There are certain predictable paths that users will take on entering your site. You can, to some extent, control which pages will be the landing pages for different types of users. You can just about guarantee that they will scan the page from the top to the bottom. They may scan left to right, depending on the design on the page. These are elements you can rely on.

You can also count on large objects blocking a user’s way. Not many websites, however, seem to consider this point when designing the pages on their website. The flow of information as the eye of the user scans the page should be guided just as carefully as the flow of users as they travel through your site. What’s more, this flow can be controlled a lot more easily, and blocked with just the same amount of ease. Believe it or not, controlling this flow is all a part of search engine optimisation.

Consider the very basic practicalities of a user reading your site. It is common knowledge that users rarely read a web page in the same way they would read a printed publication. Your main pages, in particular, need to be sectioned so as to put important information forward at the right places. For example, with a business report you would follow a fairly traditional form: title, subheading, paragraphs following. Perhaps you would break things up with further subheadings or bullet points. Most internet pages are designed on the basis that the internet user is permanently distracted. The very computer screen itself changes the way users work with text, as a glowing screen is more difficult to stare at for long periods than a piece of paper. The possibility of more interesting information at your fingertips means that users jump from page to page quickly. Even when users have specifically chosen your site because of the information held there, they will seek that information in a different way than they would in a book.

What does this have to do with visual barriers? A visual barrier is anything in your design that impedes your message. For example, plain blocks of text can be a visual barrier in themselves if they are all the same size. Evenly-spaced paragraphs of roughly the same length not only get boring, they also make it hard for information to stand out because there is a repetitive pattern. In this case, the best thing to do is to highlight your keywords in bold or italics, pull out important information in quotes or subheadings, and use hyperlinks to further draw attention to important terms. Highlighting your keywords in this way is a basic SEO tactic, as it lets search engine spiders know their importance as well. Similarly, too much excitement on a page can provide visual barriers. For example, a large image under the title of a page effectively stops the eye of the user, like a dam blocking a river.

Scanning for barriers is vital to improve user experience and search engine optimisation for your site. If you have any concerns in this area, talk to our experts at SEO Consult.

Get Involved