By: Pankaj Sakariya

January 20, 2020

What is the Secret Behind the High Rank of Ugly Sites?

In past years it was understood that the site that looked like it was made by a child converted exceptionally well than by a learned professional. 

There are some sites which look attractive, but lack technical front are generally termed as “Ugly Sites”.

Google only knows “Good Codes”, it does not evaluate site quality in terms of whether the HD images are used or merely a normal one. 

Even the designing factor does not have much relevance in the eye of Google compared to the code quality of the website. What’s happening in the backend is more important rather than glossy website aesthetics.

Various major sites such as Walmart have a plain website altogether.

No one intends to create an ugly site – in the designing perspective, but now it is clear from popular companies websites that ugly sites are also beneficial.

There are no clear parameters about the ugly website but it is currently the most well-tested strategy which is welcoming in SEO and content marketing domain.

Moreover, well-known websites today use unusual ideas that were discovered in 2003. Let’s take a deep analysis of this ugly site strategy and how this strategy can be adopted in today’s time by a few variations.

There is always this discussion on whether usage of ugly sites is really beneficial, or such a false notion must be eradicated from Webmaster World.  

The Relevance of Buy Button

This was one of the important parts of the ugly site marketing approach. According to the discussion related to ugly sites, there is a simple formula that making the “buy” button large can have a great impact on the sales of the company. 

Some marketers have also discovered that by creating the buy button huge made a great impact in their conversion rates. It may sound ridiculous, but these strategies still exist and many famous websites follow it.

This idea of making the buy button huge was also used in the advertisement of the magazine but technically it was generated by the affiliate marketers. 

How Ugly Sites Strategy is Still in Demand?

The better-looking site which has more conversion rates may target your market and sell better products. Also, it is more related to customer and industry altogether, but it is not necessary that will always be on the top of SERPs.

More Content Does not Mean High Ranking

How will you evaluate the excellent site or the ugly site? Content is also one of the factors which can decide the future of the website. Marketers mostly put a lot of content on the website to fetch rush of high traffic. 

But one thing is clear, the audience engagement won’t come from several blogs, there are few pages which will be a reason for the ranking of your website. 

We all see articles related to love, gospel secrets or how to earn money in 10 easy steps, but if these articles in your site are buried in a load of poor articles, people will not recognise your website.

If you have a good content site, there are chances that some of the pages would not get any engagement. It seems clear that pages with low engagement would also devalue the amazing pages of your website.

If you also remove the extra fluff from the page, you can help the audience to navigate the site more quickly.

Design Standards are Vital 

There are industries where only a few sites are mobile-friendly while some industries have all their sites as mobile-friendly.

The reason that some websites are at the top and some lag behind depends on the users and their purpose to be on the website.

If we talk about the basics, websites are nothing more than a simple tool that helps in increasing the conversion.

Therefore, it is a challenging task for the developers and the website designers to try harder to reach that “set bar”.

Yes, the mobile-friendly factor does affect the response of the site, however, we cannot say that it will affect the website all the time. 

As a professional, it is easy to set up a complex design and follow it for every website, but it will not work for all your clients.

Sometimes there are budget restrictions so the marketers have to follow a streamlined design, but when your clients wish to invest into best in market practices, you have to push your design limitations and user experience.

Companies that Use Plain Websites

It may seem like users are more careful and aware today than they were a few years ago. The appearance of the website is one factor but not the only factor to analyse the website quality.

A popular company such as Walmart also has plain looking web pages that many would say as an inappropriate one. The “Walmart” is using it which means they have a good conversion ratio.

Conclusion

Your rivals are delivering additional features which are expected by the search engine like relevant content, unique content that is giving justice to the keywords, page titles, domain credibility, relevant links and many more. 

Moreover, the search engines mostly rank those pages which enhances the user experience and there is no doubt about it.

Though the design is an essential factor of the user experience, it does not reduce the need for proper structure and the quality content.

For example, Google robots do not understand most of the elements like images, colours, fonts or the design. Therefore, only the visual appeal of the page can never be the deciding ranking factor of the site.

Design of the site is a subjective factor so what looks appealing to you, may not be appealing to others. If your design is not liked by the majority of the audiences, there is a tremendous chance that it may degrade your ranking. 

The main reason behind explaining the designing factor is that the thing you call as an “ugly site” maybe not be good in terms of visual appearance but as it is excellent in terms of SEO perspective, it will be at the edge against other websites. If you also want your website to rank at the top, you can contact the reputed SEO company in Sydney.

We do not want you to focus on the “Ugly website” term, but it is always fruitful to focus on the inner quality of the website – “Content” rather than its outer look such as design.