SEO and Web Design: An Introduction Into The Complex Relationship
SEO and web design are equally important components of a website, as you want to drive users to your website through SEO and then it needs to look great and provide a good user experience to get your users to convert. A few different SEO and web design components don’t necessarily go hand in hand, so we’re here to discuss a bit about why that is and how you can strike the perfect balance between a well-optimised website from an SEO perspective and delivering from a user experience perspective too! Whether you’re doing local SEO, or national or international campaigns, make this balance a focus, and you’ll reap the rewards.
Why Do SEO and Web Design Not Always Align?
It’s quite common for SEO and web design to clash, as often web design components can be large and bulky, slow down the website and therefore affect rankings. When SEO content isn’t written well, it can impact the user experience and look of a page. You could have the best SEO strategy in the world but if the website isn’t designed well enough to encourage them to convert, then it’s useless. User experience and SEO go hand in hand, so ensuring you are focused on both equally will help to ensure that you can grow your website and increase conversions. So, now that we know why SEO and web design aren’t always in line with one another, it’s time to find out how you can change that, from working with a design agency Manchester based
How To Find The Right Balance Between SEO and Web Design
It is possible to strike a balance between SEO and web design without focusing so much on SEO that it has an impact on site navigation or the web design dominating and slowing down the website to have an impact on rankings. Not all SEO and website design components are completely separate, as many cross over to strengthen your website. Google’s priority when it comes to rankings is to display websites to its users that will help them find what they’re looking for and provide a good experience.
So, with constant changes to the algorithm, often web design and SEO components get closer together to provide an overall great experience for the user. Our main tips when it comes to finding this balance are to work with an experienced SEO and web development agency Manchester based, to focus on responsive web design, which has been huge with recent algorithm updates, to focus on content above the fold and also to minimise the use of JavaScript wherever possible.
An Example: Minimising JavaScript
Often JavaScript is the go-to when it comes to web design as it makes things look great, however, unfortunately, it does have an impact on SEO. So, minimising the use of JavaScript wherever possible is advised, as this will also help to speed up the website. If it’s unavoidable, which in some cases it may be for specific design features that the client wants, then you should at a minimum ensure that none of the headings or content blocks on a page are built in JavaScript. Instead, they should be built in HTML and styled in CSS. This may cause some conflict between web designers and SEOs, but it will be worth it in the end!
