Content is king, but Google also considers form
Google does in fact assess whether websites and webpages are constructed according to relevant ‘rules’. So layout and structure play an important part.
Layout means a lot more than just the appearance of your website.
- The use of a contemporary layout with css (cascading style sheets) has become standard. If layout items are too ‘exotic’ (special fonts, images or videos in a deviant format), not every browser will be able to process them correctly. This will lower the quality of the user experience significantly, which Google deems to be important. A website with possible layout issues will be assigned a lower rating. The use of a mobile-friendly layout is also becoming increasingly important: Google gives priority to websites with a mobile-friendly layout if users do indeed search on the go, and more and more people are doing so …
- Avoid frames: Some frames, such as iframes, have useful applications, for instance to track visitors. Incorporating content from one page on an another page through frames, is something to avoid. This makes pages more difficult to index by search engines such as Google. Sometimes the content of a framed page is considered to be the most important page for that particular word, disregarding information outside the frame, such as f.i. navigation. Visitors landing on that page will not be able to see navigation elements leading to other pages. Sometimes it might even be unclear which website has been reached, so visitors will quickly lose interest and leave.
- Integrate social media on relevant pages of your website. F.i.:
- Twitter can be an interesting medium to communicate with your customers. The same goes for Instagram, if you’re in an industry that relies primarily on visual communication. Youtube videos allow you to publish feature presentations and tips about your products and services and make them more widely available than just on your own website.
- Facebook: if a web page has a lot of ‘Likes’, this will have a positive impact on the position reached in search results. A Facebook page for your company is a good idea!
A good website structure: important for visitors and Google
| Good website structures are consistent: Google is fond of websites that grow and are regularly updated with new information. Make sure new webpages fit into the structure of your website, so it doesn’t get too messy.
Ideally, a visitor to your homepage will find what they are looking for in three clicks . Keep this in mind when setting up the website navigation. |
Important: Through Google, visitors will reach an optimised page, not the actual homepage. Apply the same standard of quality to every optimised page, so visitors find a consistent and complete story. |
Within your website, use text links with keywords to connect one optimised webpage to another. Check if the linked page is relevant for the keyword in the text link. Google highly regards the relay between text links and the destination page.
‘Get more customers out of your website’, a previous iPower mailing discussed how your website’s layout, structure and content can increase turnover. Subscribe to this mailing.
Next blog post: How many visitors does a high position in Google generate?