Rising Above the Fold

When working in Internet marketing and website design and development, you will often hear people make reference to the importance of the “fold”. The “fold” refers to the area of a website or landing page that users see when a page first loads in their web browser. Simply speaking, it is the content that displays before scrolling. A long-established principal of web design has been to optimize webpages so that the most important content displays above the fold. This is so that users have immediate access to the most relevant information. As a result, engagement metrics and search engine rankings are significantly improved. When designing a website or landing page, consider how the fold will display across each type of device. Given that a website’s fold will display differently on desktop than it will on a cell phone or tablet, optimizing the fold for each type of device is crucial for conversions.

Does the top area of your website generate results?

What content should be placed above the fold?

As a conventional rule of web design, the fold has always existed as a boundary for websites, separating the most valuable content from the rest of the page. When optimizing a page for any type of conversion, it is important to display your call-to-action above the fold. Depending on the type of conversion you are optimizing for, this may include a lead generation form or download button. The content displaying above the fold creates the first impression for your visitors and making a quality first impression is key!

Learn more about the importance of writing quality website content.

Why is it important to optimize content above the fold?

Optimizing above the fold content is important for various reasons. Not only does it help to improve SEO rankings and website speed, it can help to significantly improve conversion rates. When a page loads, it only has a few seconds to capture the visitor’s attention, before they become impatient and leave. You run the risk of losing potential leads and sales if the above the fold area is not implemented properly. You can also lose leads and sales when too much content (images, animations) is displayed above the fold. Too much content can slow down your site, causing visitors to bounce. Over time, a high bounce rate can be detrimental to your search engine rankings. Similar to how websites are optimized for mobile responsiveness, it is imperative that they are also optimized for above the fold content. Learn more about why user experience is so important.

Is your website optimized for conversions? Find out how to improve your website content by writing for both search engines and humans.

As the leaders in digital marketing, FirstPage Marketing has helped many local businesses improve lead generation and conversion rates by applying above the fold search engine optimization principles to web design. If you would like to learn more about optimizing websites and landing pages for the “fold”, please get in touch with us today.

---