When we talk about optimizing for search engines, what is it exactly that we are optimizing? Well, the answer that comes to mind is ‘website’ even if this isn’t the only thing that can be optimized for search engines. Well, this precisely reflects how web development and SEO go hand-in-hand. To understand it more elaborately, read on and learn what is the importance of web development in SEO.
In order to rank on search engines and reach their target market on the internet, businesses are supposed to optimize their website. And what does it mean by optimizing a website? For one, yes content marketing and proper keyword placement are necessary. But is that all? No.
How your website is developed plays a big role in determining the success of your search engine optimization. And hence, if you want to succeed in SEO, you can’t overlook website development. In fact, the professional digital marketing agencies in Dallas interlace their SEO services with web development services to give the best results.
Through the list of arguments given below, you will be able to understand why web development is so important in SEO.
Importance of web development in SEO
#Dwell Time
Dwell time implies the amount of time a user spends engaging with a website from the moment she/he entered it to the moment she/he lefts it. If the dwell time on your website is higher, it will signal search engines that people are finding something valuable in it. As a result, they’d give you a ranking boost for your target keywords. Dwell time is greatly dependent on two factors—website design and content. And this is one reason why web development is so important in SEO. In fact, the other factor, that is content, is also dependent on your web design to great extent—something we’ll talk about at a later point.
#Bounce Rate
Bounce rate may be understood as the evil twin of dwell time. Every time a visitor exits your website without engaging with it, the bounce rate higher-ups. This is unfavorable for SEO as it leads to penalization. And that’s another point where web development comes into play. By having an appealing, user-friendly, and smooth-running website, you can improve the chances of visitors choosing to engage with your website instead of bouncing back.
#Content marketing
Content marketing is extremely important for SEO as it is what allows you the scope for keyword placement. And not to mention how it plays a great role in audience engagement and dwell time. However, poor web development can even make your content fall apart while eventually damaging your SEO. And this is another reason why effective SEO needs effective web development.
Moreover, content doesn’t only imply written content but also multimedia like images, videos, GIFs, animations, etc. Now embedding and including such media is also largely a web development task. One needs to make sure that the integration of such media types doesn’t slow down the page or affect it adversely in any other way or else, it can bring your UX down, and then SEO—you know the cycle, right? So, web development is important to keep your content marketing and SEO running smoothly.
#Mobile optimization
Optimizing their online presence for mobile phones has become extremely crucial for businesses these days. And since your website is the focal point for your business’s online presence, it is crucial to develop it in a way that it gives a great user experience to mobile users. So again, web development is integral in SEO. This explains why web development is such an important factor in SEO services of many digital marketing agencies in San Francisco.
#Web design
How appealing and clean your web design is, whether or not it is responsive, and so on are some of the important factors that affect the decision of your visitors. If the web design is poor and inconvenient, it would lead to site abandonment which would further bring down your SEO. And hence maintaining an optimal web design is crucial for search visibility. Moreover, having a Responsive Web Design, which is apparently a component of web development, is considered an important SEO practice too. It ensures that your website renders well on the screens of a variety of devices, especially mobile devices. And we have already been through how important mobile optimization is for SEO.
#Loading speed
Websites that take more than a couple of seconds or so to open and load are abandoned by half of the visitors. And this is especially the case with mobile users—the ones who dominate the online shoppers’ population anyway. So many bounce exits lead to search penalization. Hence, the loading speed of a website is quite an important factor of SEO. And which is well, eventually rooted in web development.
#CTA
Call to Action or better called CTA are elements in a website that allow visitors to take desired actions on a website. CTA can make or break a website. Proper functioning and optimally created and placed CTA elements and buttons are crucial determiners of the UX. Poor CTA can easily translate into poor UX thus leading visitors to bounce back. Therefore, effective CTA elements are crucial for effective SEO. And you can only optimize your CTA with proper web development.
#Navigability
Navigability is a web development factor that determines how easy or hard it is to find something on your website. The easier it is to navigate through your website; the better it would be for the user experience, which is important for SEO. Your navigation features should work properly, place prominently, and developed in a way that they also help customer understand how to search what they are looking for. And taking care of all these things is the concern of web developers. So, this is another intersecting point for SEO and web development.
By and large
Search engine optimization and web development are inevitably intertwined. Simply put, when we even talk about optimizing for search engines, it is naturally understood that website is being optimized. How your website is developed goes on to define its UX which further influences your dwell time and bounce rate. And then both these factors affect your search ranking and play a role in shaping your overall SEO. Therefore, professional digital marketing agencies in Los Angeles also take care of the client’s web development requirements for optimal SEO services.
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