SEO & Web Design: What You Need to Know

Web designers and SEOs have always had to work together, but it hasn’t always gone well. Arguments have broken out. Dry-erase markers have been thrown.

Picture the boardroom of a Toronto SEO services agency circa 2010. Department heads have gathered together to design a website for their new client.

“We need 2000 words of keyword-rich copy on this page or it won’t rank,” the SEO would say.

“No, that will look bulky and conflict with the minimalist design. We need 300 really good words,” the web designer would say.

“I just need 2000 words. I don’t care if they’re good,” the SEO would insist.

“Pardon me,” the copywriter would weep.

Fortunately, since 2021, that’s no longer how meetings go. That’s because both good design and a good user experience (UX) are now absolutely crucial to good SEO. This has been the case for a few years now, but the Google Page Experience update will force site owners and marketers to take a closer look at their design and their UX.

Since 2021 and Moving Forward, Good Design = Good SEO

A few years ago, intuitive experiences and clean design were nice to have in SEO, not must-haves. A poorly designed site with a crappy user experience could conceivably still rank.

When SEO was in its infancy, businesses would often just stuff as many keywords as possible into a web page. Even some of the biggest brands in the world like BMW, PwC and Toys R Us were guilty of it. It was often unreadable, and users hated it, but these pages could still rank back then. That was until Google started to penalize sites for keyword stuffing and other black hat tactics, and now, thankfully, good SEO copywriting puts readers first.

In recent years, Google has sought to reward the websites that provide the best possible user experience. However, a good user experience was somewhat ambiguous. SEOs and web designers knew that slow and clunky user experiences were bad. But how were you supposed to boost your dwell time, and where was the bar truly set for a good user experience?

But now, Google has told us that the Page Experience Update looks at the following things as experience signals:

• The Core Web Vitals (More on them below)
• Mobile-friendliness
• Safety
• HTTPS
• Non-intrusive interstitial ads

These are the 5 pillars of a good UX and the foundation for how web design influences SEO now. This update seeks to reward the websites that solve many of the most popular web user complaints such as slow or unsafe websites, awkward mobile experiences, or cumbersome interstitial ads.

If your website currently has any of the issues listed above, it’s in your best interest to fix them as soon as possible and avoid critical redesign mistakes that kill your SEO. They were likely hurting your conversion rates (and your SEO) prior to the Page Experience update, and they are most definitely hurting you right now.

SEO Web Design Fundamentals: Speed and Beauty

Today’s modern web designers need to make a page as beautiful and functional as possible, while still doing their best to optimize site speed by staying mindful of how many elements they add.

The Core Web Vitals will make site speed more important than ever, while giving us 3 key metrics that examine speed in different ways:

• How long does it take for the page to completely load: Largest Contentful Paint
• How quickly does a page respond to a click: First Input Delay
• When do the page’s assets stop shifting during the loading process: Cumulative Layout Shift

Aside from using Google Search Console and Analytics to give you a high-level, holistic view of how your website is performing, you can test your website’s performance and identify the areas of improvement using such tools as ‎Lighthouse, ‎PageSpeed Insights, ‎CrUX, or ‎Chrome DevTools.

An estimated 60% of SEO professionals have used these tools to make site speed improvements. If the other 40% don’t act soon, they may be in for a rude awakening in June.

Balancing Speed and Aesthetics in SEO Web Design

The challenge for today’s web designers lies in striking the perfect balance between style and lightning-fast performance. Gone are the days when you could simply pile on fancy animations, high-resolution images, and complex scripts without considering their impact on load times.

Here are some proven techniques to help you achieve the right balance:

• Optimize images. Use modern formats like WebP, compress images without sacrificing quality, and implement lazy loading for images below the fold.
• Minify and compress. Reduce the size of your HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files by removing unnecessary characters and whitespace.
• Leverage browser caching. Allow browsers to store static assets locally, reducing load times for returning visitors.
• Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN). Distribute your content across multiple servers worldwide to reduce latency and improve load times for users in different geographic locations.
• Prioritize above-the-fold content. Ensure that the content that is visible without scrolling loads quickly, giving users the impression of a fast-loading site.
• Implement critical CSS. Inline critical styles in the HTML to render above-the-fold content faster.
• Defer non-critical JavaScript. Load non-essential scripts after the initial page render to improve perceived load times.
• Choose performance-optimized themes and plugins. When using content management systems like WordPress, select themes and plugins that prioritize speed and efficiency.

Speaking of optimizing WordPress sites, we’ve had great success improving site speed through various techniques, like how we used WP Rocket to dramatically boost our clients’ page load times.

Measuring and Monitoring Core Web Vitals

While tools like Lighthouse and PageSpeed Insights are excellent for initial assessments, it’s just as important to implement ongoing monitoring of your Core Web Vitals. This way you can catch and address any issues that may arise due to content updates, plugin installations, or other changes to your site.

Consider implementing this process as part of your UX audits:

1. Set up regular Core Web Vitals reports in Google Search Console to track performance over time.
2. Use Real User Monitoring (RUM) tools to gather data on actual user experiences across different devices and network conditions.
3. Integrate Core Web Vitals monitoring into your development workflow, running checks before deploying changes to your live site.
4. Establish performance budgets for your team, setting clear targets for each Core Web Vital metric.
5. Conduct periodic audits to identify new opportunities for optimization and ensure your site stays ahead of the curve.

