Good web design is essential to your business's success. Inadequate web design and UX mistakes can have severe ramifications on your search engine optimization performance. When it comes to SEO, it’s important to evaluate the elements that make up your website, such as response times, mobile user experience, and CRO.
Here are the top 10 mistakes to avoid when designing a webpage for better SEO.
Poor Navigation
Navigation is among several of web design's most important yet often ignored aspects. Users are still getting used to browsing responsive websites on smartphones. Therefore, you must ensure your site has an optimal navigation system for all gadgets, namely Desktop, Mobile, and tablet.
Ask yourself: Would someone with chubby fingers be able to touch the elements even on a tiny screen? The best navigation is straightforward for users and requires minimal guesswork. Think about accessibility and user behavior while creating your navigation menu.
Tell which pages should get more attention and which just need secondary menus. A sliding drawer menu or expandable links can work pretty well, especially if you are running out of space with lots of content. You also want it all to be easy for mobile users.
Unreachable Content
There is nothing more annoying than the inability to view content on mobile devices. Mobility has become the norm now, so people expect this kind of access on their handheld devices.
A good rule of thumb is to ensure that those accessing your site via phone are offered the same quality content as those visiting the desktop version. This will ensure that Google indexes your website properly under its new mobile-first algorithm change plan, thus helping you optimize well for search engines (SEO). Always have one responsive version across all platforms, which gives a consistent experience.
Sending Users Away From Your Website
Avoid drawing customers away from your website with PDF downloads and external links. Instead, make them want to stay and return. For example, instead of downloading the PDFs on their phones, where they might never open them again, send the PDFs via email to gain subscribers.
When linking to other websites, ensure the links open in a new tab so that users’ engagement with your website remains strong whether using desktop or mobile devices.
Resource Overload
Loading too many external resources is one of the most expensive web design errors you can commit. The loading time for pages can be substantially reduced by unnecessary resources often contained in such responsive designs.
Optimizing page load time is essential because 47% of consumers expect pages to load within 2 seconds.
The responsive design prioritizes minimalism and flexibility, often requiring reduced unneeded assets for better performance. Because it will pay off eventually, make sure that your customers' most frequently used resources are easily accessible immediately.
(HTTPS) Your Website Isn’t Secure
Not securing your website with an SSL certificate is a red flag for visitors and SEO. Google may show users warnings about insecure websites, or the URL bar might identify your site as “not secure.”
Most web hosting companies offer free SSL certificates, and you should install this essential security measure on your site at least once. This will protect user data, enhance its credibility, and improve SEO.
No Quality Content
It's good practice to have at least 300 words per page on your website, and more in-depth content is even better. Additionally, consider adding videos or textual images instead of lengthy content, which aids in breaking up the text so that users can interact with it further. Videos can also help lower bounce rates, resulting in a superior user experience.
No Calls to Action (CTAs)
If there are no clear CTAs, nothing converts. Therefore, start tracking conversion rates for any page on your website by adding CTAs everywhere else on the homepage or whatever pages you need to optimize for conversions. Boost user engagement by creating sidebars where one can sign up through email or add live chat options.
To fully understand how users behave and convert each action into goals within Google Analytics, set up CTA actions to get more insight into their behavior using heat mapping and other user tracking tools. This makes it easier to focus on improving the areas that need changes.
No H1s or Metadata
For SEO purposes, each page and post must have a unique H1 tag and searchable metadata. Use tools like Screaming Frog to crawl your website and identify missing elements such as this one has no title tags or meta descriptions available due to what was mentioned here before about utilizing Screaming Frog tool that crawls sites finding missing elements such as title tags Meta descriptions become very handy when you want Yoast plugins that could be useful if you were adding meta-data and focus keywords in your web page titles and descriptions.
Pick a keyword for each page that will be used naturally within the H1 and metadata, as well as throughout the content. Doing so will enhance your website's SEO, making it more understandable to search engines and elevating its rank.
Duplicate Content Publishing
Do not publish duplicate content anywhere on your site. Unique original content is crucial to SEO success. Although this can take time, creating unique content is essential to avoid search engine penalties and keep your site credible.
Use programs that check for duplicate content to ensure that yours is original and unique. Fooling around with copy-pasting can ruin everything because it is the most harmful thing for SEOs.
Pop-ups or Modals
While pop-ups can be beneficial, they may also irritate users when incorrectly applied. This means no popups should appear upon loading any webpage or during user navigation through other website interface sections. Therefore, different ways exist to get user attention without being too intrusive.
Here are some tips from Google’s Webmaster Blog:
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No pop-ups covering main content right away or during user navigation.
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Avoid stand-alone interstitials that must be closed before users access the main contents.
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Ensure the above-the-fold parts of your page do not look like stand-alone interstitials, which may decrease the visibility of original content.
Conclusion
Proper SEO web design skills are needed to attract customers using all kinds of devices and increase organic search efforts. Working with experts from a reputable website design agency could offer an all-inclusive web design solution, whether you need redesign services or new site launches.
When ready for professional assistance, consider engaging a trusted website design firm to help you create a visually attractive and SEO-optimized website. With the right partner, you can avoid these typical web design errors and meet your business objectives through successful online representation.
