5 Essential Rules for Designing Your Website
Your website is often the first impression a potential customer gets of your business, so every detail matters. Here are five rules we hold every website we build to, so it performs well for both visitors and search engines.
1) Design mobile-first
More than half of all web traffic in Australia now comes from mobile devices, and Google ranks your mobile experience first, not your desktop one. If your site isn’t fast, legible and easy to navigate on a phone, you’re losing customers and rankings before they even see your content. Every layout decision should start with how it works on a small screen, not be an afterthought once the desktop version is done.
2) Prioritise page speed
Site speed is a direct Google ranking factor through Core Web Vitals, and it’s one of the biggest drivers of whether a visitor sticks around. Oversized images, bloated plugins and unoptimised code all slow a site down. Compress your images, keep plugins to what you actually need, and test your site regularly – a page that takes more than a few seconds to load will lose a meaningful chunk of visitors before it’s even finished rendering.
3) Keep navigation simple and clear
Your menu should be obvious at a glance. Avoid deep, multi-tiered dropdown menus and cryptic labelling – if visitors can’t quickly find what they’re looking for, they’ll leave. A clean, predictable navigation structure also helps search engines understand and index your site properly.
4) Make it obvious where visitors are on your site
Breadcrumbs, clear headings and consistent page structure all help visitors understand where they are and how to get to where they want to go. This matters for usability, but it also helps search engines understand your site’s structure – both are looking for the same thing: clarity.
5) Design for accessibility
Sufficient colour contrast, proper alt text on images, clear font sizing and keyboard-navigable menus aren’t optional extras – they widen your audience and are increasingly weighted by search engines as a quality signal. An accessible site is a better site for everyone, not just the visitors who need it.
Want a website that’s fast, mobile-first and built to convert? Get in touch with Web Marketing Angels for a quote.