Design and SEO go hand in hand by Doryan Algarra (The Designer - Forstrank.com)

Every once and a while we have the opportunity to work with someone who is starting a site from scratch. Either they have no website at all or have a one-page (for lack of a better word) site - with no content, structure or design.

Usually, the client comes to us spurred by a desire and its usually something like this: “I need to get ranked, hopefully in the number 1, 2 or 3 spot in Google, but I am not concerned about design or structure - just get me ranked!”

Basically, the clients primary concern is their ranking, and that is common and very normal, but what we try to explain is that if you are starting a new site…design (including coding and structure) is just as important to a sites’ ranking. I will explain.

“I followed this link and all I got was this terrible site and a t-shirt”

Getting ranked on search engines is all about getting traffic to your website. But what happens when they land on your site? A lot of effort is put into getting people to their site but either little to no effort on where they will actually land. If users land on a website that looks unprofessional, is confusing or has functionality that does not work - that traffic that you worked so hard to generate will leave. Not only will they leave, but odds are they will not return.

Here’s an analogy: I’m driving down the road. I get hungry. I see a set of signs to many different restaurants. The first sign says “Joe’s Spam Buffet” - it catches my attention…not because I like spam, just looks curious, so I say what the heck, I can go for a Spam Taco, so I take the exit. As I get off the exit I go to what looks like a plain building. It looks abandoned, no signs of life. I get out of my car and notice a crude sign that says “Joe’s Spam Buffet” written on a piece of wood with a sharpie. I then notice that the walls are cracked and pieces of the building itself are starting to come undone. I jump in my car and dash out of there as fast as possible. Side note: I then proceed to tell all my friends to NEVER go to Joe’s Spam Buffet.

So whats the moral of this delicious story? Traffic to a badly structured, unprofessional-looking site with no content is worthless. Just as a beautifully designed and structured website is worthless without proper SEO. When someone comes to your website, you want to build trust and you want to exude professionalism. You also want people return to your site or at the very least, spread the word.

You should start the relationship with your potential customers or users on a good note, do not make a bad first impression. In this age of Google and immediate satisfaction, the first impression is usually all you get.

Structure and Professionalism

So here’s the deal - whatever web development company you use to help you with your site you want to make sure they have good coding habits. What you don’t want is a site littered with TABLE tags bloating the code. What you want is a site that is CSS (cascading style sheets) driven. This separates the code from the design and allows the site to load faster and allows the search engine spiders to reach your content quicker.

We cannot count how many times a client comes to us saying something like - “I had a site designed, but I can’t find it in a Google search” and when we take a look at it we find that its the code that was keeping the site from being ranked. Although designers that design in this way keep us working, we would much rather someone be knowledgeable enough at the start to ask these questions before they plop down their hard earned money for work that will have to be redone later.

“I got a friend who dabbles in web design, so…”

We hear this a lot as well. My friends-uncles-doctor-knows someone who likes to dabble in web design, so I’m going with them for my website design.

Why is this a problem? Let’s look at it this way: Next time your going to get your hair done or cut, don’t go to a stylist, instead I’ll refer you to my friends brother Stevie, who is “thinking” about becoming a stylist, and likes to dabble with it. Its much cheaper!

Now, unless you don’t care about your appearance, odds are you will say “no thanks, I’ll go to my stylist”. But why? Why would you use a professional web designer to design and code your site? The same reason you won’t go to Stevie for a trim. You want it done right and you want it done professionally. Period.

When you hire someone who is not experienced or skilled on a professional level, to design and code your site, you walk around looking like your friends brother cut your hair. Trust a professional designer.

When you put all these things together you realize that a website design or redesign with a clear SEO strategy must work together to achieve your site goals. Remember, its not just getting people to your site, its also having them stay.

About the Author

Doryan seemed to be born with a knack for all things artistic. Growing up in Northern New Jersey, he was fed a daily dose of sarcasm and comic books, where instead of dreaming about being the superhero, he dreamed of drawing the superheroes. He discovered the treasure that is Photoshop and digital art. Doryan has since devoted his life to web design, web development, illustration and anything web design related.