The Penguin update managed to shake up things in the search engine ranking world. User friendly is the latest buzz word today. Experts at Brandshout claim that even your web design can influence your search rankings.

“Only those websites that are responsive and user friendly can survive the onslaught of updates from Google. This is especially true of the Penguin update which places a lot of importance on user friendliness. Website users who find it difficult to navigate through the site to find information are not likely to return, 99% of the time. The navigation scheme should be clear with unambiguous acronyms and a clear path to find information,” says a spokesperson for Brandshout. They’re a small web design and SEO company in Peterborough and Cambridgeshire.

The website should be visually appealing as well. A report by Nielsen Norman indicates that people don’t read more than 28% of the content on a page. They simply scan through the information. The web designer’s job is to arrange the content in such a manner that the USP of the company’s business is what shines when the user scans for information. For instance, the colour should be in contrast with the background and the font should be easy to scan. Similarly, attention should be paid to formatting. Long and unbroken sentences are less likely to be read rather than small and crisp sentences. Attention should be paid to ensuring a clean code and mark up.