How Does Website Design Affect SEO?

When it comes to search engine optimisation (SEO) and website design, you might be wondering how the two are connected. The simple way of explaining it is that a visually appealing website alone simply isn’t enough to achieve online success. Website design refers to the visual appearance, structure, functionality and usability of a website. SEO, on the other hand, is used to optimise the website and the features on it, such as images and meta descriptions. 

This is done to improve the website’s visibility in the search engine results pages (SERPs).  However, even the best SEO strategy can fall short if the website has a poor design, takes too long to load or has a confusing user experience (UX). In this article, we’ll be telling you how website design affects SEO, and what you can do to boost your chances of ranking in the SERPs, by combining the two seamlessly. So, how does website design affect SEO? Let’s find out.

How does website design affect SEO?

Search engine optimisation (SEO) and website design are often treated as two separate entities. However, in this modern age, the landscape is very much digital. The two are deeply interconnected. Let’s take a look at how website design can affect SEO, and what you can do about it. 

Mobile-friendly design

A website should be easy to use and simple to navigate, whether it is on a desktop or a mobile device. This is because Google uses mobile-first indexing. Essentially, it primarily evaluates the mobile version of a website for ranking purposes. If a website performs poorly on mobile devices, then its search rankings may suffer as a result. Responsive design ensures that website pages are automatically adjusted to fit different screen types and sizes, such as smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktops. The signs of a website that will not look professional on a mobile device include:

• Text is too small
• Buttons are placed too close together
• Horizontal scrolling
• Slow website loading times
• Intrusive or incessant pop-ups

Page speed

Website speed is one of the most important SEO-related website design factors that you need to be aware of. Users will expect a website to load quickly in this day and age, abandoning website pages that take too long. If a website is too slow, it negatively impacts SEO as it can result in:

• Higher bounce rates
• Lower user satisfaction
• Reduced conversions
• Decreased crawl efficiency
• Poor search rankings

So, what are you doing wrong that is making your website slow to load? Issues can include: large image files, excessive animations, heavy JavaScript usage, unoptimised videos, complex visual effects and too many plugins. The only question left to answer? How can I speed up my website effectively? That one is easy. Here are some of our simple suggestions:

• Compress large images
• Use modern image formats
• Minimise CSS and JavaScript files
• Enable browser caching
• Implement lazy loading 
• Reduce unnecessary design elements

Website navigation

Search engines rely on internal links and navigation structures as a way of discovering and understanding website content. If navigation is poor, then it can prevent information and important pages from being indexed at all. This negatively affects SEO, and it can all be prevented with some good website design choices. Characteristics of good navigation include:

• Simple menu structures
• Logical page hierarchy
• Clear category organisation
• Descriptive navigation labels
• Consistent menus across pages

User experience (UX)

User experience (UX) has become increasingly important in the world of SEO. Google will aim to deliver search results that satisfy users. Websites that provide positive experiences often perform better in the search rankings. With this in mind, here are some UX factors that influence SEO that you should be aware of:

• Readability – visitors should easily consume content, considering things like font size, line spacing, contrast, paragraph length and heading organisation
• Engagement – engaging websites encourage users to spend more time on pages, visit additional pages and interact with content. If positive engagement occurs, then it’s in direct support of SEO
• Bounce rate – if your website is confusing or unattractive, then it may cause visitors to leave. High bounce rates can, therefore, indicate poor user satisfaction as a result

Site architecture

Site architecture refers to how website pages are organised and linked together. A well-structured architecture helps search engines to discover content, understand topic relationships, pass link equity and index pages efficiently. An SEO-friendly architecture looks something like this:

• Flat structure – important pages need to be accessible within just a couple of clicks from the homepage
• Topic clusters – related content needs to be grouped together. For example: If the main topic is SEO, then the topic clusters would be: on-page SEO, technical SEO, link building and keyword research
• Internal linking – strategic internal links will improve navigation, distribute authority and encourage deeper engagement

Google & Core Web Vitals

Google introduced Core Web Vitals as a way of measuring real-world user experience. These metrics will significantly influence page experience assessments as a result. Let’s take a look at this in further detail:

• Largest contentful paint (LCP) – this measures loading performance, with the ideal performance being around 2.5 seconds
• Interaction to next paint (INP) – this measures responsiveness. Users will expect quick reactions when clicking buttons or interacting with elements
• Cumulative layout shifts (CLS) – this measures visual stability. Unexpected age movement creates frustrating experiences, such as buttons shifting while loading, ads pushing content down, or images loading without dimensions 

Visual hierarchy

Visual hierarchy determines how information is presented and prioritised. A good hierarchy will help users to scan and understand content as quickly and as efficiently as possible. This is why important design elements are included and carefully structured across a website. Those design elements include:

• Heading structure – having proper headings will help search engines to interpret the content better. As such, use headings logically, including using H1s for titles, H2s for major sections and H3s for subsections
• White space – having too much white space between text, or not enough, will reduce readability and increase cognitive overload. To prevent this, adequate spacing is required
• Highlighting important information – this means using bullet points, lists, bold text and tables in order to make content easier and quicker to consume. Content that is well-organised will lead to better user engagement all around

Image optimisation

Images contribute significantly to website design. However, if they’re poorly optimised, then it can damage SEO, and it largely comes down to the way the website has been designed. Some common issues that are usually encountered when it comes to image optimisation include large file sizes, missing alt attributes, generic filenames and slow loading speeds. Optimised images on website pages and blog posts, among other types of content, will both improve page speed and discoverability overall. Some best practices for image SEO that are designed to counteract that would include:

• Compress images before uploading 
• Use descriptive filenames
• Add keyword-relevant alt text
• Implement responsive images
• Use modern formats

Kumo is pleased to provide digital marketing services to companies across the country, regardless of the industry you work in. We’re able to deliver excellent SEO, PPC, website design and content writing services to companies looking to propel their business into the spotlight. If you’d like further information about how we can help you today, get in touch with a member of our friendly, knowledgeable team – we’re always happy to hear from you.