Is Your Website Out of Date?
February 4, 2025
10 Indicators it’s time to refresh your website for a better user experience.
We’re one month into 2025, and many organizations have set ambitious goals to bring in higher traffic to their website and increase conversions this year. But how realistic are these goals when your website is more reminiscent of 2005 than 2025?
An outdated website isn’t just hard to look at, it can negatively impact your SEO rankings, conversion rates, user experience and trust. Depending on the nature of your business, a poor website experience might also lead users to choose one of your competitors instead.
Often there are signs that our website isn’t performing to its highest potential–most glaringly, your engagement metrics–but it can be challenging to know when it’s time for a full refresh. That’s why we’ve mapped out the top 10 mistakes, let’s just call them indicators, that clearly signal it’s time to update your website.
Jump to:
- Your Website isn’t User-Friendly
- Your Website isn’t Mobile Responsive
- Your Website is Hard to Navigate
- Your Website isn’t Accessible to Everyone
- Your Website Loads Slowly
- Your Website doesn’t Rank High on the SERPs
- Your Website Lacks Strong CTAs
- Your Website Has Too Many Popups
- Your Website Uses Stock Photography
- Your Website isn’t Converting
Indicator 1: Your Website isn’t User-Friendly
When users visit your website, what is it you want them to feel? What actions do you want them to take? Chances are high that these won’t happen if your website isn’t user-friendly.
“Just like a brick and mortar storefront or headquarters, your website provides an impression of your business long before prospective customers interact with your products or services,”
–Sarah Utter, Art Director at Astriata
Common navigation problems that make a website non user-friendly include:
-
A cluttered layout: When there are too many visual elements close together, it can overwhelm users and lead to higher abandonment rates. 84.6% of users will leave a website that’s too crowded and overwhelming to navigate.
-
Lack of visual hierarchy: When all elements appear on the same level, it can confuse users on the relationship between them and what’s most important.
-
Confusing menu labels: When the navigation menu labels are too generic, contain jargon, or are poorly worded, this can leave users frustrated and unable to locate the information they need.
-
Non-descriptive hyperlinks and CTAs: When hyperlink anchor text or CTAs are too ambiguous, users are less likely to click through.
-
Long blocks of text that are hard to scan: When landing pages contain long, dense paragraphs of text, it can discourage users from reading.
Sarah reminds us of the dangers of not keeping our website functional for users. “An outdated, cluttered website that’s hard to navigate may cause users to question if your business is worth the negative experience, or if it’s trustworthy.”
Ultimately, all of the indicators below contribute to a website’s user-friendliness. We’ll dive into greater detail on several of these problems, with actionable solutions on how to fix them.
Indicator 2: Your Website isn’t Mobile Responsive
As of October 2024, more than 60% of global web traffic is generated through mobile devices. And Google will no longer index websites that aren’t mobile-friendly, starting July 2024. So it goes without saying that making your website mobile responsive is crucial these days.
Common problems that arise from not optimizing your website for mobile include:
- Landing pages are prohibitively long
- An overly-complicated menu system
- Visual elements cluttering the interface
- Interactive features that are confusing to operate
We could write a whole article on how to optimize your website for mobile (and we will), but here are a few of our top tips:
-
If your users primarily access your site from mobile devices, you should take a mobile-first approach to design.
-
Make sure to test all of the interactive features on mobile prior to publishing.
-
Remove any unnecessary visual elements and media to help streamline the mobile experience.
”Having a mobile responsive website means the user can find information quickly and moreover, Google gives a better SEO ranking to mobile-friendly sites,”
–Sumit Jaisingh, Senior Front-End Developer at Astriata
While it’s super important to optimize for mobile, there are several additional indicators that your website is ready for a refresh.
Indicator 3: Your Website is Hard to Navigate
When it comes to website navigation, the truth is brutally direct. If your site isn’t intuitive or is overly-complicated to navigate, many users will simply abandon your site.
“Navigation is both a utilitarian part of a website and a marketing opportunity,” said Sarah Utter. “The items featured give users a high-level understanding of your business. If key value propositions are hidden or difficult to find, or if menu labels aren’t clear, your audience is likely to miss out on what you have to offer.”
So how do you know when the navigation isn’t serving users? Some indicators of poor website navigation include:
- An overcrowded menu
- Key pages are buried and difficult to locate
- No or poor search functionality
- High “back button” usage amongst users
Designing good navigation will require an investment of time and strategy, but here are five of our top check-list items to improve navigation:
-
Simplify the menus with clear labels and logical page level hierarchy. Menus are not the place to think “outside of the box” when it comes to creative labels; they should be super straightforward and intuitive. Similarly, keep your page structure consistent so that users know where to find content and resources with ease.
-
Cross-link important pages so they are easy to access from related pages. If you have pages that contain key information for one or multiple audiences, consider cross-linking that page so that it’s accessible from multiple areas on your site.
-
Use intuitive, descriptive labels for your call to actions (CTAs) and linked text. Avoid vague terms like “learn more” or “click here,” and prioritize clear calls to action that guide users to the next step.
-
Prioritize effective search functionality. A well-designed search bar can be your best friend in helping your users find what they need fast, and direct them toward related resources as well.
-
Use a consistent breadcrumb structure to help users stay oriented and navigate back to higher-level pages easily. The breadcrumb trail is especially beneficial for sites with deep hierarchies, as is often the case for associations and government agencies.
Intuitive, efficient navigation is a major must-have for a positive user experience. And just as important is having a website that is accessible to all users.
