While Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and web design are often pitted against each other, the truth is that in order to have a successful website, that requires them working in harmony. While in the past, people thought there was a tradeoff between an optimized website and a good-looking one, that’s not the case anymore. Now, the user experience is the future of SEO. And the user experience requires SEO and web design to work in tandem.
Optimization Vs Design: Impacts 
A site that is heavy on SEO without a mind to design is ugly and can be confusing. Generally, a website that is focused entirely on SEO uses heavy amounts of text with lots of keywords and lots of ads. They also may not be organized well, making navigation more difficult. People won’t stay on a site like that; they want something streamlined and easy to use.
On the other hand, a website that is gorgeous but doesn’t utilize SEO won’t be seen, because it isn’t optimized to show up in search results. Sites focused on design tend to be quite low on text and engaging. However, without SEO, they might be pretty, but they won’t get traffic. People won’t see a site that hasn’t been optimized.
How Can They Work Together?
So you see, in order to have a successful site, you need to utilize both SEO and web design. They are both important, they both affect each other, and together, they create a beautiful, functional site. Here’s how they can do that.
Careful Implementation Of Keywords
Keywords are an essential part of SEO. They’re what help a site pop up in search engines when people enter them in to look for something. Web design and SEO have to make a compromise here. Keywords are important, yes, but there can’t be an overwhelming density of them. That isn’t attractive and can annoy users.
Optimized Content
One way to speckle keywords throughout the site is through optimizing the content on it and how designers can spread them over the site. This means that keywords can be used in the alt text and titles of images on a site, the alt tags, and the page names. This helps keep the content engaging while also reaching the necessary amount of keywords.
Mobile Optimization
Nowadays, most people use their phones to search for things. As such, sites that aren’t mobile friendly get penalized by search engines. Plus, a site that isn’t optimized for mobile loses users, because it’s not as easy to read and navigate on a mobile device. An easy to read, optimized site generates more mobile traffic.
Site Speed
People don’t have the patience to wait for a site to load, and the speed at which a page loads affects its SEO ranking. Designers can help this through implementing “lazy loading”, which is when the site loads as you scroll, rather than all at once. They can also avoid large images, as these also slow down loading times, and ensure they are compressed.
Engaging And Unique Content
A site with unique, optimized content will generate more traffic than one that just repeats what other sites are already saying. It will keep people’s attention more to see something more original, and help SEO rankings, as search engines punish copied content.
Cohesive SEO And Web Design = Perfect
In order to have a site that is both attractive and performs well, you must consider both what people want to see and what they need to see in order for your site to rank well. An easy-to-read, optimized website generates more traffic than either a heavily optimized, ugly site or a beautiful, not optimized site. Web pages names, content layout, link structure, every bit of a website affects both its look and its visibility. It’s all about finding that perfect balance.
It used to be that if you wanted both an attractive website and one that was optimized for search engines, you had to find different places to do those services for you. This isn’t the case anymore. Here at Performance Driven Marketing, we offer both web design and SEO services. We keep both the look of your website and the optimization of it in mind for every aspect of it, from the design process itself to creating content. If you need SEO and web design services, we can help! Contact us at Performance Driven Marketing today to learn more.
