The Don’ts of Web Design – Mistakes to Avoid
Dodging these common web design mistakes will help to make your website reach the top of relevant search results.
The best websites have people and search engines in mind. Aesthetics should never be sacrificed for functionality – just like functionality should never be sacrificed for aesthetics.
Websites must be attractive to look at – but they also need to comply with SEO practises to get targeted traffic.
Design should work hand-in-hand with SEO to get the best of both worlds. Unfortunately for web design, we don’t have the liberty of being completely freely creative. If an excellent design does not mean a website can be fully optimised for search engines, then there are some design tweaks to be made.
1. Opting for Images to Display Crucial Information
Search engines might be clever, but they can’t entirely interpret images.
Text is better understood than any other medium. Whilst infographics, video and images brighten up your website and make it more attractive to visitors – search engines struggle to optimise the content.
Use your keywords in text form for the best results.
Of course, you still need to use other forms of medium. But use them strategically – don’t share crucial information on them without also displaying it in text form.
2. Improper Use of H1 Tags
A H1 tag is one of the most important elements that search engines look for – since they highlight what the page is all about.
Besides from forgetting all about H1 tags, other simple errors include:
- – Featuring the logo / company name inside (unless relevant)
- – Several H1 tags (it’s usually one per page)
- – Including too much text – they’re headlines, not paragraphs
These simple mistakes make it harder for search engines to know what your page involves – which consequently can damage your SEO performance.
3. Flash Overload
Not only can the use of flash limit a user’s experience on a website, it also negatively impacts how visible content is for search engines to index.
If most of your website uses Flash, for example, then you’re leaving little content for search engines to index. As a result, they’ll lower your SEO ranking.
4. Unresponsive Design
It’s inexcusable for a website not to be mobile-friendly today … it’s a no brainer that you’ll be missing out on visibility, engagement, sales and ROI. In fact, over 50% of global web traffic originated from mobile devices.
5. A Slow Website
Slow and steady doesn’t win the race as far as search engines are concerned.
Unsure why your website is slow? – Why is My Website Slow?
Want guidance to fix it? – 4 Tips to Speed up Your Website
Whilst loads of intricate elements might enhance the design of a website, how long they take to load impacts the user experience.
There’s plenty of tools to test the speed of your website:
Summary
All the above common website design mistakes are all forgetting about one thing – the importance of SEO.
SEO is a part of design – which is equally importantly as the actual design itself.
Looking for an Agency that delivers beautifully designed and fully optimised websites?
Why not check out our Digital Marketing Terms Glossary?
About the author:
Marie Harwood is a Digital Marketing Assistant at Different Gravy Digital, Hale, Cheshire.
Different Gravy Digital are a full service Digital Marketing Agency operating in the Hospitality & Leisure, Financial Services, Legal & Property sectors. Products and services range from; 3D & 360° Tours, Website Design & Build, Social Media, Video Production, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Content Creation, Email Marketing, Online Feedback / Review Systems and Paid Advertising (Google, Bing and Social Media).
Contact Details:
marie@differentgravydigital.co.uk
0161 706 000
120a Ashley Road, Hale, Altrincham, Cheshire, WA14 2UN