{"id":2382,"date":"2025-04-28T07:42:02","date_gmt":"2025-04-28T06:42:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.forestsoftware.co.uk\/blog\/?p=2382"},"modified":"2025-04-23T14:26:59","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T13:26:59","slug":"can-the-design-of-your-small-business-website-mess-with-your-search-rankings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.forestsoftware.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/04\/can-the-design-of-your-small-business-website-mess-with-your-search-rankings\/","title":{"rendered":"Can the Design of Your Small Business Website Mess With Your Search Rankings?"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading Time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 5<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes : <\/span><\/span><h1>Can the Design of Your Small Business Website Mess With Your Search Rankings?<\/h1>\n<p>Alright, let\u2019s get straight to it: does the look and layout of your small business website actually mess with where you land on Google? Or is that just a rumour started by a bored <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forestsoftware.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/09\/the-importance-of-using-a-specialist-website-design-company-for-an-accountants-website\/\">web designer<\/a> trying to justify their fees?<\/p>\n<p>Short answer: yes, design can absolutely affect your search engine rankings.<\/p>\n<p>Long answer: grab a cuppa, this is going to get interesting.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<h2><strong>First off \u2013 what do we mean by \u201cdesign\u201d?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2383\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2383\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-2383\" src=\"https:\/\/www.forestsoftware.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/website-design-chat-300x300.png\" alt=\"Website Design Image\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.forestsoftware.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/website-design-chat-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/www.forestsoftware.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/website-design-chat-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.forestsoftware.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/website-design-chat-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/www.forestsoftware.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/website-design-chat-120x120.png 120w, https:\/\/www.forestsoftware.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/website-design-chat.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2383\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Website Design Image<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>When we say \u201cdesign,\u201d we\u2019re not just chatting about colours and whether your logo has a duck wearing a top hat (though that\u2019s adorable). We\u2019re talking about the whole user experience. That includes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>How fast your site loads<\/li>\n<li>Whether it works on a phone<\/li>\n<li>If it\u2019s easy to read and navigate<\/li>\n<li>If people can find what they\u2019re looking for without needing a map, compass, and a minor in archaeology<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Basically, it\u2019s about whether your website is a pleasure to use\u2026 or a digital nightmare.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Google\u2019s got eyes (sort of)<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Now, Google doesn\u2019t <em>see<\/em> your site like we do. It\u2019s not sitting there judging your font choices (though if you\u2019re still using Comic Sans, it probably should be). But it does have clever bots that crawl your site, and they\u2019re looking for clues about how useful and easy to use it is.<\/p>\n<p>If your design\u2019s putting people off \u2014 maybe your text is tiny, your buttons are wonky, or your site takes longer to load than a kettle with a hangover \u2014 Google notices.<\/p>\n<p>And when Google\u2019s unimpressed? Down the rankings you go.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Speed matters more than coffee<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Let\u2019s talk loading times. If your site takes more than 3 seconds to load, people start bailing. And not in a polite, \u201cthanks for having me\u201d way. It\u2019s more like they\u2019ve seen a wasp and legged it.<\/p>\n<p>Search engines hate that. If loads of people land on your site and then immediately run off again, it\u2019s a sign that something\u2019s wrong. It\u2019s called a \u201cbounce,\u201d and a high bounce rate is the equivalent of Google raising its eyebrow at you in quiet disappointment.<\/p>\n<p>You can speed things up by:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Compressing your images (no one needs a full-res photo of a doughnut, Darren)<\/li>\n<li>Minimising fancy animations<\/li>\n<li>Using a decent hosting provider (yes, even if it costs more than a tenner a year)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Mobile-friendliness isn\u2019t optional anymore<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>If your website doesn\u2019t work on a phone in 2025, we\u2019ve got a problem. Everyone\u2019s browsing on their mobiles now \u2013 in bed, on the loo, waiting for toast \u2013 so your site needs to be ready for that.<\/p>\n<p>Google actually checks if your site is \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.forestsoftware.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/11\/make-your-website-easy-to-use\/\">mobile-friendly<\/a>\u201d and uses that to decide where you rank. If your buttons are too small to poke with a thumb, or your menu disappears like it\u2019s got stage fright, it\u2019ll affect your SEO.<\/p>\n<p>So yeah. Mobile matters. Big time.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Navigation: the digital sat nav<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>You know when you go to a shop and nothing\u2019s labelled and you can\u2019t even find the exit? That\u2019s what a badly-designed website feels like.<\/p>\n<p>Your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forestsoftware.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/11\/make-your-website-easy-to-use\/\">navigation<\/a> should be clear, simple, and obvious. No clever names for pages like \u201cOur Journey\u201d instead of \u201cAbout Us.\u201d You\u2019re not Tolkien, you sell garden tools.<\/p>\n<p>If people can\u2019t figure out where to click, they leave. And, once again, Google sees that and sighs deeply.<\/p>\n<p>Bonus tip: add a search bar. Everyone loves a good search bar.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Content layout = how readable is your stuff?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>You might have the best blog post in the world about how to fix a leaky tap, but if it\u2019s in one giant chunk of text with no headings, bullet points or breathing room, no one\u2019s going to read it.<\/p>\n<p>Design plays a role in content too. Break things up. Use white space. Add images if it helps. Make your text a comfortable size (14-16pt is a good shout for body text). And don\u2019t go for light grey text on a white background unless you want to ruin someone\u2019s eyesight and your bounce rate.