When building a website, you should understand the importance of the layout and design of the Web pages. Of course, when taking this into consideration, you cannot forget about search engine optimization. You must balance design and SEO, as a well-built site combined with a well-planned SEO effort is essential for a company that wants to succeed on the Internet. Here are four tips to incorporate SEO in the design of the website.
1) Determine the best keywords or search phrases for each page
Most companies do not land on the first page of Google and the leading search engines by accident. They got to first page as they targeted the right keywords and tactfully inserted the right words and phrases in the text. To understand what terms to target, you should do some research by running a few searches on Google and finding like terms known as LSI keywords. Then, the writer should incorporate the main and secondary keywords into the content in a tactful and easy-to-read format.
When the keywords are inserted naturally, and they make sense, both readers and the major search engines will appreciate and value the content highly. Remember, this is the most important step you must take to get to the top.
2) Don’t forget your Meta tags and description
Now, some people in the SEO industry feel that Meta tags are not relevant, and they ignore them or do not take the time to optimize their site in this way. This is a mistake as some search engines still value a solid Meta tag and description with relevant phrases or words. Ideally, a programmer should insert strong keywords and phrases in these descriptions that way it is picked up by search engines. Remember, with this step, you can leapfrog the competition that does not optimize their pages.
3) Optimize images and graphics
Often, a website owner will fear using pictures on their site as it may hurt their organic search rankings since there is no text to crawl in a picture. However “rich media” such as this can help you rise in the rankings. You should write a description using relevant keywords to the page and photo. For example, if your picture is of an Apple computer, your image-alt tag should read “Apple Computer”. This tells the search engine what that image is, and helps increase your keyword relevancy. Without a doubt, every major search engine will crawl this information and value the content of the page.
Don’t forget your call to action at the top of the page. Although design-wise, a phone number and email may not look the best, it is still crucial to have on the upper right-hand side where it is easy to find for the customers. Alternatively, if you only generate leads through forms, make sure you have a form on the sidebar.
4) Aim for fast-loading pages
When creating a site, many will use lots of videos and photos. When using these methods, you can attract visitors and keep them interested and excited. Sadly, there is a downside to using large images and other media. With huge files, the pages will not load quickly, and users may become bored and click the back button of the browser. Not only that, when pages do not load quickly, the search engines will take notice and devalue the content. To prevent this serious problem, you should resize their photos so that they load faster. When doing this, website visitors will not leave, and the search engines will value the content and pages.
With these four simple tips, you can improve how your site appears in organic search rankings.
Adam McGee is the founder of Lemon Head Design. He has spent over 6 years honing his graphic design skills and his proven philosophy centers on clean, common sense design and user experience.