How to create an attractive website?

How to create an attractive website for the person and Search Engines?

Various factors can make a website truly amazing. Generating user engagement through pleasing visuals and navigation are among the most relevant. This becomes clear when we understand the importance of creating attractive pages for both people and search engines, while also better understanding the design errors that affect their optimization.

Now, we’ll discover the fundamentals and essential elements to create an attractive website for both the person and the search engines.

1. Navigation and structure of the website

When we go to the supermarket, we find signs that say Fruits and Vegetables, Drinks, Frozen Foods, Hygiene, among others. If we go to the Hygiene section, for example, we will see the products separated by Deodorant, Soap, Toothpaste, Shampoo, among others.

A website can be said to be organized in a similar way. We separate products or content into categories and subcategories following a hierarchy. They are available in menus, for the user to navigate according to what they are looking for.

You can see how Amazon was careful not to put every possible option on the same menu. The navigation clearly goes from a broader category to a more specific one.

In addition to helping users understand what the site has to offer and allowing them to go where they want, tiering and sub-tiering helps search engines understand the context and relevance of your pages.

Therefore, focus on simplicity by avoiding building elaborate menus. Instead, group the contents or products with the appropriate division of categories and subcategories. If you encounter difficulties in this process, information architecture will be of great help.

2. Content layout

It is already well known that the quality of SEO content is one of the most important factors for the Google algorithm. Therefore, value the information your site has to offer.

Keep in mind that on the web, we compete for the attention of the user, who probably has several other tabs open in addition to your page. In this context, where every visit to your site can be considered a victory, we must focus on the content and not create additional distractions.

Therefore, always think about helping the reader find what they are looking for by balancing text, visual elements and white spaces so as not to neglect the content.

3. Responsive design

Responsive design —which has the ability to adapt to the screen size of the user's device— is essential, especially with the growing use of mobile Internet in the world. To illustrate this, the cell phone is already the main means of Internet access in many countries around the world.

Due to such relevancy, Google search already considers the pages' mobile-friendliness as one of its search engine ranking factors.

Therefore, make sure you value the freedom of your visitors and always offer a pleasant experience regardless of whether they prefer to visit your website from a desktop computer or another device.

4. Use of images

The visual appeal of a website is crucial to creating a connection between the visitor and the brand. In this sense, images are significant allies to improve the appearance and complement the text content present on the page.

It turns out that search engines (yet) are not able to interpret what is in the images. For this reason, in terms of SEO, you should include a description of the images you decide to add. To do this, simply insert an 'alt text', using the alt text attribute.