Site owners tend to think of site design and search engine optimisation as two entirely unconnected elements. When they first approach SEO, they might reconsider the structural aspects of their site, but the actual look of their pages might seem best left as is. What these owners don’t know is that the look of your site can have a huge impact on how both search engines and internet users view your site.
Design can affect how the search engines read your site. Some aspects of design can put blocks in the way of search engine spiders and prevent them from accessing the information you want. Bad design can also put your site users off, causing them to run straight back to their search results. This has a further impact on your site’s rankings.
Here are some of the things to avoid in your site’s design:
Site schizophrenia: You will occasionally come across a site that is significantly off-target in its design, compared to the rest of its industry. As your internet marketing plan has probably already shown you, your site needs to fit the image of your business. A financial consultancy site might stand out with a garish design in bright colours, but it will be for the wrong reasons.
Product pushing: It’s understandable to want to get your products out there, but being too pushy can put your site’s users off. Unless you’re a retail site like Amazon, you’re unlikely to get away with pushing your products right from the first page. It’s a better internet marketing strategy to ease your site’s users in to the sell gently.
This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t mention your products or prices on your home page. Internet users can be equally put off if they can’t find the product they’re searching for, and your products are probably keywords for your search engine optimisation. A brief mention is worthwhile on your home page, but save the hard sell for internal pages.
Lavish layout: Innovation is generally seen as a good thing, but sometimes it can be a little off-putting. Internet users expect a site to look a certain way when they click through from the search pages. If the site is completely different, it’s possible they might get scared and scurry back to the search engine.
Your site should stand out from its competitors, but don’t take it too far. Removing all recognisable design aspects of a regular site in your industry could act as a signal to site users that you’re trying something suspicious.
Confusing colours: It is possible to put users off just with colour. Think about some of the more colourful sites you’ve come across while wandering the net. It’s probably very rare for the bright colour scheme to have put you at your ease. Colour should be used with some consideration in your site design, and you can talk to our experts at SEO Consult Australia about your choices. Your industry will have its own standards that you can play with.
