20+ SEO Tips for Web Designers & Content Creators

by Brenda Barron Stokes on Oct 24, 2022

Search engine optimization (SEO) is essential to the success of your website. That goes for eCommerce website owners, service providers, social media consultants, and everything in between. But even if you’re an experienced SEO practitioner, there are always new techniques to learn and implement to improve your search engine rankings. And that goes doubly for web designers and content creators who rely heavily on SEO success but may not have had the time to invest in learning the ins and outs of SEO properly yet. In order to help you stay ahead of the curve, or even to just get started, we’ve put together over 20 SEO tips for web designers and content creators to help you improve your ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs) and give your business a boost.

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1. Understand What Users Are Searching For

The first step to any successful SEO strategy is understanding what users are actually searching for. Use keyword research tools like Google AdWords Keyword Planner and SEMRush to find out what keywords and phrases are most relevant to your business.

2. Keep Your Website Design Simple and Clean

A complex website design may be visually appealing, but it can actually hurt your SEO. Search engines prefer websites that are easy to navigate and have a clean, simple design, so pay careful attention to the layout and design choices you make for your website. Stick to a simple color scheme and avoid using too many fonts, complex graphics, or scripts.

3. Use Descriptive, Keyword-Rich Titles and Headlines

Put that keyword research you did to good use. Make sure that all of your website titles and headlines include relevant keywords that users are searching for. But beware of keyword stuffing, which is the practice of cramming too many keywords into your content in an attempt to game the system. Not only will this make your content difficult to read, but it will also get you penalized by search engines.

4. Optimize Your Website for Speed

Slow loading websites cause an increased bounce rate and will hurt your SEO in the long run. Use Google’s PageSpeed Insights or Pingdom’s Website Speed Test to find out how fast your website loads and identify ways to improve speed. Some common speed optimization techniques include compressing images, minifying CSS and Javascript files, and using a content delivery network (CDN).

5. Use Images and Videos to Help Explain Your Content

Not only do images and videos help to break up text and make your content more visually appealing, but they can also help you rank in search engines. This is largely because search engines are increasingly placing emphasis on rich media content in their algorithm.

6. Create Fresh, Original, and Engaging Content

One of the best ways to improve your SEO is to regularly publish high-quality, original content. This could be in the form of blog posts, articles, infographics, or even video content. But the most important thing is that your content is engaging and informative. The more useful and interesting your content is, the more likely users are to share it, which will help you attract even more organic traffic.

7. Use Search Engine-Friendly URLs

Make sure that your website URLs are short, descriptive, and include relevant keywords. Avoid using long, complicated strings of characters. You should also pay mind to the hierarchy of your website pages when creating URLs. For instance, your homepage URL should be short and to the point (e.g., www.example.com), while pages further down the hierarchy should include keywords in the URL to signal their relevance (e.g., www.example.com/keyword).

8. Use Internal Linking

Linking to other pages on your website helps search engines understand your website’s structure and can also help improve your website’s ranking. Internal links are most effective when they’re used to link to high-quality content that is relevant to the user’s query.

9. Always Add Alt Tags to Your Images

Alt tags are a text description of an image. They help search engines understand what an image is about, and they can also help improve your website’s ranking. They also work with screen readers, so they’re important for accessibility. For SEO specifically, alt tags help Google image search index your website and allow your images to show up in relevant searches.

10. Stick to Proper Heading Tag Formatting

Heading tags are used to denote different sections of content on a web page. They help improve the hierarchy and structure of your content, making it easier for both users and search engines to understand. Because of this, committing to proper heading structure is vital. It essentials look like this:

  • H1 tag: This is typically used for the page title and is the most important heading tag.
  • H2 tag: This is typically used for section titles.
  • H3 tag: This can be used for sub-sections, and so on.

Output for heading tags is as follows: 

These tags shouldn’t be out of order, there should only be one H1 tag per page, and you don’t want to skip headings in sequence.

11. Prioritize Website Accessibility

Make sure that your website is accessible to as many people as possible. This includes people with disabilities, who may use assistive technologies like screen readers. A few considerations to make include using alternative text for images, using descriptive link text, and using headings and lists to structure your content.

12. Implement Schema Markup on Your Website

Schema markup is a code that you can add to your website to help search engines understand your content. It can be used for a variety of purposes, such as Rich Snippets and voice search.

13. Always Follow W3C Standards

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international organization that sets standards for the web. Following their standards helps ensure that your website is accessible and usable by as many people as possible.

14. Optimize Images Before Uploading Them

Large images can slow down your website and hurt your SEO. Make sure to optimize your images for the web before uploading them. This includes reducing file size and using the correct file format. You can use a tool like TinyPNG to compress your images before uploading them.

15. Use Social Signals

Social signals are a signal to search engines that your website is popular and relevant. This can include things like social media shares, likes, and comments. You can use social signals by adding social media buttons to your website and promoting your content on social media.

16. Make Navigation Search Engine-Friendly

Make it easy for both users and search engines to find what they’re looking for on your website. This includes having a well-organized website structure and using descriptive link text. It also means optimizing your site’s menus and breadcrumbs. To do this, you can ensure all menus are text-based and use keyword-rich anchor text for your links.

17. Use Robots.txt

The robots.txt file is a text file that you can use to control how search engines access your website. You can use it to prevent certain pages from being indexed, or you can use it to tell search engines where to find your sitemap.

18. Setup Voice Search Optimization

Voice search continues to grow in popularity, and it’s important to consider voice search optimization when working on your website’s SEO. This includes using natural language and long-tail keywords. To do this properly, you need to research the most common voice search queries for your industry and include them in your content.

19. Prioritize Mobile-Friendly Design

Make sure that your website is designed for mobile devices. This includes things like using a responsive design, optimizing images, and using mobile-friendly navigation. If using a CMS like WordPress, you can secure these features by using a responsive theme.

20. Use a Search Engine Spider Test Tool

A search engine spider test tool can help you find errors on your website that could hurt your SEO. This includes things like broken links, duplicate content, and missing Alt tags. A good tool to consider using is Screaming Frog.

21.  Break Up Large Blocks of Text

Large blocks of text can be off-putting for both users and search engines. Breaking up your text into smaller paragraphs can help improve readability and engagement. This includes using headings, lists, and white space to break up your text.

22. Skip the Stock Photos When You Can

When it comes to photos, quality is more important than quantity. Stock photos can be low quality and unoriginal. And they’re often used across multiple sites. Originality is an essential SEO consideration. If you do use stock photos, make sure to choose ones that are high quality and relevant to your content, at the very least.

23. Use an Analytics Tool to Track Progress

An analytics tool can help you track your website’s SEO progress. This includes things like website traffic, keywords used, and conversion rates. Google Analytics is a free and popular option. Or, you might prefer a premium option like Moz Pro.

24. Use an SEO Plugin

If you use WordPress, there are a number of SEO plugins that you can use to help with your website’s SEO. Some popular options include Yoast SEO and All in One SEO Pack. You can insert the keyword you wish to target into these plugins and they’ll help you optimize your website for that keyword.

You Can Achieve SEO Success as a Web Designer or Content Creator

SEO is important for any website, but it can be especially important for websites designed by web designers and content creators. By following the tips in this article, you can help ensure that your website is optimized for search engines. This will help you attract more visitors to your website and improve your business as a web designer, content creator, or any other type of professional on the Internet.

Good luck!