Terrible Design Mistakes That Adversely Affect Your Website SEO
The first thought that comes to mind at the mention of the word ‘artist’ is uninhibited, free, and boundless. Why? That is the image which has been crafted by their profession. It is only through the liberty of working without boundaries can artists explore their vast creative capabilities. Similar is the case with website designs. When you hand over your website to a web designer to craft it into something eye-catching and interesting, you do not want him to limit his potential.However, that is where the problem begins. Even though your web designer may produce something which will be mind-blowing in your eyes, its beauty may not get you the desired results in search engines.
However, that is where the problem begins. Even though your web designer may produce something which will be mind-blowing in your eyes, its beauty may not get you the desired results in search engines.What is it that a website owner looks for when he wants to create a website? More business? Hence the design of your website is a critical aspect
What is it that a website owner looks for when he wants to create a website? More business? Hence the design of your website is a critical aspect of increasing sales leads. But a site that is not search engine friendly or will not show up in search results for your consumers, will not serve your purpose. SEO is one of the methods which drives more traffic to your site and translates into leads and gradually more sales. A web designer will excel in and produce remarkable results in something he is meant to – designing. But he may not understand or take into consideration the more important technical aspect which could impact your SEO.
We list here some of the most common website design mistakes that designers make:
1. Intrusive and Irrelevant Pop-ups
Most of us are familiar with the irritation these cause when we are browsing through a website. For a pleasant browsing experience, the use of pop-ups can sometimes be a negative factor. Pop-ups should however not be written off completely due to a lack of popularity and can instead be used wisely. In order to compensate the visitors for the intrusion offer something in exchange to placate them.
2. Using Heavy Images
One of the major things that hamper speed is heavy images. Though images are necessary for interaction and the way we relay information online, the incorrect use of images greatly hampers load speed of a website. Images are an essential part of web pages and also affect rankings but heavy images affect user experience which further affects sales.
3. Too Much Flash
There is no hard and fast rule for not using Flash on websites but it is advisable to avoid it for the important content or even navigation. These days very few browsers support Flash since it negatively impacts user experience. This becomes even more prominent when the site is based entirely on Flash as Google has trouble recognizing and indexing Flash-based content. It also cannot be viewed at all in some browsers.
4. Heavy Design Elements
One of the most crucial aspects of a site is the speed at which it loads. Search engines attempt to give best results to their users and one of the major aspects on how sites are ranked depends on how quickly the site loads. Sites that load within a few seconds are usually deemed the most user-friendly as longer than that could lead to visitors switching to quicker sites instead. There could be several reasons for the loading speed to slacken and it is recommended that the snags should be dealt with before launch.
5.Unfriendly Navigation
User friendliness and comfort should be the priority instead of design alone when building a website. The aesthetics may lure the visitors initially but in the long run, it will be the experience and user-friendly navigation which will encourage more visits. Unfriendly navigation will cost you in terms of visitors because if they are unable to navigate your site with ease they will return to search results and opt for something more user-friendly. When designing navigation, keep in mind your target audience as well as whether the technology used is suitable for them.
6. Incorrect H-tags
Heading tags are not just used to emphasize content but have a significant impact on SEO as well. Search engines like H1 tags and this basically means that Google gives them importance. H1 –H6 tags highlight the page content and prioritize it in the correct order, according to the level of importance. They are an integral part of a site’s SEO and misuse or overuse of these tags will confuse search engines.
7. Images Based Text Instead of Just Text
Using images as the primary form of navigation will confuse search engines but pure textual information is also not a viable option. Many designers prefer images on sites instead of live text. When search engines like Google crawl a site they are unable to read text on images. So the compromise is to use CSS for text over image techniques. It is also recommended that when using headers, images should not replace text. Though beautiful graphics with text definitely brighten up a site, it will not work for SEO.
8. Non-responsive Web Design
While your website may be forgiven for pop-ups and too much flash, a non-responsive website definitely spells doom. When it comes to SEO and responsive design, you need to keep into account user friendliness, duplication of content, load time, and mobile search rankings. Google lays stress on responsive design especially for optimization of a website on smartphones because it helps Google search and rank the website easily. Irrespective of whatever device a website is displayed on, responsive design will help adjust a page and allow webmasters to keep their content without changing the URL. Thus, when search engines can analyze a website’s content easily there will be a stronger possibility of higher rankings in search results, in turn accomplishing the objective of SEO.
Designers, most often, think of SEO as a scary topic but it actually is very straightforward provided certain guidelines are adhered to. Google does not rank sites depending on how beautiful they look and though aesthetics are an integral part of designing a website, it does not hold much relevance if it is unable to drive traffic to the site.
RedAlkemi was created out of the desire to deliver measurable online success to its customer base. The founders consider themselves the alchemists who work with passion (Red) to develop processes (Alkemi) that turn a basic digital presence to a measurable and successful one, therefore the name RedAlkemi.
Yes, it’s possible! Motivated by innovation, RedAlkemists believe they can help take your business to the next level. In an ever-evolving online environment, our vision is to keep “Shaping a holistic digital presence for businesses through innovative processes.”
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