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The way a website is built, designed and organized can either boost its performance in the search results or completely stop it.<\/p>\n
SEO-ready website design makes SEO and conversions less expensive and more effective. The time and effort spent having to get a badly designed site SEO-ready is usually a bigger investment than building into the design and development from the start.<\/p>\n
Here, I\u2019ll outline the basic considerations of SEO-friendly web design if you are building a website from the ground up:<\/p>\n
SEO-friendly web design is the process of designing and developing a website in a way that is good for both search engines and website visitors.<\/p>\n
\u201cFocus on the user, and all else will follow.\u201d \u2013 Google<\/a><\/p>\n When website designers and developers think about the user experience, it is often different from the way we think about it in the SEO world. In other words: Don\u2019t expect your designer to know how to create an SEO-friendly web design.<\/p>\n In SEO, we consider the experience that the website creates for both people and search engines.<\/p>\n We ask:<\/p>\n Google\u2019s ranking algorithm looks for websites that create a good user experience. If we get the things right that I outlined above, we have a chance to compete in the search results.<\/p>\n Follow these seven principles of SEO-friendly web design and your website will be primed to compete in the search results:<\/p>\n Code is what developers and designers use to build your site. It\u2019s what search engine spiders use to \u201cread\u201d and \u201cunderstand\u201d what the site is about.<\/p>\n We want the code side to be user-friendly for search engines, and that means it needs to be clean and simple.<\/p>\n The goal: A high amount of page content with the least amount of markup. You want the search engines to be able to get to the most important code on the page right away \u2013 not get caught up in a bunch of code bloat.<\/p>\n As you think about how to achieve clean code, don\u2019t forget that the content management system (CMS) you choose may play a role. Make sure the CMS allows you to control the HTML output of pages on your website.<\/p>\n For example, you may need the ability to move large blocks of HTML code down to the bottom of the page so that the spiders can get to the most important code first.<\/p>\n Other things to consider are the ability to use an external CSS file to control formatting and an external JS file to house JavaScript if that\u2019s used on your site.<\/p>\n For the cleanest code, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) develops web standards and guidelines<\/a> that you can try to follow.<\/p>\n The search engines do not require W3C compliance, but it’s not a bad idea because their standards align with SEO in many cases.<\/p>\n Fast websites are better for website visitors. And that is why Google cares about having fast websites in its search results.<\/p>\n Not to mention that a slow website can cause a website visitor to bounce from your site, and that means potential revenue lost.<\/p>\n Consider this Pinterest research <\/a>that showed reducing wait time by 40% resulted in a 15% increase in SEO traffic and a 15% increase in conversion rate to sign-up.<\/p>\n To learn more, read:<\/p>\n A good portion of your website visitors will be on their smartphones or tablets, and you want them to have a good experience that is different from desktop.<\/p>\n Search engines like Google care about this, too. As of Q4 2021, more than 60% <\/a>of search engine users came from a mobile device. Being that the majority of Google users are mobile, Google fully launched its mobile-first indexing<\/a> in 2021.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “Mobile-first indexing means Google predominantly uses the mobile version of the content for indexing and ranking. Historically, the index primarily used the desktop version of a page\u2019s content when evaluating the relevance of a page to a user\u2019s query. Since the majority of users now access Google Search with a mobile device, Googlebot primarily crawls and indexes pages with the smartphone agent going forward.”<\/p>\n \u2013Google, Mobile-first indexing best practices<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n To learn more, read:<\/p>\n SEO siloing is a way to organize the content on your website in an SEO-friendly way that is good for both search engines and website visitors.<\/p>\n In design, SEO siloing can outline the navigation of the website:<\/p>\n The goal of SEO siloing is to:<\/p>\n Siloing can improve rankings and traffic. When you satisfy both the search engines and the user, you can reap the rewards.<\/p>\n Of course, it\u2019s not just the organization of the content but the quality of it. You want to be sure that your website and its content exude experience, expertise, authority and trust<\/a> \u2013 all quality indicators as defined by Google.<\/p>\n To learn more, read:<\/p>\n Google invented the term \u201ccore web vitals\u201d to represent a set of web page elements that enhance the user experience.