This issue is one that has been bothering me for quite some time. Unless you are searching for big name brand items (Nike, Ikea…) or some design related terms (trendy blogs, CSS…), by and large 8 out of 10 results in the results will be ugly, poorly designed, and even un-user friendly.
There are lots of explanations to this, some of it may also be my more particular eye for design, but there is no reason why websites need to be ugly in order to rank. Truthfully, all that SEO money spent will be wasted if your site can’t convert.
One explanation would be the rift between graphic designers, nerdy developers, and SEO savvy Internet marketers. Having previously worked in a programmer heavy department as the graphic designer, I have seen the struggle to keep designs trendy while satisfying the programmer’s idea of flexibility and development.
Having done a significant amount of front end implementation and backend development, I know there was no reason that design and development couldn’t have happened smoothly keeping both happy.
Now sitting in a double seat as a designer and an SEO I have to find the balance between design and SEO.
The biggest problem between these two is that they serve two masters. Design serves the user. Usability, appeal, marketing, focus of design, these are all things that the design has to maintain. On the other hand as an SEO you are working to leverage every single page, link, menu, paragraph, title and contact to increase your traffic to the site. This is serving the bots.
I think that this gets to the core of what I love about being an SEO. I love being an SEO because I am in reality an Internet Marketer, does SEO and Design.
Every single project has a bottom line. That bottom line can vary from site to site, or even various sections of each website. However all things should point to that bottom line.
When you are designing, you need to keep the SEO in mind. Dani is fantastic with this, she has been creating designs, layouts, that thrive off of linking, navigation, content. Because of this, our sites are not only beautiful, but they function for SEO well.
When I set up the SEO site structure, I have to keep the design and over all conversion in mind. By doing this I am actually creating a quality site that users will find useful.
SEO should not suffer because of fancy graphic design (no matter how much flash you want), and likewise graphic design should not suffer because of spammy SEO tactics (even if they work). Instead when a team knows what they are doing, a quality, real website, can be delivered.
No comment yet
Don't be shy, express yourself ! ;)