Aesthetics or SEO: Which Is More Important in Web Design
The oversimplified view of search engine optimization (SEO) is that it is all about applying methods that will guarantee your website ranks high in a search engine’s results pages. Why bother creating eye-catching visuals if Google won’t care what colors you are using or how eye-catching the images in your headers are?
However, you must keep in mind that aesthetics plays a significant role in your SEO's effectiveness. Design contributes to your overall user experience, a critical ranking factor.
Rather than adhering to just another visual standard, focus on presenting a webpage that fulfills the basic requirements. It guarantees to keep your site visitors on your website enough to convert them into customers.
The Dangers of Putting Aesthetics First
1. Functionality
Pursuing a specific design aesthetic at the expense of other essential elements could lead you to lose sight of the purpose of your commercial website.
First of all, what you consider to be aesthetically pleasing may not be what your audience appreciates. It is all too common for business owners to believe they know their customers inside and out but never take the time to conduct thorough customer research to back up these assumptions.
Remember that your website should serve your prospects rather than you or your company. Its design must convince users to take action, such as subscribing to your newsletter, purchasing your product, or contacting you. You do not want a website that overwhelms visitors with imagery, distracting them from your ultimate goal of convincing them to do business with you.
2. Website Performance
Impressing your visitors through audiovisual stimuli can certainly catch people's attention, but the drawbacks can be significant given how resource-intensive they are.
Although internet speeds have increased significantly over the years, tons of page elements can still collectively slow down your site’s loading speed. This also applies to plugins that cause code bloat and slow down your website. You risk turning off visitors because your web pages take too long to load!
How to Effectively Use Aesthetics for SEO
1. Be Consistent
Websites have their visual language. You can apply this by making clickable links a different color that changes once a user clicks on them, for example. Keeping such elements consistent and ensuring they always function the same way will let your visitors navigate your site easily. It also builds a sense of recall and possibly turns them into purchasing customers.
2. Make It Responsive
When mobile devices account for around 54.8 percent of online traffic worldwide, it is impossible to overstate the significance of a responsive web design. Pay attention to how your website will appear on smartphones and tablets with small screens.
3. Make It Simple
A simple, clean web design should direct users to the exact location on your website where they need to go. We recommend keeping your color palette to a minimum and making your fonts legible. It will prevent visitors from getting too distracted or turned off to stay on your web page.
Conclusion
Merging beautiful aesthetics and effective SEO for your website can be tricky, but it is not necessarily impossible to achieve. Follow our tips above, and we are sure you can build a commercial website that will attract new customers and retain existing ones.
If you are on the lookout for web design services, turn to Brikwoo. We are a company of designers and marketers whose sole purpose is to help faith-based entrepreneurs and Christian business owners remove frustration, gain clarity in their business, and recover peace of mind. Check out our portfolio today!
However, you must keep in mind that aesthetics plays a significant role in your SEO's effectiveness. Design contributes to your overall user experience, a critical ranking factor.
Rather than adhering to just another visual standard, focus on presenting a webpage that fulfills the basic requirements. It guarantees to keep your site visitors on your website enough to convert them into customers.
The Dangers of Putting Aesthetics First
1. Functionality
Pursuing a specific design aesthetic at the expense of other essential elements could lead you to lose sight of the purpose of your commercial website.
First of all, what you consider to be aesthetically pleasing may not be what your audience appreciates. It is all too common for business owners to believe they know their customers inside and out but never take the time to conduct thorough customer research to back up these assumptions.
Remember that your website should serve your prospects rather than you or your company. Its design must convince users to take action, such as subscribing to your newsletter, purchasing your product, or contacting you. You do not want a website that overwhelms visitors with imagery, distracting them from your ultimate goal of convincing them to do business with you.
2. Website Performance
Impressing your visitors through audiovisual stimuli can certainly catch people's attention, but the drawbacks can be significant given how resource-intensive they are.
Although internet speeds have increased significantly over the years, tons of page elements can still collectively slow down your site’s loading speed. This also applies to plugins that cause code bloat and slow down your website. You risk turning off visitors because your web pages take too long to load!
How to Effectively Use Aesthetics for SEO
1. Be Consistent
Websites have their visual language. You can apply this by making clickable links a different color that changes once a user clicks on them, for example. Keeping such elements consistent and ensuring they always function the same way will let your visitors navigate your site easily. It also builds a sense of recall and possibly turns them into purchasing customers.
2. Make It Responsive
When mobile devices account for around 54.8 percent of online traffic worldwide, it is impossible to overstate the significance of a responsive web design. Pay attention to how your website will appear on smartphones and tablets with small screens.
3. Make It Simple
A simple, clean web design should direct users to the exact location on your website where they need to go. We recommend keeping your color palette to a minimum and making your fonts legible. It will prevent visitors from getting too distracted or turned off to stay on your web page.
Conclusion
Merging beautiful aesthetics and effective SEO for your website can be tricky, but it is not necessarily impossible to achieve. Follow our tips above, and we are sure you can build a commercial website that will attract new customers and retain existing ones.
If you are on the lookout for web design services, turn to Brikwoo. We are a company of designers and marketers whose sole purpose is to help faith-based entrepreneurs and Christian business owners remove frustration, gain clarity in their business, and recover peace of mind. Check out our portfolio today!
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