Your website is beautiful, but is it findable? The SEO website design tips that we’ll share in this article will help you create a site that captures your brand AND shows up when potential clients search for what you offer.
One of the biggest misconceptions about SEO website design is that it looks ugly or robotic. People think SEO is technical and website design is creative, two complete opposites. But beauty and SEO performance aren’t mutually exclusive. You can have both.
At Bethany Works®, we don’t treat SEO as an afterthought or a technical checklist to complete after the creative work is done. We build psychology-backed design AND SEO-friendly websites that convert visitors into customers while ranking high in search results. Here are our best tips.
Also, this post contains affiliate links. That means I get a small kick-back if you purchase the products linked to below. You can read my privacy policy for more info. Now that’s done- let’s look at my favorite business tools.
What Is SEO Website Design?
SEO, or search engine optimization, is the practice of optimizing your website to appear on search engine results pages. For example, when someone searches for “sustainable skincare routine,” you want your wellness brand to appear as a top result.
The benefits of having an SEO-focused website design include:
- Increased organic traffic: More people discover your business naturally through search engines rather than paid ads or social media posts.Yes, this also means people find you via AI – because ChatGPT and Claude still scrape the internet for their results!
- Higher-quality leads: People who find you through targeted search are actively looking for what you offer. They often have buying intent, OR at least the desire to know more about a particular topic.
- Sustainable business growth: Unlike paid advertising that stops working when you stop paying, organic search traffic builds momentum over time.
- Better user experience: SEO best practices like fast loading times and mobile optimization make your website better for users.
- Higher credibility: Websites that rank high in search results are perceived as more trustworthy and authoritative by potential clients.
It doesn’t really make sense to pay thousands of dollars to create a website that no one will find or a website that you’ll have to actively promote every day on social media for people to discover, right? This is why SEO web design is so important and something I always suggest that my clients add to our work together.
7 SEO Website Design Tips
Google’s search algorithm uses more than 200 ranking factors, but here are the most important tips for an SEO-friendly website.
1. Prioritize Mobile Design
Google takes a mobile-first approach to crawling and ranking pages. This means Google looks at the mobile version of your website first when determining how to rank it. Since most people search on their phones, this makes sense. (You might think it’s obvious, but I see a ton of sites that forget about mobile!)
To make your design mobile-friendly:
- Use responsive design: Your website should automatically adjust to fit any screen size. Text should be readable without zooming, buttons should be easy to tap, and navigation should work smoothly on touch screens.
- Keep mobile users in mind: What looks good on a desktop might be cluttered on a phone. Simplify your layout for smaller screens. Use larger fonts and make sure your most important content appears first.
- Test on your device: Don’t just resize your browser window – check how your web pages look on your phone/tablet.
If you’re looking to hire a professional, one of the most important questions you should ask your web designer is whether they optimize for mobile devices. Again, this is not JUST for SEO. Many of your leads are going to be using their phones on search engines, so you want them to land on an optimized website.
2. Optimize Your Website Speed
Fast websites rank higher and keep visitors engaged. If your site takes more than a few seconds to load, most people will leave before they even see your content. For SEO and website design specifically, here’s what to do to make your website load faster:
- Compress your images: Large image files are the biggest culprit for slow websites. Use tools like TinyPNG or JPEGminipro to reduce file sizes without losing quality.
- Choose quality hosting: Cheap hosting might save money upfront, but slow loading times will cost you more in lost business. If you’re using WordPress, my favorite host is SiteGround.
- Minimize code bloat: Remove unnecessary plugins, compress your CSS, and eliminate any features you’re not using.
Also, sometimes it can be tempting to use a lot of video content on your website, which can look great, but TOO much video content can slow your page speed down and hurt your search engine rankings. Any and ALL video should absolutely be embedded no matter what. So you’ll upload to something like Vimeo.
3. Create a Solid Site Structure
A logical site structure helps both users and search engines understand your website. If your website has a million pages that don’t all connect, it can be confusing to navigate – this hurts search engine rankings AND your people.
- Organize content hierarchically: Start with broad categories and get more specific. For example: Services → Brand Design → Logo Design.
- Use descriptive URLs: Instead of “yoursite.com/page1,” use “yoursite.com/brand-design-services.” Clear URLs tell both users and Google what the page is about. On this same note, remove numbers of URLs to keep it everygreen.
