30-second summary:
- All the copy and strategic use of keywords in the world will not impress search engines if your web design is not fit for the purpose
- The design of your website or web app is linked intrinsically to user experience, which in turn impacts your Google quality score and SEO performance.
- The website design must drive users from A to B without unnecessary steps in between – while retaining relevant copy that ties in with your SEO strategy.
- Review your website design when considering your SEO strategy KPIs – a drop in traffic may be due to a substandard or outdated layout.
- Do not neglect copy, as UX meta copy will improve your CTR on paid advertising. In turn, ensure that your website’s design system is strong enough to obtain a suitable quality score and keep your Google Ads spending within a budget.
In many respects, a website is the home of your business on the web. To this end, it’s perhaps fitting that creating a website is not unlike building a house. You’ll need to establish solid foundations before commencing construction to achieve your intentions. When it comes to building a website from scratch, that means engineering your design systems and templates to maximize SEO potential. Many businesses emphasize content and keywords in their SEO strategy, with design becoming an afterthought. To return to our housebuilding analogy, that’s like laying a solid roof upon unstable walls. There is no denying that fine copy is critical to enjoying a successful approach to SEO. Even the most gifted writer cannot overcome substandard web design and user experience.
What is a design system?
No website, no matter how well designed, will remain the same forever. Therefore, websites and web apps must be regularly audited, refreshed, and even redesigned. Such steps are the only way to retain your target audience’s interest and ensure you remain one step ahead of Google’s ever-evolving SEO algorithms. At the very least, a website redesign is necessary every three years. If you diagnose a plummet in traffic, it may become essential sooner than this. Take a deep breath, review your data, and ascertain what is to blame for your drop-in visitors. If you suspect your web design is the issue, a wait-and-see approach will not yield results. Your traffic will continue to drop, and the longer you wait to resolve the problem, the more mountains you must overcome.
Now, as anybody that has ever built a website from scratch will know, the task requires two things in abundance – time and money. Both are precious commodities for a business, especially an SME. Alas, all websites periodically need a little tinkering under the bonnet. If you have established a design system, this will be significantly less disruptive. Effective website design systems ensure that your tech team or design agency has a firm and reliable blueprint to work from and everything is in its place.
Essentially, any work on your website is editorial rather than creative. As a result, you’ll enjoy positive implications on labor intensiveness and expense alike. Above all, design systems create a positive user experience. If your website design system does not meet users’ needs quickly and efficiently, visitors will stay away – and Google will sit and take notice. If you expect to have any measure of success with your SEO strategy, superior UX is non-negotiable. 21st Century consumers have more choices, and patience is in short supply.
