Friendly Test.
There’s a lot of factors to keep in mind when it comes to SEO in web design. But now that you know some of the big SEO and website design mistakes, you can fix them and get started on the right track.
Just keep in mind, your website design is either helping your SEO…. or hurting it.
So, if you’re not feeling confident in getting everything set up for success yourself, we’re here to help you with that! Click here to fill out our client application form now so we can start turning those amazing ideas of yours into reality.