Search engine optimisation (SEO) is not exclusive to keywords and backlinks. When it comes to SEO, you have to consider all the factors that will affect your rankings, including web design.
Most people sometimes forget that web design is a crucial part of SEO. The fact is, web design affects SEO, same with keywords, backlinks, content, and many more. Without a proper web design strategy, you may not achieve the desired results for your SEO.
Fortunately, all you need to do is avoid the common web design mistakes that will harm your SEO. By monitoring your website and enhancing its performance, you can make sure your SEO rankings will soar to greater heights.
So, without further ado, let us look at some of the deadly web design mistakes that are a menace to your SEO!
4 Web Design Mistakes That Will Harm Your SEO
1. Failing To Optimise Your On-Page SEO
Web design consists of several elements, such as images, videos, animations, plugins, and most importantly, texts. Even though visitors will appreciate your website’s design and layout, search engines like Google and Bing will value worded content above all else.
Search engines use spiders, also known as web crawlers, to navigate through websites and analyse their quality of content. Since these crawlers are not human, they cannot judge a website based on its visual appearance. Instead, web crawlers rely on texts to evaluate a site’s SEO.
Optimise your website’s on-page SEO to make sure it will get recognised by search engines. For example, when placing images on a web page, include alt text or descriptions. Doing so will allow search engines to identify the pictures on your web page and evaluate their relevance to the page’s content.
In short, use relevant keywords to improve your website’s visibility on search engines. You can still use images, but remember to incorporate alt texts to improve the relevance of your website.
2. Poorly-designed 404 Page
The chances of a visitor visiting a 404 page on your website are high. Someone could type a wrong URL or visit a broken web page on your site. If that’s the case, you should create an epic 404 page that will redirect users to your website.
The problem with some websites is that their 404 pages lack internal links. Without a well-designed 404 page, chances are your visitors could give up on visiting your site altogether. Avoid making the same issue by creating a stylish 404 page that will encourage visitors to visit your website.
However, one question remains: which part of your website should you introduce to your visitors? Consider redirecting visitors to your most popular web page. Analyse your website to see which page is most visited by users to improve its SEO ranking and earn more clicks.
3. Using Irrelevant Pop-ups
Pop-up ads have been frustrating users ever since they became tools for digital marketing. As soon as a pop-up ad appears on a person’s screen, he or she will most likely click on the close button immediately.
However, the problem is not the use of pop-up ads itself, but how most people are utilising them on their websites. The issue comes with using irrelevant pop-up ads that add nothing to your web design and SEO.
In reality, pop-up ads can help you drive conversions and increase your customer base. But if you want to improve your web design and SEO with pop-up ads, you need to use the right one for your website.
For example, pop-up ads are perfect for online stores. You could show a pop-up ad to first time-visitors and encourage them to sign up for a subscription. Doing so should help you grow an email list, allowing you to send updates and ads to subscribers.
Your pop-up ads should be pleasing to the eyes and straight to the point. You could also offer an incentive or reward to motivate your customers with a call to action (CTA).
4. Posting Duplicate Content
Part of web design is creating original and unique content for your website. If you do the opposite and copy from other web pages, you will only put your SEO at risk.
Copying content from other websites is a violation of SEO guidelines, and it will only hurt your search engine rankings in the long run if you continue to do so. Instead, you should create original content to avoid getting penalised for plagiarism.
Conclusion
A well-planned web design strategy combined with an effective SEO campaign is a recipe for success. Remember that whenever you are designing your website and improving its performance and SEO. In the long run, you will enhance your SEO and make your site much more engaging for exploration.
Consider partnering with an SEO company in Singapore like OOm! Contact our digital marketing agency at 6391-0930 for more information.