- Keep it simple: If you have lots of pages on your website, only include the most important ones in your main menu. Too many options will overwhelm visitors!
- Link related pages together: This helps visitors find relevant content and shows search engines how your pages relate to each other.
Map out all your pages and how they connect BEFORE you start designing (in your sitemap and SEO strategy doc!), because it’ll help you create a solid structure and internal link strategy. If you’re working with a designer and or copywriter, they should help you do this.
4. Pay Attention to Readability
Readability affects both your search rankings and how long people stay on your website. Google can measure how easy your content is to read and factors this into rankings. More importantly, if visitors can’t quickly scan and understand your content, they WILL leave.
One of the most important things that helps with readability is using clear fonts that are easy to read.
Also, give your content room to breathe with plenty of white space, and break up large blocks of text into short paragraphs of 2-3 sentences each.
This is something that you should think about during your branding phase. Some colors & fonts might look really pretty and you can resonate with them visually, but if they’re hard to read (ex, super heavy italics), then they’ll likely hurt your website’s readability.
5. Optimize On-Page SEO
On-page SEO refers to the elements on each page that help search engines understand what that page is about. These elements work together to give context to your content.
On-page SEO optimization includes:
- Title tags: The clickable headline that appears in search results. Keep it under 60 characters and include your main keyword.
- Meta descriptions: The short summary that appears below the title in search results. Write compelling descriptions under 160 characters that make people want to click.
- Header tags (H1, H2, H3): These organize your content hierarchy. Use one H1 per page (usually your main headline) and H2s and H3s for subheadings.
- URL structure: Keep URLs short, descriptive, and include your target keyword when possible.
- Internal links: Link to other relevant pages on your website using descriptive anchor text.
- Keyword optimization: Include relevant keywords naturally throughout your content, but don’t force them. Focus on writing for humans first.
Some of the on-page optimization is the more technical SEO that requires you to go to your website’s backend, which can sometimes be confusing, but it’s very important if you want your site to be search engine-friendly.
6. Write ALT Text for Images
ALT text describes what’s happening in your images for people who use screen readers and for search engines that can’t “see” images. This serves both accessibility purposes to make your website more inclusive (one of our values at Bethany Works®) AND search engine optimization.
Write ALT text as if you’re describing the image to someone over the phone. Be specific and descriptive, and include relevant keywords naturally, but only if they genuinely describe what’s in the image. Don’t keyword stuff.
- Example of good ALT text: Woman in navy blazer presenting brand strategy on whiteboard to team of three people.”
- Example of bad ALT text: “Brand strategy consultant expert branding services woman business meeting.”
Writing ALT text isn’t necessarily hard to do, but it does take a lot of time. If you’re working with web designers who pay attention to both SEO and web design, they’ll write the ALT text for you.
7. Make Your Website “Compelling and Useful”
According to Google itself, creating content that people find “compelling and useful” will influence your website’s search presence more than any other factor. There’s no ONE way to make your website’s content compelling and useful, but here are some important things to consider:
- Focus on your visitors’ needs: Before designing/writing any page, ask yourself what your visitor is trying to accomplish. Are they trying to understand your services? Compare options? Find pricing? Design your content around their goals, not just what YOU want to say.
- Make content scannable: Use headings, bullet points, and short paragraphs so visitors can quickly find what they need. Most people scan before they read.
- Keep content fresh and updated: Outdated information hurts both user experience and search rankings. Regular content updates show Google that your site is actively maintained and relevant.
Another important thing is that you can have very “useful” content in terms of the information you’re sharing, but if it’s crammed together with no white space, buried under poor navigation, or designed in a way that’s hard to read, it won’t be “compelling” to visitors.
Whether you’re a coach or a therapist, high-quality web design makes your content accessible and enjoyable to consume.
Building Your SEO Strategy: DIY or Hire a Pro?
The best thing you can do for your website is to hire a design team that understands the psychology behind visual aesthetics AND SEO. While website design can seem more “creative” and SEO more “technical,” they’re meant to work together. But both require a lot of specialized skill, so it’s not recommended to DIY.
At Bethany Works®, we specialize in intentional, psychology-backed website design with a strong SEO component for multi-figure business owners. Examples of SEO Website Design
Desi Tax Services®
Desi Tax Services® hired us to for a rebrand & a redesign with a strong SEO component. The founder, Desi, knew that the previous brand felt too formal and unapproachable, which was deterring potential clients. She wanted to maintain Desi Tax’s professionalism but make their services seem more accessible to a wider, more diverse audience.
