Upgrade My Old Website Design: Boosting User Engagement and SEO
In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, your website serves as the face of your business. An outdated website design can drive potential customers away, harm your search engine rankings, and negatively impact your online presence. In this blog, we’ll explore why it’s crucial to upgrade your old website design and how a new website design can enhance user experience and boost your SEO efforts.
Why Upgrade Your Old Website Design?
- 94% of first impressions for your website are design-related. In a lot of cases this is the first impression a potential client has of your business. When users encounter a well-designed site, it immediately captures their attention. However when a user encounters a badly designed or slow website they may turn away away before they even have a chance to explore your products or services
- The average time users take to form an opinion about your website is just 2.6 secs. An outdated design or slow website can lead to a bad first impression and unfavorable judgments.
Mobile Responsive Websites
- Around 60% is the share of internet traffic generated from mobile devices. An old design may not be mobile-friendly, alienating a significant portion of your audience.
- Google’s Mobile-First Indexing: Google prioritises mobile-friendly websites in search results, so a new responsive and faster loading website will help improve your SEO.
Speed and Functionality
- 53%: The percentage of mobile users who abandon a site if it takes more than three seconds to load. Slow-loading websites will cost you potential customers.
- 79%: Users less likely to revisit a site with poor performance. Upgrading can boost your site’s functionality and load times.
Just because a website is responsive does not mean its fast. Responsive websites can be badly designed and bloated with unnecessary plugins, code and large images
SEO Benefits
- 35%: The increase in organic search traffic experienced by businesses that redesigned their website. A fresh design can improve your SEO rankings.
- Improved Site Structure: Redesigning allows you to reorganise your site for better user navigation and SEO. As you redesign your site you should make sure you optimise your images(Compress images and use SEO friendly alt tags), optimise keywords and optimise your URL’s
IMPORTANT: When you optimise URL structure its vital you 301 redirect old urls to new urls
Tips for Upgrading Your Website Design
1. Responsive Design
- Ensure your new design is mobile-responsive to cater to all device types.
- Use responsive frameworks like Bootstrap or CSS Grid for a flexible layout.
- For wordpress page builders such as elementor use new features such as flexbox to cut down on bloat
- Check Google page insights as you work for tips on speed optimisations
2. Speed Optimization
- Compress images and utilize browser caching to improve load times.
- Remove unnecessary plugins and scripts that slow down your site.
3.User-Centric Navigation
- Simplify menus and create clear navigation paths to improve user experience.
- Implement breadcrumb trails and site maps for easier navigation.
4. SEO-Friendly Elements
5. Aesthetic Refresh
- Choose a modern and visually appealing design that aligns with your brand identity.
- Use high-quality visuals and readable fonts to enhance aesthetics.
Conclusion
Upgrading your old website design is not just about aesthetics; it’s about ensuring a positive user experience and boosting your SEO efforts. With statistics showing the impact of design on user engagement and website performance, investing in a redesign is a strategic move for any business. Don’t let an outdated website hold you back—take the leap and reap the rewards of a refreshed online presence.
Sources used
- Linkedin 94% of First impressions are design related
- Missouri University The average time users take to form an opinion about your website is just 2.6 secs
- Statista Around 60% is the share of internet traffic generated from mobile devices.
- Google Google prioritises mobile-friendly websites in search results
- LAMBDATEST The 53 % percentage of mobile users who abandon a bad site
- NAU University 79%: Users less likely to revisit a site with poor performance.
