Today, SEO in web development makes a huge difference in search engine ranking.
But, did you know how SEO works beyond blogs in web design and development?
The secret to a top-ranked website is not only blogs. Website Search Engine Optimization also plays a major role in improving your site’s visibility.
We have penned down all the essentials of SEO you may use while designing your website. It will help you bring up your website easily while complying with Google’s Algorithms.
Let’s tell you everything about designing an SEO-friendly website.
What is SEO?
Before we move to the essentials of a top-ranking website design, it is important to understand what SEO is.
Optimizely defines SEO as “The art and science of getting pages to rank higher in search engines such as Google and Bing.”
Briefly, Search engine Optimization means modifying your website content in a way that your website ranks on the top in SERPs (search engine results pages). Though SEO experts typically focus on Google Chrome as it has over 3.2 million users globally, Bing and Yahoo! also make it to the list.
Previously Search Engine Optimization was thought to be about injecting keywords throughout the content. However, SEO practices have changed with changing times. Now, SEO is more than just stuffing keywords in blogs. You have to focus on other elements including image texts, URLs, etc.
SEO-friendly custom websites are essential to rule the SERPs.
How to Design an SEO-Friendly Website?
Now that you know what SEO is, it is time to answer the big question.
Designing a website that ranks on the search engine is a work of thought and expertise. You must remember that it is not only about website design keywords. It includes taking care of the uniqueness of content and ease of understanding for Google bots.
Here are the best SEO web design tips that can help elevate the position of your website on SERPs.
Limit the Number of Pages
We understand that it is not the first thought that comes to your mind when designing and developing a new website. Businesses want to offer ease of navigation and sometimes end up adding too many pages to the site. While it looks like you have endless content for the readers, Google does not entirely appreciate the idea.
As Search Engine Roundtable mentions, “Google prefers one stronger page vs. many smaller pages.”
More pages are difficult to manage and increase the possibility of duplicate, outdated and thin content on the pages.
Unique Content:
A website without content is a blank canvas. You just have a URL and nothing else!
Yet, only writing content randomly for your website is not important. Your website content should be attractive, interesting, and unique.
- Attractive content gets you the first click you need from a visitor.
- Interesting content keeps them to stay on the website longer.
- Unique content shows your expertise in your domain.
There is no space for plagiarized content on Google, and you might de-rank your website soon!
Though here’s a trick for SEO in web development that you can use for similar content or descriptions.
Use a ‘Canonical Tag’ on the primary piece of content to signal Google, “this page is important, and other similar pages should be ignored.” Pages without the Canonical Tag will not rank or create plagiarism issues.
Heading Tags:
Using header tags like H1, H2, and H3 has become a common practice to modify your regular headings into SEO-friendly content.
But, besides using them in blogs, ensure you place them correctly on the web content including home page, about us, contact, etc.
Meta Tags:
You cannot overlook the importance of SEO in meta tags when designing a website to rank.
Besides the on-page SEO in the form of keyword and information-rich, unique content, meta tags are also an essential ingredient of Search Engine Optimization.
- Always use up to 60 and up to 165 characters in meta titles and meta descriptions respectively.
- Do not use generic meta tags.
- Enrich meta titles and descriptions with keywords effortlessly.
URL:
URLs are underrated and not enough taken care of.
Would you prefer “www.cyebrify.com/4hjkl#20SEOranking” or www.cyberify/seo-for-designing-a-top-ranking-website?
We realize that readers prefer easy-to-read and follow URLs. Nobody likes long, complex URLs. Additionally, using the right words (read: keywords) in your URLs is vital for SEO in web development.
Alt Text:
Alt text was a term unknown to many sometime back, and eventually, no one realized how important they were.
While reports show that Google will read images in the future, you have it help it right now. Adding Alt text to your pictures enables Google to read and understand them better. Thus, improve your ranking because of improved readability and relevancy.
Also, do not forget to name your images properly instead of random image titles.
User Experience:
User Experience is not one of the highly talked about aspects of SEO besides technical factors.
But isn’t it the main feature of Search Engine Optimization?
Search engine bots keep a close eye on the people visiting your website and scrolling through the content. They know what kind of content the readers like. Eventually, retention time adds to your SEO score, and you can get a better place on the SERPs.
Web Design Elements That Effect SEO:
Apart from SEO elements that you should incorporate into the website, some website design features also affect SEO. Adding keywords or further navigation to the pages can help keep the user on your site for longer. Keep reading to know how web design affects SEO.
Website Architecture:
Did you know that the architecture of your website may improve or deteriorate your website position?
Bots find it difficult to crawl a complicated web architecture, and thus it is better to opt for a simple website structure to rank better.
404 Page:
A visitor may land on a dead or broken link or page on your website – and that’s the dead end.
However, you can use this page for SEO in web development by ensuring proper loading speed, adding keywords smoothly, and incorporating options that take you to other pages on the website.
Mobile-friendly Websites:
Gone are the days when website designers and developers focused mainly on desktop-based web design.
With over 4.32 billion unique mobile internet users globally, nearly 60 percent of searches come from mobile devices now.
So, the focus has shifted from desktop-based to mobile-friendly, responsive websites as they account for around 2/3rd of internet searches.
A mobile-friendly website rich in optimization content is an absolute SEO winner!
Dos and Don’ts of SEO In Web Development:
The SEO world is vast, and there are a million “dos and don’ts of SEO” when you want your website to position on the first page. We have put together three inevitable rules of SEO phases you must never forget.
Dos of SEO In Web Development:
- Use relevant keywords naturally in the content.
- Design websites rich in SEO elements.
- Use SEO Browser to see how bots crawl your website.
Don’ts of SEO in Web Development:
- Stuff all keywords in one place.
- Forget meta tags, URLs, and Alt text.
- Ignore the website’s functionality like web architecture, responsiveness, and loading speed.
Bottom Line:
Search Engine Optimization and web design go hand in hand to provide a pleasant experience to the user. SEO in web development includes combining all the elements of SEO and incorporating them into the site naturally. Focus on your website’s structure, pages, content, meta tags, URLs, and the overall user experience to design a top-ranking SEO-friendly website.
FAQs
Does website SEO affect ranking?
Website SEO is fundamental to your site’s ranking on the SERPs. It includes everything from the home page or about us to blogs and meta tags for the website. Thus, it is important to keep all these elements in mind as stuffing keywords in blogs unnaturally is no longer a thing.
Why it’s important to keep SEO momentum going?
SEO works like magic to position your website on the top. But, it requires consistency. It is not the right approach if you optimize the content once and believe it’s done forever. You must analyze your website constantly and make changes according to updates by Google.
How web design affects SEO? Web design contributes to SEO significantly as search engines do not only rely on keyword integration. A functional website design offers better functionality and responsiveness to the user who stays on the website longer. Google understands that readers like your website content which increases the chances of ranking.