Remember, the Page Experience update isn’t just about avoiding penalties – it’s an opportunity to provide a superior user experience that can lead to higher engagement, better conversions, and improved brand perception.

SEO-Enhanced Mobile-First Design: Beyond Responsive Layouts

While responsive design has been the go-to approach for mobile-friendly websites, true mobile-first design requires a shift in mindset. Here are some advanced considerations for creating exceptional mobile experiences:

1. Touch-friendly navigation. Design navigation elements with touch in mind, using larger tap targets and intuitive gestures, and consider the natural thumb zones on mobile devices when placing important interactive elements.
2. Streamlined content. Prioritize essential information and features for mobile users, who often have different intentions than desktop users.
3. Progressive enhancement. Start with a basic mobile experience and gradually add features and complexity for larger screens.
4. Performance-focused design choices. Opt for design elements that are both visually appealing and lightweight, such as SVG icons and CSS animations instead of JavaScript-heavy interactions.
5. Contextual inputs. Utilize mobile-specific input types (e.g., tel for phone numbers, email for email addresses) to provide a better user experience.
6. App-like experiences. Consider using Progressive Web App (PWA) technologies to provide a more immersive, app-like experience for mobile users.

Addressing Common Mobile Design Pitfalls in SEO Web Design

To avoid the mobile design issues mentioned above, consider these solutions:

1. For closely spaced buttons or links.
   • Increase tap target sizes (minimum 48×48 pixels)
   • Add more padding between interactive elements
   • Use a grid system to ensure consistent spacing
2. To properly set the mobile viewport.
   • Always include the viewport meta tag in your HTML: <meta name=”viewport” content=”width=device-width, initial-scale=1″>
   • Avoid using fixed-width elements that can cause horizontal scrolling
3. To prevent content from exceeding screen width.
   • Use relative units (%, em, rem) instead of fixed pixel values
   • Implement flexible images and media using max-width: 100%
   • Test your layouts across various screen sizes and orientations
4. To ensure readable text sizes.
   • Set a base font size of at least 16px
   • Use relative units for typography to allow user-controlled font scaling
   • Implement a modular scale for consistent and harmonious text sizes
5. To handle plugin compatibility.
   • Regularly audit and update your plugins
   • Choose mobile-friendly alternatives when available
   • Consider building custom, lightweight solutions for critical functionality

By addressing these common issues, you should be able to improve your mobile user experience and boost your chances of performing well in Google’s mobile-first index.

Integrating SEO Best Practices into Your Design Workflow

To ensure that SEO considerations are baked into your web design process from the start, consider implementing these practices:

1. Collaborative kickoff meetings. Bring together designers, developers, and SEO specialists at the beginning of each project to align on goals and constraints.
2. SEO-friendly wireframes. Include placeholder text for important on-page SEO elements (title tags, headings, meta descriptions) in your wireframes.
3. Content-first approach. Design around real content rather than lorem ipsum to ensure your layouts accommodate actual SEO copy.
4. Schema markup planning. Identify opportunities for structured data implementation during the design phase.
5. Page speed budgets. Set performance targets for each page type and regularly check designs against these budgets.
6. Mobile-first prototypes. Create and test mobile prototypes before moving on to desktop designs.
7. SEO checklist for designers. Develop a checklist of SEO considerations for designers to reference throughout the design process.
8. Regular cross-team reviews. Schedule periodic reviews where design, development, and SEO teams can provide feedback and catch potential issues early.

When all is said and done, integrating these kinds of practices into your workflow helps you create aesthetically pleasing, intuitive designs that appeal to people and are optimized for search engines from the ground up.

SEO for Web Design Means Mobile-First Indexing and Mobile-First Design

Google has also confirmed that mobile-first indexing is now the norm for the entire web. This means focusing on mobile-first design and mobile-first planning is paramount.

This update has been a work in progress for a few years now, but there is still a startling number of bad mobile sites on the web. For example, a few years ago, Canonicalized tested 1 million of the world’s most-visited websites, and found that 24% of them failed Google’s mobile-friendliness test.

The most popular mobile design issues were:

• Buttons or links situated too close together
• Mobile viewpoint not set
• Content wider than the screen
• Text too small
• Incompatible/ non-functional plugins

The Core Web Vitals will be used for both desktop and mobile sites. So, if a mobile site is suffering from user experience issues like slow speeds or cumbersome ads, it will likely be penalized.

New SEO Web Design Rule: If It’s Not on Your Mobile Site, it Doesn’t Exist

In recent years, the biggest challenge facing anyone who specializes in web design services in Toronto has been trying to find creative ways to get a few thousand words onto a mobile screen, without overwhelming the design with big blocks of text that make it look like you’re reading a Kindle.

But these days, you absolutely need to make sure that your mobile site has just as much SEO copy and optimization as your desktop site. In fact, Google recently confirmed that if any content is on your desktop site, but not your mobile site, it will not be indexed by Google. The message is clear: If it’s not on your mobile site, it won’t be indexed.

If you have always made the user experience a top priority (on both desktop and mobile), you may actually see some SEO wins in the second half of 2021. However, if you have any user experience barriers, you will want to address them as soon as possible.

Is Your Current Website Design or UX Hurting Your SEO?

Are you worried that bad design is ruining your SEO rankings? Let’s talk about it! We have helped countless companies revamp their websites and unplug their sales funnels. You can click the Call Now button at the top of the screen to get in touch.