If you haven’t noticed before, when you do a Google search for websites, you can hover over the link with your cursor and a preview of the homepage appears to your right. As a web designer, this is crucial for you to know and to mold your web designs so that they can be picked up in the Instant Preview. Most likely, soon your clients will be expecting to see their web page in that preview section and will want it to look the best it can. Here are some planning suggestions to make your web designs show up in Google Instant Preview.1. Design Elements - Your design elements should encompass a modern, simple and structured style. Each of these elements should run throughout the design process of the web site, all the way down (or up to in this case) the header. If a web page is simpler, rather than cluttered or not legible, Google Instant Preview, as well as visitors, will be able to easily navigate the web site and pick up on what they need to know. Keeping a color scheme, like a business will probably want in the first place, is critical in web design to make everything flow better. Your primary focus should be a visually stimulating web design, but at the same time focus on the simplicity that you can bring out in it.
2. White Space is Nice - Plus, it’s visually attractive, especially for computer screen viewers. However, more important in this scenario, it helps viewers find the important content quicker and so will Google Instant Preview. If the page is too busy, or cluttered as stated above, the reader may be turned off and decide to go somewhere else since they can’t find what they were originally looking for. As for Instant Preview, because the image is significantly smaller than the actual homepage, it won’t look right and people will be less inclined to click on the link.
3. Use Less Flash - Flash files are awesome and we love to use them as web designers, however, using less for the homepage when possible is a good idea if you want the page to be picked up in Google Instant Preview. Google can, in fact, index flash files, however, it takes to the liking of HTML files better.
4. Content Factor - I bet you haven’t heard anyone say this before, but the content factor really matters on the website you are designing. Ultimately, the content of the website is what will drive customers away or make them feel inclined to stay. When Google Instant Preview picks up on websites, it’s mostly due to the content and the SEO placed within that content. The more SEO, the better chance it has of being picked up in Google search engines.
This is not a say-all, do-all list for getting the right or best placement for websites and web design, but it’s a good start. Hopefully you’ll find one of these tips, if not all, beneficial in your web design process.
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