How should design support SEO best practices like accessibility and structure?

Design supports SEO best practices by establishing semantic HTML structure: using H1 tags for primary page topics, H2 and H3 for subsections, and ensuring that visual hierarchy in the design corresponds to actual heading hierarchy in the code, not just styled paragraph text. Search engines use heading structure to understand page content and topical relevance.

Accessibility and SEO share significant overlap. Alt text for images serves both screen readers and Googlebot’s image indexing. Sufficient color contrast improves usability for visually impaired users and reduces bounce rates that negatively affect engagement signals. Keyboard navigability and ARIA labels improve both accessibility compliance and structured content signaling. Designing with these considerations from the start is more efficient than retrofitting compliance after development is complete.