Though SEO tactics get a lot of attention, the overall design of a business’s website is equally important, if not more so. The way the site is set up will have an immediate impact on visitors. Clicks that come from high search engine rankings are still useless if they can’t be converted into loyal customers and reliable sales.

Important Design Elements

Websites today need to be visually appealing and have an immediate impact on the viewer. Some designers may try to do this with an abundance of images. While good images are important for any web page, there are also drawbacks to using pictures.

If a site has an overabundance of images, it will naturally have a slower load time. Though many developers overlook this, the load time for a web page has a direct effect on search engine rankings. Use a light design with colors and headings that make an impact. Condense images with CSS so they will load faster and more efficiently.

Proper Link Usage

Every site designer knows the importance of links – both incoming and outgoing. Though it may seem fun and snazzy to use images as a link to another site or page element, this is detrimental to the cause. Web crawlers use the text of a link as a primary indicator of that link’s content.

Images don’t give crawlers the vital information that they’re seeking about a link. If images are being used for internal links, the site overall will have a big drop in page rankings as a result.

Powerful Design Tools

Plain HTML no longer has the impact that it used to. Developers need to consistently stay head of recent trends and keep up to date with new tools. HTML 5 has powerful SEO advantages with informative tags and a streamlined design that loads quickly. HTML 5 has an edge over Flash which slows pages down and creates discernible drag.

CSS Stylesheet is another powerful tool. This will improve the appearance and load time of a page greatly. Optimization tools are built in for keywords.

Creating Content

The best design elements on the web are meaningless without sharp, innovative content. Original memes, informative videos, eye-catching graphics, and useful content are all essential to good page design. Include one stand out element on each page and provide teasers to other content that will keep visitors clicking around within the structure of the site.

Make sure that each page is connected to others within the site using simple navigation tools like a toolbar. Include a site map so users can find specific information easily. Never ask visitors to use more than three clicks to get to a specific piece of content. With a well-designed site and engaging content, much of the SEO will naturally take care of itself.