Trends in web design move relatively quickly because they are influenced by so many factors. New technology and changing consumer needs have a big impact, as do any changes in the services offered by the business. The nature of the industry means that you need to be ready to adapt your website whenever necessary. In some cases you’ll only need slight changes, but occasionally you’ll need to completely redevelop the design to make it fresh and modern.
An important thing to keep in mind when you redesign a website is the impact it will have on SEO. All the hard work you have done to get your site found for your relevant keywords can be undone if you are not careful. Before you make any changes, you should complete a full audit of your existing site. This will help you to determine which pages attract visitors and generate enquiries or sales. You need to know why these pages perform well and ensure you incorporate the same qualities into the new pages.
One of the most crucial things to keep an eye on is the URLs. If you are changing pages and getting rid of some of the old ones, you need to ensure you have 301 redirects in place or remove the pages you will no longer need. This is essential; if you don’t do it you’ll find your site has more 404 errors and this can have a negative effect on your search engine optimisation.
When redesigning a website, it is vital to consider SEO from the very beginning. You will naturally be thinking about how the new site will look and where content will be positioned on pages during the design stage. Both of these have an impact on optimisation and performance. If you create a design then try to think about optimising it you may find you have made mistakes. This could potentially lead to a complete redesign and additional costs.
A final tip is to remember that SEO work is never finished. Once the site is built, you’ll still need to work hard to keep it optimised and performing well. This is particularly important when you consider that Google and other search engines regularly change their ranking algorithms so the optimisation you did at first will not remain relevant forever. You need to continuously monitor your website, keep up to date on the SEO world and ensure you keep pushing your site and doing all you can to get it found. Here at Web Consultancy, we can implement professional SEO techniques to help you get more website traffic. Just get in touch to find out what we can do for you.