In the last day or two I spent some time looking to find suitable plugins for whatever things I need them for. The plugins are not relevant to this post but the search for them somehow managed to lead me to several places where people speak of site designs and all that jazz.
I don’t know if it’s just me or there is just a ton of sites out there that are so ugly they are difficult to look at yet it seems that there is a bunch of people praising these senseless designs…
Anyways,, all this reminded me off a recent forum discussion that I came across (not LD forum, just a dev community forum) where one of the participants in the discussion stated how their site is all pretty and fancy and feature rich “but Google seems to favor ugly sites”.
At first I wanted to respond to the thread and offer a complex explanation about what Google actualy favors, but then I realized I’d be wasting my time on the wrong “whiner” at the wrong place (I noticed the same poster complaining a lot in other threads as well).
Since I was just reminded of it, I decided that this however is the right place to address the same topic a little bit at this point…
Should you have a pretty site and have Google ditch it or would you have an ugly site and have Google love it?
Heheh 
The reality is that Google doesn’t pay much attention to what your web site looks like in the sense of esthetics. Whether something is pretty or ugly is a matter of personal preference.
Also, Google is not running a beauty contest for sites. There is no such thing as “Search for Pretty Results” in Google.
However, Google has a much easier time reading and indexing “clean” web sites. This is often missinterpreted for “too simple” or “ugly”. In reality, a good designer will know how to accomplish both. Get a clean yet “pretty” site at the same time.
Another thing that you should keep in mind is that Google is looking for quality in a site,,, content-wise. In general, a clean site, well organized and well structured will consequentially have a cleaner code. So the simplicity and cleanliness go hand in hand with quality, ease of navigation and usability.
Your web site should be easy for the visitor to read through. It should be offering usable navigation, and the less “mess” there is the more you can offer to your readers which in turn can give you better conversion rates on the action you are aiming to get out of them.
So if you are reading this correctly you can see that the fact that Google prefers clean and navigationally sound sites actually also works in your favor with your site visitors.
In the “Pretty Site” vs. “Ugly Site” scenario, the “Ugly” one stands a better chance to win …
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
This always makes me wonder about blogs. I know that Google loves Wordpress, because everyone keeps saying it, but from my point of view as a user I far refer the oldfashioned websites with a top or side menu and submenus. If organised logically they seem much better for a user. The majority of people use the standard “Recent Post” and “Archive” scenario. this always seems, to me, to be a very difficult way for your readers to find anything.
I have a great template (this one actually LOL) that allows you to make menus and submenus but I’m undecided if it’s favoured by Google or not.
Google doesn’t have a problem with this template whatsoever. Most people take what they read as “tips” far too rigid and too literally. It is important that the site makes sense for a real visitor. Navigation has to be logical. Whether it’s the top or sidebar is a matter of preference.
Top menu will tell Google which links are considered primary to the site categorization. Sidebar will tell what is relevant to current loaded page. Footer links are going to tell what is the best way to get more information on the site.
It’s all logical really. I myself don’t like the typical wp setup and no it’s not a favored setup nor a very usable one…