<\/p>\n Core web vitals are built into Google\u2019s \u201cpage experience\u201d ranking update<\/a>. Websites that pass core web vitals thresholds have a better chance of creating a good user experience and ranking high in the search results.<\/p>\n Core web vitals are comprised of three sets of criteria that measure:<\/p>\n To learn more, read:<\/p>\n Web pop-ups can be a popular way to get someone\u2019s attention when they are browsing your site. But they can also be annoying \u2013 especially when they get in the way of the content someone is trying to access.<\/p>\n Google recognized this marketing faux pas, and in 2017 it rolled out an intrusive interstitial penalty<\/a>.<\/p>\n As you\u2019re designing a website, make sure:<\/p>\n To learn more, read:<\/p>\n Making a website secure using HTTPS is an industry standard. HTTPS encrypts data to protect a website and its visitors from bad actors. In doing so, HTTPS creates a good user experience and helps instill trust in your website.<\/p>\n You also need HTTPS for new web platform features<\/a>, including progressive web apps.<\/p>\n In 2014, Google announced <\/a>that sites with HTTPS would receive a small ranking boost. Now, HTTPS is a part of Google\u2019s page experience update<\/a> that went live in mid-2021.<\/p>\n To learn more, read:<\/p>\n There you have it: Seven steps to ensure you are keeping SEO in mind as you design and develop your site. Follow these steps to get ahead of the competition in the search results starting on launch day.<\/p>\n Thinking about redesigning your website? Our SEO experts can help ensure it is a complete success. Fill out our form to get in touch<\/a> before you begin.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Clean code serves as the backbone of a well-optimized website. Clean code refers to the practice of writing efficient, organized and minimalistic code that facilitates seamless communication between search engine spiders and website content. A website built on clean code enhances its visibility in search engine rankings and elevates the overall user experience.<\/p>\n Clean code greatly influences a website’s SEO performance through improved crawlability and indexability. Search engine crawlers navigate websites by following links and analyzing code structures. With clean code, developers ensure that these crawlers can efficiently access and interpret the website’s content, leading to more accurate indexing and better visibility in search results.<\/p>\n Moreover, clean code enhances website speed, a crucial factor in modern SEO. Search engines consider page loading speed as a significant ranking factor, as faster websites provide a better user experience. By reducing unnecessary code and optimizing resources, clean code significantly contributes to faster loading times, leading to higher rankings and decreased bounce rates.<\/p>\n By emphasizing clean code website development, website designers create more user-friendly sites. Clean code websites are more compatible with different devices and browsers for an improved user experience – an approach that aligns well with Google’s focus on user experience and increases chances of ranking high in search results.<\/p>\n Besides enhancing SEO performance, clean code simplifies website maintenance and future updates. Developers find it simpler to fix bugs and update the website to accommodate changing search engine algorithms when working with an organized codebase.<\/p>\n Website owners and developers can take full advantage of clean code by adhering to industry best practices and coding standards. A Content Management System that produces clean code will yield maximum benefits. Regular code audits and optimization efforts will keep the website in top shape, ensuring optimal SEO performance.<\/p>\n Clean code plays a vital role in shaping a website’s SEO performance. By optimizing the code structure, improving crawlability and prioritizing user experience, clean code creates a strong foundation for search engine optimization. Emphasizing clean code in website development enhances search engine rankings and establishes a trustworthy and authoritative online presence.<\/p>\n Simple Steps To Increase Your SEO Power:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Follow these SEO-friendly web design tips when building a website from the ground up and you will increase your chances of improving your search engine ranking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":196571,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[1436,1500,1232,1520,1518,1477,1546,1519],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
<\/a>7 Key Principles of SEO-Friendly Web Design<\/h2>\n
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1. Clean Code<\/h3>\n
2. Speed<\/h3>\n
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3. Mobile-Friendliness<\/h3>\n
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4. Siloing<\/h3>\n
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5. Core Web Vitals<\/h3>\n
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6. No Annoying Pop-Ups<\/h3>\n
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7. HTTPS<\/h3>\n
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<\/a>FAQ: How does clean code impact a website’s SEO performance?<\/h3>\n
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