If you’re asking the question, is my website design outdated? It probably is. There are many signs it’s time to redesign your website, and I’ll explore them today. This article will cover many of the design aspects that indicate an outdated site and some functionality and content issues. Get in touch if you are looking for a website rebuild or UX audit to determine if your site is outdated and needs a change.

Six indicators your website design is outdated

I’ve discussed website rebuilds in a previous article, Should I rebuild my website? 5 reasons why it might be time. It covers many of the functional reasons you may be looking for a rebuild. The below suggestions are focused primarily on design aspects and whether your site is outdated or not. These faults often grow over time when your site has been active for many years.

There is no consistency

One of the most common issues with older websites is they lack consistency. This is often because they have been added to over the years without considering the overall impact. New information, features and design elements are introduced over the course of a business’ growth, but they do not reflect the rest of the site, which may be older in design. Eventually, you can end up with areas that don’t look consistent at all. This makes it harder for users to find what they’re looking for and trust your ability to deliver what you say.

It doesn’t look great on mobile

A surprising problem that still occurs today is a lack of mobile optimisations. There should be no excuse for a website that is not optimised for mobile devices. Most websites are accessed primarily by mobile, especially consumer and public websites. If your site performs poorly on these devices, you will damage any SEO efforts, turn off potential customers and lose sales based purely on lack of functionality.

Read Optimised For Mobile? 5 Reasons Why Your Website Needs to Be for more information.

Does it have outdated content

If your text-based content is more than a year old or you haven’t updated your blog in over 6 months, it’s probably best to rethink your site. Humans and search engines alike want to see fresh content when they visit. It indicates you are still in business. Often when your content is outdated, so is the rest of your site. Blogging and optimising your pages consistently is vital for growth and providing excellent customer service. You want new and existing customers to trust you; an updated site is part of this.

It’s cluttered

This is very much related to our first point on consistency, Over the years, different staff, suppliers and owners can want to add different elements to a site and this can soon lead to a cluttered look. New information or features want to be introduced but how they will impact the rest of the site isn’t always considered. These are a few common areas that get cluttered.

Navigation – All the pages can be added in with no discernible priority in both the header and footer.
Pages – New services or products are added to a homepage or category page making it bloated from a speed or design perspective.
Too much text – As an SEO, I know how vital text is to rank. But, too much text can make a site feel cluttered if it’s not implemented in a thoughtful way as part of the design. No one wanted to read a big block of text. So, always think about how you can make your content readable before adding.

The site is slow

Speed is probably one of the most significant indicators your site is outdated. A site may be slow because it’s outdated in the backend, whether from frameworks, plugins or themes. If you have a WordPress site an outdated theme can frequently impact your design and speed. It’s important to note, though, that outdated doesn’t just mean when a theme developer has a new version on offer. Some themes which worked amazingly in the past have not been updated adequately for the latest technology. This can leave older websites stuck with slow sites because the theme they choose 5 years ago is no longer the best on the market. If your website is increasingly slow, It could be time to redesign your outdated site.

Read more about why site speed is a ranking factor.

It’s not working for your business

Lastly, the most important indicator of why your website design is outdated is that it’s simply not working for your business. It could be down to your outdated website design if you’re struggling to attract traffic, keep people on your site, gain leads, or make sales. While many factors contribute to why you may not be growing as a business, an outdated site could be the main factor. If your business website feels like it’s stagnating, It’s time to consider a redesign or rebuild.

Learn more about user experience and SEO.

Hire me for your website rebuild

If you’ve been wondering, is my website design outdated? Then contact me today for an informal, no-obligation chat about your concerns. I offer a range of website audits to help business owners and marketers discover what’s working on their site and what isn’t. From there, we can create an action plan of steps or provide a proposal for a complete redesign. Whatever works for your needs.