5 comments

  • Sam SolomonSam Solomon, over 6 years ago (edited over 6 years ago )

    This article doesn't seem to answer why SEO trumps design, as the title says. However, since I know a little bit about the subject, here's my opinion:

    Design interferes very little with the SEO of a website. As far as on-page SEO goes, there are a handful of things that everyone can do:

    • Make sure all images have alt tags
    • Have a title and meta description
    • Make sure there is only one H1 tag on your page
    • Try and have at least 300 words of copy on each page

    Doing all of the above will get you about 80% of the way there. If you're interested in SEO, I'd highly recommend checking out QuickSprout. It's a little salesy, but Neil Knows his stuff.

    One last thing for all you frontend devs—if you're building a site that has a JS frontend, it's likely invisible to search engines. You should look at Phantom.js or another tool that will try and render static versions of your site.

    3 points
    • Art VandelayArt Vandelay, over 6 years ago

      One H1 tag doesn't matter as much any more if the page is properly and semantically marked up in to section.

      EX:

      <section> <h1>Section 1 Title</h1> </section> <section> <h1>Section 2 Title</h1> </section>
      1 point
  • Bevan StephensBevan Stephens, over 6 years ago

    EVERY TIME.

    Apart from when the product/service/website doesn't rely on search engine traffic in it's business model.

    Or when the product/service/website already comes at the top of the relevant search page.

    0 points
  • KQ DregerKQ Dreger, over 6 years ago (edited over 6 years ago )

    Good design is good SEO.

    0 points
  • Adam DunfordAdam Dunford, over 6 years ago

    I don't see where in the article he actually answers his question.

    0 points