If you’re setting up a new website or refreshing an existing one, making it SEO‑friendly isn’t just about sprinkling a few keywords here and there. It’s about designing every element from structure to content with search engines and users in mind.

Contemporary design and mobile responsiveness

Much like day-to-day life, first impressions matter. A modern, clean design signals trustworthiness to users, but beyond this, search engines increasingly reward sites that deliver a strong user experience. Equally important, your site must be fully mobile responsive, with the majority of visits now on mobile, responsiveness is no longer optional.

Choosing the right CMS

The right Content Management System (CMS) makes a big difference. You’ll want to choose a CMS that is regularly updated, supports clean code, allows efficient metadata editing and produces mobile‑friendly output. When your CMS delivers a structure that search engines can crawl easily, you’re setting a strong foundation for SEO.

Website usability, design and user experience

Usability isn’t a luxury; it’s essential to SEO. A well‑designed site allows visitors to find what they need quickly, navigate with ease and engage with your content. A strong user experience reduces bounce rate, increases dwell time and signals to search engines that your site is valuable.

Lead generation or product sales focus

Think about identifying the goal of your website. For example, if it’s leads or product sales, then your design and content must support that objective. If your site is built to convert, that purpose closely aligns with SEO, as search engines favour sites offering real value to visitors.

Keyword relevance

When it comes to an SEO-friendly site, keyword relevance remains crucial. You must understand what your target audience is searching for and include that in your headings, meta‑tags and body copy - while always keeping readability and usefulness at the centre.

Onsite SEO basics

Here, we’re essentially covering all the mechanics. The likes of clean URLs, title tags, meta descriptions, internal linking, page speed and more - these are onsite SEO basics you must get right if you want your site to perform.

Website authority and competitor comparison

An SEO‑friendly design also means building authority. Getting external links, ensuring your site is indexed and knowing how your competitors are performing so you can benchmark and improve. Understanding what others in your niche are doing helps you to stand outside the crowd, plus you’ll have what you need to build a roadmap to do even better.

Want to get started? Our course can help you understand and implement the core elements of website design.