The Internet is always advancing, and web design trends are constantly changing.

In order for businesses to stay current, website updates tend to happen frequently. If your website isn’t making the cut, then it’s time to take a step back and evaluate if a redesign or complete overhaul is required.

A new visit to your website is an opportunity to make a solid first impression. Don’t miss your chance to spark the interest of users and keep them scrolling through and subscribing to your content.

How do you know when it’s time for a new website? See if your website is working hard for you. Here are 10 signs your site could use some work.

Top 10 Reasons for a Website Redesign

1. The design looks outdated.

There comes a time when the looks of new website fade, and the appearance becomes outdated.

In fact, 94% of first impressions are design-related claims Invision, a leading design resource.

Users tend to be fairly shallow in terms of looks for a site design. Some will lose interest quickly and exit the site just based on the fact that it looks old.

2. Your bounce rate is high and the average time on page is low.

A great user experience is the best way to keep users sticking around or coming back for more.

According to Econsultancy, 88% of online consumers are less likely to return to a site after having a bad user experience.

If you notice a high bounce rate and a low average time on page in Google Analytics, this could be a clear indication of a poor user experience. When users are leaving the site and not engaging with content, it’s worth it to investigate with a site audit.

Or, there could be another reason for the low engagement. Maybe your site speed is too low. Generally, if load time exceeds three seconds, most users will dip out.

3. The site is not responsive for mobile and tablet devices.

This is a big one. Especially since Google transitioned to mobile first indexing, there is no excuse for a site to render poorly on multiple devices.

According to Visual.ly, 85% of adults agree that a company’s website when viewed on mobile devices should be as good or better than the desktop version.

Responsive web design is now a necessity. If your site doesn’t work for mobile and tablet devices, it’s definitely time for an upgrade.

4. Content is not accessible for all visitors.

Accessibility for all visitors gives a positive impression and welcomes everyone to your content.

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines illustrate how to make a site accessible for those who are visually impaired or have disabilities.

To comply, we recommend you do each of the following:

• Assemble text in a clearly defined structure on the back and front end.
• Add descriptive alt text to all site images that are not decorative.
• Structure and markup code in an understandable manner.
• Ensure there is enough contrast between site elements for distinction.
• Write content that is understandable and coherent.

5. You’re not ranking for keywords you should be in the search rankings.

How do your keyword rankings look for search engines?

If people can only get to your site by visiting directly or by searching for your business name, it could be a good indication that you are not ranking for relevant keywords.

Search engines can only answer queries from users if a site is properly constructed for indexing. If your SEO is tanking, look into tools like SEMrush or Moz for resources on how to improve. Or, reach out to us and we’ll help you construct a beautiful new search engine ranking machine!

6. Site architecture is confusing for search engines and users.

Is your site architecture confusing? Investigate the way your site is organized based on hierarchy. Giving a site a logical structure with categories and subcategories organizes the information for users and search engines.

Simple things like URL structure and the amount of links in your footer matter for SEO. A URL structure should match up with the categories and subcategories you have in place.

Bad URL:

• Contains no keywords
• Contains underscores
• Has spaces between words
• Over 100 characters long

Good URL:

• Includes keywords
• Contains hyphens between words
• Organizes categories with forward slashes
• Character count is under 100

One way to organize content for SEO is to follow the topic cluster strategy by HubSpot. Topic clusters give search engines a lens into the architecture of your website. The higher a page ranks in the site hierarchy, the stronger the page appears to Google.

To help you visualize this, most websites can be broken down into this basic hierarchy:

• Main homepage
  • Top-level categories or pages
    • Subcategories or pages
      • Detail pages

Google tries to understand the website overall and then assigns importance to where content is located. Its search crawlers slowly lose interest as they dive deeper and deeper into the architecture of a website.

Since the algorithm of search engines favors topic-based content, building webpages for multiple search queries is a good tactic. And, creating internal links between relating webpages bodes well for your ranking performance.

7. Pages contain thin content or duplicate content.

Take an audit of your content to see if you are getting flagged for thin or duplicate content. This can be done with Search Console, Moz, Screaming Frog SEO Spider, and SEMrush.

As a rule of thumb, pages can get flagged for duplicate content is over 90% of the content is identical on page. This results in a crawl error.

Also, go into your Google Analytics and see which pages are not performing well. Make adjustments and monitor activity for growth by comparing month-over-month and year-over-year metrics.

8. You have rebranded.

This one should be pretty obvious. Your website is an extension of your brand. It expresses who you are and what you do digitally.

Your online footprint should match the aesthetic of your logo, brand colors, print materials, and advertisements. Despite the amount of work, doing a rebrand and a website redesign at the same time will make a strong impression for new and returning visitors.

Website creation and branding go hand in hand. Working on both concurrently keeps everyone on the same page.

9. Your business focus has changed.

This one follows the same philosophy of a rebrand. If your business is adjusting services, then adjusting your website is a must.

When a business focus changes the purpose of the site will change too. Align the site with the new marketing plan.

Don’t leave any room for guessing. Be clear about what you offer on your website so there’s no room for confusion.

10. Your competitors have a better site.

If your biggest competitors have a better website than you, they also have a better chance of earning more business opportunities from online leads.

In fact, a study found that 94% of negative website feedback was design-related.

This all means that in less than a second, someone can make a swift judgement on your website. Make sure you leave a good impression.

Need a New Website? We Can Help.

We are enthusiasts on SEO and web design. Our team can build and manage your website, or overhaul it all together.

We invite you to check out our recent website projects and let us know if we can help improve your online presence!