How to Future-Proof Your Website for 2025

We can't predict your love life, but we can tell you that engaging, accessible, and mobile-friendly websites are in your future. Let's dive into these three key areas you'll need to pay attention to in 2025.

Mobile-Friendly Design

By 2025, mobile internet usage will dominate. If your website isn't optimized for mobile, you might as well be using a dial-up modem. According to Statista1, mobile devices accounted for over 54% of global website traffic in 2021, and this trend is only set to increase.

eMarketer reports suggest that 88% of mobile internet users search for information about products, services, or general inquiries on their devices7. The mobile commerce market is projected to quadruple by 2028, yet many websites still aren't mobile-friendly or accessible.
Here are a few things to check to see if your website is mobile-friendly:

  • Does it respond to any screen size?
  • How quickly does it load on a mobile device?
  • Is the mobile experience optimized for search?

Mobile Responsiveness

Responsive design is your website's Swiss Army knife, adapting seamlessly to any screen size. It ensures that your content looks flawless whether viewed on a desktop, tablet, or smartphone. Google favors responsive websites in its ranking algorithm, so it’s a win-win.

Optimize for Speed

Speed is of the essence. According to Google2, 53% of mobile users abandon sites that take longer than three seconds to load. To keep your website nimble, compress images using tools like TinyPNG or ImageOptim. WebP format is also a future-proof choice, offering superior compression without sacrificing quality.

Prioritize Mobile-First Indexing

Google now uses mobile-first indexing3, meaning it predominantly uses the mobile version of the content for indexing and ranking. Ensure that your mobile site contains the same key information as your desktop site. Consistency across devices is crucial for maintaining your SEO rankings.

It doesn't take a crystal ball to future-proof your website.

Website Accessibility: The Inclusive Internet

Accessibility isn’t just a buzzword; it’s a necessity. With over 1 billion people living with some form of disability, making your website accessible is both a legal obligation and a moral imperative. Plus, it opens your site to a wider audience, enhancing user experience for everyone.

Give your site a glow-up with these tips to improve the accessibility of your website:

  • Use ARIA landmarks
  • Make your website keyboard-navigable
  • Provide text alternatives
  • Run a full website accessibility audit

Use ARIA Landmarks

ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) landmarks help screen readers navigate your site more efficiently. By tagging sections of your webpage (like banners, navigation, and main content), you make it easier for users with visual impairments to understand your site’s structure.

Make it Navigable Using Only a Keyboard

Not everyone uses a mouse. Many rely on keyboards or assistive devices to navigate the web. Make sure all interactive elements like links, buttons, and forms can be accessed using the Tab key. Test your site by tabbing through each page to ensure nothing is missed.

Provide Text Alternatives

Images, videos, and infographics should all have text alternatives. Use descriptive alt text for images, captions for videos, and detailed descriptions for infographics. This practice not only aids screen reader users but also boosts your SEO. According to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), text alternatives are a fundamental principle of web accessibility.

Run an Accessibility Audit

No two websites are the same. That’s why we recommend to run a full accessibility audit to find all of the ways a website can be made more accessible to differently abled online guests. There are lots of AI tools you can use that claim to do this job, but none are 100% comprehensive. These tools can help identify basic issues such as missing alt text, poor color contrast, and inaccessible navigation. The way to get a complete view of all accessibility gaps is to do a manual audit run by a human. Once you’ve identified these problems, create a plan to address them systematically. Regularly auditing your site ensures it remains compliant with the latest accessibility standards and offers a seamless experience for all users.

Stay Visible in the Digital Abyss: Search Optimization

Even the most beautifully designed website is useless if no one can find it. Search optimization is the compass that guides users to your digital doorstep. As algorithms become more sophisticated, so too must our SEO strategies.

We have so much to say about SEO, but for the sake of brevity here are the top three ways web design can impact search—both now and in the future:

  • Core web vitals
  • Quality, evergreen content
  • Schema markup

Focus on Core Web Vitals

Google’s Core Web Vitals5,6 are a set of metrics that assess the quality of user experience on your site. These include Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). To improve these, focus on optimizing your server response times, reducing JavaScript execution, and implementing proper size attributes for images and embeds.

Create Quality, Evergreen Content

Content is still king. High-quality, evergreen content not only attracts visitors but also keeps them coming back. Focus on creating content that is valuable, informative, and relevant to your audience. Regularly update your blog, produce in-depth guides, and leverage multimedia to keep your content fresh and engaging.

Utilize Schema Markup

Schema markup is a form of microdata that helps search engines understand your content better. By adding structured data to your HTML, you enhance your snippets in search results, potentially increasing your click-through rates6. For example, if you run a recipe site, schema markup can display cooking times, ratings, and calorie counts directly in search results.

The Future is Now

As we gaze into the future, it's clear that staying ahead in the digital game requires a proactive approach. By focusing on mobile-friendly design, accessibility, and search optimization, you can ensure your website remains relevant and effective in 2025 and beyond.

Remember, future-proofing isn’t about having a crystal ball—it’s about staying informed and adapting to the ever-changing digital landscape. And if you ever need a hand reading those digital tea leaves, you know where to find us.

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Sources

  1. Statista, “Mobile internet usage worldwide – Statistics & Facts,” Statista
  2. Google, “The need for mobile speed,” Think with Google
  3. Google, “Mobile-First Indexing,” Google Search Central
  4. W3C, “Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Overview,” W3C
  5. Google, “Core Web Vitals,” Google Search Central
  6. Google, “Introduction to Structured Data,” Google Search Central
  7. eMarketer, “Global Ecommerce 2021,” eMarketer