How Well Designed Websites Improve Search Rankings: Three Tips

Did you know that about 40% of online users will abandon a page if it takes longer than three seconds to load? This percentage only increases as the wait time increases.

It’s no secret that great, responsive web design can have a big impact on how successful your website is. It can affect everything from visitor response rate to search engine ranking results. If you are interested in investing in custom web design services, then here are three things we recommend keeping in mind.

1. Web Design is Your Front Door
   When it comes to great web design, you need to think of your website as a storefront. Quality design is the door that lets consumers in. If your page seems unwelcoming, unprofessional, or out of order, people are less likely to walk in, and more likely to visit neighboring businesses. It’s pretty telling that, according to web research by Stanford University, 75% of people make judgments about a company’s credibility and trustworthiness based on their site design. Work with a designer who can advise and implement positive changes.
2. The Impact of Mobile Optimization
   Did you know that more than 50% of local searches are performed using mobile devices? Yet, surprisingly, only about 20% of U.S. retailers have a mobile commerce app. It’s important to get your website optimized now for mobile usage — its impact on businesses both large and small is only going to increase in the coming years. When sites aren’t specifically outfitted for mobile viewing, consumers don’t make do: they navigate away. Furthermore, 46% of them will avoid your site in the future. Custom web designers can help your site make the transition to mobile compatibility.
3. How Well Designed Websites Improve Search Rankings
   Considering that search is a number one driver of traffic to content websites, improving Google rank is important to most companies. There are a few common mistakes that website owners make, causing their sites to fall in Google search rankings. One thing Google evaluates for ranking is your site’s loading time. Custom website design can help ensure that your site loads quickly and smoothly; cheap web design will make your site bulky with code, and cause it to fall in rankings. A custom web designer can also help you establish a blog, which increases pages for search indexing by 432% on average.

What questions would you ask a custom web design company? Let us know in the comments.