Incorporating White Space in Your Web Design
When thinking about SEO, we often discuss what you can put into your site to help it perform better. But sometimes it’s what you don’t put on your site that makes all the difference. Remember, conversion is the name of the game, and your website should always be geared to convert first and to rank well second.
That’s why I want to talk about the importance of white space in your web design. Contrary to what some so-called “SEO experts” might tell you, every inch of your website doesn’t need to be crammed with text that will help you achieve higher search engine placement. In fact, it’s these text-crammed websites that intimidate visitors and cause them to bounce to another website.
Why White Space is Important
White space is an important design technique for several reasons. Here are just a few ways a little white space can help your website big time.
- Cleans up your website- Simply put, white space cleans up the mess on your website. We’ve all come across the websites that have every square inch crammed with text or graphics. It’s overwhelming and confusing. It’s like walking into a home that’s filled from wall to wall with thousands of little trinkets. It’s just too much. A little bit of properly placed white space makes everything seem tidy and in order. In turn, this makes your visitors feel more welcome when they land on your website.
- Reduces strain- It’s important to remember that computer monitors aren’t the best format for reading. Trying to read long blocks of text can put a significant amount of strain on your eyes. White space reduces eye strain, and helps visitors actually read your content.
- Improves eye flow- By now, you’ve probably seen the online eye tracking heat maps from multiple studies. To summarize, online users tend to scan content rather than fully read it. To improve the scannability of your website, you need to incorporate white space whenever possible. White space improves the eye flow on your website, and it makes it easier to guide readers’ eyes down to your call to action. As a result, white space can improve your conversion rate (assuming your content is good.)
- Adds a sense of class- Upscale brands have been using white space for years in all forms of marketing collateral. It gives the impression of class and elegance to the piece. It’s hard to be classy when your website is cluttered with junk. Clean things up by using white space to your design. The appearance of elegance can add trust and value to your brand.
White Space Isn’t Blank Space
As it relates to SEO, it can be easy to confuse white space with blank space. Many SEOs are adamant about getting the most out of the real estate on their pages. But what they fail to realize is adding too much to a page diminishes the importance of the content and graphics within.
See, white space is more than just a background. It’s more than blank space. When used properly, white space is a tool that can be used to add importance to your content and to guide your visitors through the conversion process.
White space is your friend!
January 20th, 2009 at 4:58 am
Hello Eric,
Interesting post and yes indeed a lot of web pages out there seem to fear white space like the plague making the design to cluttered for users to find any of the main functions of the website.
We have measured this phenomenon in various eye tracking studies. The latest one is measuring visual design to pay council tax on council websites. You will notice that invariably the design of the worst performers is cluttered and as you mention with very little white space..
http://docs.realeyes.it/Councils_Benchmark.pdf
We have quite a number of other examples if you are interested in knowing more.
Best Regards,
Niall Bellabarba
March 3rd, 2009 at 12:04 am
In my opinion, white space is a web 2.0 design. It help in the simplicity and the cleanliness of the site.
August 15th, 2010 at 7:47 pm
thanks !! quite helpful post!
August 19th, 2010 at 2:25 pm
I have tried car rentals before and they prove to be an an important business. I talked to one of the owner and he says that although they only have few customers, the pay would be something that can profit generating. If you own a lot of branches that it is sure to make a good amount of profit.