<\/p>\n<p>Google loves content that people actually stick around to read. So help them out.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Fonts and colours: not just for vibes<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Your font and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forestsoftware.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/04\/designing-for-colour-blindness-or-why-your-green-button-might-be-red\/\">colour choices<\/a> don\u2019t directly affect SEO\u2026 but they <em>do<\/em> affect usability.<\/p>\n<p>If your font looks like it was scratched on a wall by a moody Victorian ghost, people won\u2019t read it. If your background is neon green and your text is red, it might be festive but it\u2019s also borderline unreadable.<\/p>\n<p>Good design builds trust. Bad design makes people worry you\u2019re going to sell their data to a goblin in a trench coat. And guess what people do when they don\u2019t trust a site? Yep \u2014 they leave. And we\u2019re back to bounces and sad rankings.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Images: pretty but dangerous<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Images are great. They break up text, show off your products, and make your site feel alive. But they\u2019re also sneaky little troublemakers if you\u2019re not careful.<\/p>\n<p>Massive, uncompressed images, or even lots of smaller ones are one of the top reasons small business websites load slower than a sloth on a Sunday. Make sure your images are the right size and format (JPEG for photos, PNG for graphics, WebP if you\u2019re fancy).<\/p>\n<p>Also: use \u201calt text.\u201d That\u2019s a little description you add to images behind the scenes. It helps with accessibility <em>and<\/em> SEO. So yes, describing that photo of your team dressed as superheroes <em>does<\/em> help your rankings. Who knew?<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Pop-ups: the necessary evil<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Pop-ups are like marmite \u2014 you either hate them (they make me leave a site) or tolerate them for the freebies.<\/p>\n<p>They <em>can<\/em> be useful (newsletter signups, discount offers, etc), but if they pop up immediately, cover the whole screen, or are impossible to close on mobile, Google frowns on them. Especially on phones, where they\u2019re a right pain in the thumb.<\/p>\n<p>Use pop-ups sparingly, make them easy to close, and don\u2019t make people feel like they\u2019re fighting a mini boss just to read your homepage.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Accessibility is SEO\u2019s secret weapon<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Designing your website to be accessible (that means usable for people with disabilities) isn\u2019t just kind and decent \u2013 it also helps your search engine rankings.<\/p>\n<p>Why? Because accessible sites are better structured, easier to navigate, and more usable for <em>everyone<\/em>. That means cleaner code, better headings, properly labelled images and buttons, and good colour contrast.<\/p>\n<p>And Google <em>loves<\/em> clean, well-structured sites. So yeah \u2013 accessibility isn\u2019t just about being inclusive, it\u2019s also about getting found.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Design trends that <em>don\u2019t<\/em> help SEO<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Some web design fads are fine for your Instagram grid but bad for your business site. Watch out for:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Parallax scrolling<\/strong> \u2013 where the background moves separately from the foreground. Cool? Maybe. Helpful? Not really.<\/li>\n<li><strong>All-text-in-images<\/strong> \u2013 search engines can\u2019t easily read text inside pictures, so if your homepage is just a giant poster, Google\u2019s got nothing to work with.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Menus hidden behind fancy animations<\/strong> \u2013 no one wants to wait for your menu to slowly spiral into view like it\u2019s auditioning for <em>Strictly<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Keep it clean, keep it clear, and save the fireworks for Bonfire Night.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>So\u2026 does design affect SEO?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Absolutely. 100%. No doubt about it.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not just about having a pretty website. It\u2019s about having a site that works well, loads quickly, looks good on any device, and helps people find what they\u2019re looking for. That\u2019s what makes Google sit up and take notice.<\/p>\n<p>If your site\u2019s a pain to use, Google assumes your business might be too. But if it\u2019s a dream to navigate, quick as lightning, and a joy to browse? You\u2019ve got a much better shot at climbing those search results.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Final thoughts (a.k.a the moral of the story)<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>If your small business website looks like it was built in 2004 by your cousin who once took an ICT class, it might be time for a redesign. Not just for vanity \u2014 for visibility.<\/p>\n<p>Design and SEO are mates now. You can\u2019t really have one without the other. So next time you\u2019re planning a site update, don\u2019t just think \u201cwhat looks nice?\u201d Think:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Will this load fast?<\/li>\n<li>Can people find stuff easily?<\/li>\n<li>Is it readable, mobile-friendly, and accessible?<\/li>\n<li>Will visitors enjoy using it?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Because when you design for real people, the search engines follow.<\/p>\n<p>And that, dear reader, is how good design helps your small business show up in the big wide world of Google.<\/p>\n<p>Now go check your website. I\u2019ll wait.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading Time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 5<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes : <\/span><\/span>Can the Design of Your Small Business Website Mess With Your Search Rankings? Alright, let\u2019s get straight to it: does the look and layout of your small business website actually mess with where you land on Google? Or is that just a rumour started by a bored web designer trying to justify their fees? Short [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5,6,10,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-advice","category-computers","category-general","category-marketing-2","category-seo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forestsoftware.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forestsoftware.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forestsoftware.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forestsoftware.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forestsoftware.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.forestsoftware.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2382\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forestsoftware.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forestsoftware.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forestsoftware.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}