Indicator 4: Your Website isn’t Accessible to Everyone
When websites lack accessibility for certain audiences, they risk losing users who feel isolated or confused navigating their site. This is a pervasive issue: 97.4% of homepages contain accessibility errors.
Some of the most common accessibility issues include:
- Missing alt text
- Low color contrast
- Lack of keyboard accessibility
- Poor audio quality and no captions
There are four key principles of website accessibility, which are distilled by the acronym POUR:
-
Perceivable. Example: Designing with proper text spacing so that content is easy to read and follow.
-
Operable. Example: The site is free of keyboard traps and is fully navigable from the keyboard alone.
-
Understandable. Example: Users are able to consistently identify components with the same functionality on multiple pages.
-
Robust. Example: Maximize the compatibility for current and future user agents, such as assistive technologies.
Check out our recent blog on 5 website accessibility mistakes and how to fix them to learn more on this topic.
Indicator 5: Your Website Loads Slowly
Take a deep breath, and count to three. That’s how much time you have to hold a new user’s attention when they first visit your website, as the average user expects websites to load within three seconds. Slow load times often result in higher abandoned sessions and lower conversion rates, which impacts your search engine rankings and lowers your website’s overall visibility.
“A slow-loading website will frustrate users and they may leave before the site fully loads. Website speed affects everything, from SEO rankings, conversion rates, and mobile performance,”
–Sumit Jaisingh
Common causes of slow load times include:
- Oversized images or videos. Large files take longer to load and can slow down performance.
- Slow hosting provider. Some provider’s servers are too full, limiting the resources available to each website.
- Excessive redirects. Websites with multiple redirects can add extra HTTP requests, which slow down the loading process.
- Too many heavy plugins. Excessive plugins or external scripts can reduce functionality.
Fortunately, once you’re aware of these issues there are several ways to resolve them and increase your loading speed, such as:
-
Optimize your images and videos. Use compression tools to reduce file sizes without compromising their quality.
-
Streamline your code. Reduce the use of unnecessary scripts and plugins for faster loading speeds.
-
Upgrade your hosting provider. Make the switch to a more reliable, faster hosting provider that can handle higher traffic volume.
The average web page load speed in 2024 was 2.5 seconds on desktop and 8.6 seconds on mobile. Optimizing loading speed can contribute to greater engagement and conversions, which can translate to increased sign ups, more clients, and higher purchase rates.
Indicator 6: Your Website Doesn’t Rank Well on SERPs
Search engines play a major role in the success metrics of a website. When it comes to digital experiences, 68% of them start with a search engine, and 63.4% of all US web traffic referrals come from Google alone. If your website isn’t optimized for search engines, users will have a harder time finding it and your overall engagement metrics will suffer.
To improve your search engine rankings, focus on optimizing your SEO. SEO is an extensive topic, but some of the steps to optimizing SEO include:
-
Adding image alt text
-
Providing clear, action-oriented meta descriptions
-
Removing or fixing broken links
-
Prioritize relevant keywords and place them strategically
-
Write high-quality, compelling content
-
Link to high authority pages and websites
Remember that SEO is a long-term strategy that takes time to see results. Patience and consistency are the name of the game here.
Indicator 7: Your Website Lacks Strong CTAs
Users need encouragement to continue engaging with your content and your company. This is why including intentional CTAs, or calls to action, are essential to a website engagement strategy.
When crafting your CTAs, be sure to avoid some of the common mistakes:
-
Using overly generic text, like “click here” or “learn more”.
-
Overloading pages with too many CTAs
-
Not optimizing color contrast for clearly visible CTAs
-
Neglecting mobile for CTA design
Adding personalized CTAs convert 42% more users compared to using generic CTAs as mentioned above. Take the time to create personalized CTAs on every landing page and your site is much more likely to convert users.
Indicator 8: Your Website Has Too Many Pop-Ups
Another thing to consider is the placement and timing of pop-ups, as that will significantly impact the user experience. Personalized pop-ups can and do work, but generic or poorly-timed pop-ups can annoy visitors and even push them to leave your site.
Luckily, this is an easy fix that doesn’t require a full website redesign project. Implement SEO best practices for your pop-ups and you’ll reap the benefits:
-
Add a delay before presenting the pop-up
-
Make the pop-up content useful to your visitors
-
Use exit-intent pop-ups
When done correctly, pop-ups can be a huge asset to conversion rates, especially on mobile.
Indicator 9: Your Website Uses Generic Stock Photography
Website photos and graphics are sometimes treated as an afterthought. While it can be tempting to select a few free stock photos online–the images on your website do matter.
Poor stock photos or imagery are associated with lower engagement and conversion rates. Using random stock images or graphics is a missed opportunity to emphasize your company’s values.
This isn’t to say that all stock photography is created equal. Quality stock images can be a great option for those on a budget, just be sure to take the time to select your images thoughtfully and intentionally. And when possible, invest in quality photos and visuals that add to the unique personality of your site, making for a more memorable and meaningful user experience.
Indicator 10: Your Website isn’t Converting Users
Ultimately, converting visitors into clients or repeat users is one of the main goals of having a website, right? There are many plausible reasons why your website’s conversion rate is low, several of which we’ve detailed above.
Other reasons your conversion rate is lower than desired:
-
Your goals and strategy aren’t aligned
-
Your value propositions aren’t clear to users
-
Your keywords and search terms don’t resonate with your target audience
If your conversion rate is significantly lower than desired, it’s likely due to a combination of problems. This is a major symptom of the fact that it’s time to consider a website refresh.
Conclusion
Our website experts at Astriata are here to help. If you’re in need of a website refresh that is too big to take on internally, get in touch with our team to learn about our approach to website redesign and optimization.