Within the first 5 days of launching their new website, Desi received 8 new inquiries. Her website content finally started driving traffic to her website, and Desi herself said, “The new website, copy, and SEO are working amazingly! Thank you for the investment that keeps on giving. I love me a good ROI!”
The New York Stylist
The New York Stylist is a luxury personal styling business led by Liz, whose outdated website was actively holding her back from growth. Her brand identity felt disconnected from her elegant, timeless style, and the website wasn’t converting visitors into clients despite her extensive expertise.
She needed a complete overhaul that’d capture her sophistication and make it easy for potential clients to book her services. The new website immediately attracted more visitors and kept them engaged, leading to increased bookings and brand deals. But the real SEO success came when we launched a style quiz, which gained 2,000 new subscribers in less than 2 months. Once it started ranking on Google, it exploded to 54-200 subscribers per day. Liz currently has over 40,000 subscribers.
Nurse Fern
Nurse Fern is a nursing education platform and job board created by Emma.She knew she was doing important work helping nurses find remote work, but needed a unified brand and website strategy to tie everything together and scale her impact.
Emma’s website traffic exploded from 15,000 monthly sessions to 94,000 monthly sessions. Her email list grew from 2,000 to 42,000 subscribers, Instagram went from 10,000 to 71.8K followers, and TikTok from 60K to 134.1K. The strategic SEO optimization helped her content reach more nurses who needed her expertise and take her business full-time.
Now, we relaunched with a new job board, and she has started ranking for a whole new set of keywords. It’s a brand that we have been honored to evolve with!
Ruby Pebble Financial Planning®
Ruby Pebble Financial Planning® is an inclusive financial planning practice founded by Jamie (they/them), who recognized a significant gap in the market. Traditional financial planning often overlooks LGBTQ+ clients and couples with separate finances, so Jamie sought to create inclusive, education-focused services that catered to underserved communities.
Within the first 6 months of launching, Ruby Pebble ranked on the first page of Google for highly competitive keywords like “LGBTQ financial planner” and “Seattle LGBTQ financial planner.” Their new website generated 105 leads, leading to 65 intro meetings and 23+ new clients within the first year, with 5 becoming retainer clients. They now, as of this year, and booked out, and have a full wait list of potential clients.
FAQs
How to Design a Website for SEO?
Multiple factors are important for SEO website design. Start with keyword research to understand what your ideal clients are searching for, then build your site structure around those topics. You should also design with mobile users first since Google prioritizes mobile-friendly sites. Create clear navigation that helps both users and search engines understand your content hierarchy, and design every page with a specific purpose and target keyword in mind to match search queries.
What Website Structure Is Best for SEO?
The best website structure follows a logical hierarchy that starts broad and gets more specific. It’s kind of like a pyramid, with your homepage at the top, main service or category pages in the middle, and specific service or blog pages at the bottom. Use descriptive URLs that include relevant keywords, create clear internal linking between related pages, and organize your content into topic clusters that demonstrate your expertise in specific areas.
Can I Do SEO on My Own Website?
Not really, if you want it to be done well. You may be able to write basic meta tags, but SEO is quite technical and requires a lot of specialized knowledge + access to high-quality SEO tools for keyword research and optimization. Also, you may be able to create quality content as an expert, but it’s important to visually present it in a high-quality way, too, which is where web design comes into play – another creative skill that requires extensive knowledge.
How Do I Make My Website Appear in Google Search?
The first and most important thing you should do is design your website with SEO in mind. Your design should be high-quality, and by that we mean not just visually, but also on the backend, including things like title tags, meta descriptions, and structured data. Once you publish your website, you should submit the sitemap through Google Search Console and make sure your site is properly indexed. Then, focus on creating high-quality, original content that answers questions your target audience is asking to improve your website’s performance over time.
Show Up on Google Search Results & Convert with Psychology-Backed Design
At Bethany Works®, we don’t treat SEO as an afterthought or a technical checklist to complete after the creative work is done. We fuse search optimization and psychology-backed design because we understand that both are rooted in human behavior.
Learn more about our services, check out our Portfolio, or get in touch!
