From the earliest stages of building a web page, SEO must be kept in mind throughout the entire process, including how the website is designed. While the creativity associated with design may initially seem to clash with strategic SEO, it is actually possible to have the two blend together into a cohesive project that maximizes your online efforts. Learn how to build a website that will boost ranking while staying aesthetically pleasing with these best practices when designing a website for SEO:

User-Friendly

This should be obvious, but sometimes the most obvious things get overlooked. As interesting as you may want to get with the web page’s design, make sure you don’t sacrifice usability for visitors. You want to have your web page designed in a way that isn’t confusing or overwhelming to the user. This includes a easy-to-use navigation and building a layout that matches the natural movement of a user’s eye. Keeping a user-friendly design in mind is the best way to blend design and SEO.

Use JavaScripts Wisely

JavaScripts in a web design can be useful, but they should not be used for an entire site design. Overuse of JavaScripts will result in crawl errors when search engines are indexing websites. Additionally, JavaScripts do not work as smoothly on mobile devices, which can interfere with a responsive design. A website must be user-friendly for not only users but search engines as well.

Image Optimization

To gain a better rank in SERPs, optimizing does not stop at the text. Be sure the images you are using are optimized as well. You can do this by avoiding the use of large images on your site, keeping the size between 30 to 100 KB with a resolution of 72 dpi for better page speed. Also, include your focus keyword phrase in the Alt-Text of each image in order to appear in image search results.

Responsiveness

Today, websites are accessed on different devices beyond a desktop. Browsers are increasingly being opened on mobile devices and tablets as well. For this reason, it is crucial for web pages to be responsive, or to fit across all devices. While this ensures a web page looks great no matter the screen size, it is also important from an SEO perspective. A responsive website has only one URL for both desktop and mobile sites, making it easier to share links to your page. It also helps increase external backlinks.

Keyword Relevance

When populating your website with text, it is important to use your targeted keyword phrases, but it still must flow as naturally in your message as possible. Overusing keyword phrases will appear spammy.

Social Media Icons

Just as you would use social media to drive traffic to your website, you can also include your social media links on your web page to do the same thing. Placing social media icons at the top of your page will drive people to engage with you in the various places you are online. The first step to building a presence online is letting people know you are out there.