Loch Katrine Experience
© Digital Tourism Scotland / Matt Davis
Links to all pages
It’s important to have a main navigation bar clearly displayed on your site. You should make sure you link every page from the page that sits above it. So, if you have six pages which sit under the homepage, they should all have links on the homepage. Apply this throughout your site.
You can also use text links within content to link to other relevant pages or use whatever options your website has for buttons or image links. But only link where it’s useful, as each link needs to be relevant in the context of that page.
Clean page layout
In our fast-paced world, users don’t tend to read a webpage in a great amount of detail. They will scan the page looking for the information that is relevant to them.
It’s important you structure your page with the most important messaging at the top. If a user can’t easily find what they need or something relevant, they won’t stay.
To make your content easy to read, split the pages into sections and use headings by hierarchy. You should have one H1, but you can have multiple sub-headings using H2s, H3s, H4s and so on. It’s also good to use bullet points and numbers for lists.
Don’t be afraid of white space which allows the user to clearly see the relevant links, images and text.
Clear calls to action
Do you want your customers to book, check out offers or join your mailing list? A call to action (CTA) is a prompt that encourages visitors to take specific actions.
Make sure to include calls to action on relevant pages – this could be a Book Now button, or Check Availability. It needs to be clear to customers where they go to book when they are ready, and the process should be smooth and simple. Walk through your own booking process regularly to check how it looks to a customer.
Always mobile first
More searching is now done online on a mobile rather than on a desktop computer, so it’s essential your site works well on mobile devices. Google now stores mobile pages rather than desktop pages in their index.
More information on how Google stores mobile pages.
Quick speed and loading times
Both search engines and users care how fast your website loads – both generally but also how the individual pieces of the page load, for example, images or the booking functionality.
Google offers access to Lighthouse, an automated tool for improving the quality of your webpages.
