No matter what industry you’re in, users need to be able to find your website among the 1.7 million other websites on the internet. But search engines like Google are strict when it comes to ranking. They’ll only rank websites with easy navigation, fast loading times, and quality content.

Keep reading to learn how your website’s design can affect your business search engine optimisation (SEO) and what you can do about it.

1. Navigation

Users can’t get what they want from a website if they can’t find it. Navigation affects their experience and is a major factor in getting them to spend more time on your site.

How navigation affects SEO:

The bounce rate will be higher than average if it’s hard or confusing to find either the homepage or a specific page. This will result in a low click-through rate, making you less relevant to search engines.

If users can’t find the information they need quickly and easily, they’ll leave your site and find another one. If your navigation causes users to bounce, the search engines will penalise your ranking, and you’ll be less likely to show up on a search engine’s first page.

If it’s easy for users to find what they’re looking for, it’s more likely that they’ll want to stick around.

2. Mobile-Optimised Design

Every business owner should know the importance of mobile-friendliness when creating a website. Even if you don’t operate a mobile-friendly website, you can still rank highly on search engines.

However, it will be more complex, and you’ll miss out on potential customers who only use smartphones to search the web.

How a mobile-friendly design affects SEO:

Mobile-friendly websites tend to get more traffic. So even if your site doesn’t get more traffic right off the bat, you’ll be more likely to rank more highly in search engines.

Users who find your site by searching on their mobile devices and enjoy the user experience are more likely to return.

3. Readable Text

Most search engine optimisation comes down to quality content your users will want to read. Most search engines will rank higher websites with more quality and original content.

How readable text affects SEO:

If you want to rank highly on search engines, you’ll need to put in the work to create quality content. Users will see that content when they search on search engines, and will encourage them to return to your site.

4. Fast Loading Times

Search engines penalise websites that have a fast-loading time. Google is one of the biggest examples of this. Google will only rank websites that load within a few seconds. And then some websites take minutes or even hours to load.

How fast your website loads affects SEO:

If users are looking for a website and find yours and can’t even load it, they won’t care about your content or website. The same goes for search engines.

Most search engines will penalise you for slow page load time by ranking your website lower than others. Users are more likely to return to a website that loads quickly than one that takes ages to load.

Conclusion

When it comes to search engine optimisation and web design, there’s a lot to think about. From easy navigation and fast loading times to readable text, all businesses need a website that’s easy for visitors to find, navigate, and load.

DSIGNS is a full-service design agency in Sydney specialising in branding, web design and digital marketing. We grow businesses with unique branding, custom web design and data-driven clever digital marketing that establishes our clients’ online presence, authority, and reputation. All this eventually guides your customers towards a purchasing decision. If you need website design for small businesses, we can help. Get in touch with us today and let’s start your project!