SEO - Search Engine Optimization - is a term that's thrown around loosely lately. I searched Google for "SEO Web Designer" and 113 MILLION results came up. WOW . The SEO industry looks nothing like it did a decade ago. Anyone who remembers the "good old days" will say manipulating the Google results was just too easy. Load the title/description/content with keywords and POOF, you ranked towards the top. FAST FORWARD to today and keywords are barely in the top 10 of algorithm ranking factors. Sure, you still need to use keywords to tell search engines what your page is about, but SEO is SO MUCH MORE than that.

SEO in now is more about engagement then anything else. Take a step back for a moment and realize why Google exists. You have a question, and are searching for an answer. In the eyes of Google, those sites that have the most engagement for that keyword phrase are going to get the highest results. No matter how well you think you have your keyword strategy figured out, if people aren't clicking or using your site correctly it'll result in a drop in the search engine results.

When I look at designing a website, the first thing I think about is the natural FLOW of the site. How should it be laid out so the user actually reads and engages with your site? If you're reading this and have a website, how engaging is your site? You can see this in your site analytics if you know where to look. I keep an eye out for the following trends:

• HIGH Bounce Rate - A bounce rate quite simply means someone came to your site, and ended up hitting the back button to go back to the results. If you're bounce rate is HIGH (above 80% especially), you're probably not engaging your site users.
• Average Time on Site - How long is the average user spending on your website? Is it 15 seconds or 3 minutes? The longer the user spends, the more time spent on your content.
• Pageviews/Visit - Is your pageviews per visit sitting around 1? If so, it's a telltale sign that users aren't engaged. If you have proper navigation, buttons, and in-site links; you should be seeing a good average. If the purpose of your site is to get people to contact you (like a service industry, for example), and they're NOT - that's obviously a sign that your website isn't working for you. After all, aren't leads/sales the whole reason for a website in the first place???

Here at Design Wizards, we're constantly studying the flow of websites to determine the best engagement. From the title/description on the search engine results to navigation of your site; we're going to craft a solution that we feel works best for your users. If you'd like to learn more about what we can do for you, give us a shout at 800.209.9956 . We will explain the process and give an accurate quote if you're interested. We're low pressure - high results!