Keep Visitors on Your Website for Longer
When it comes to website performance, time on site matters. The longer someone stays on your website, the better it looks to search engines, and the more likely they are to take the next step. That might be making a booking, completing a form, or picking up the phone. One simple way to keep visitors engaged is to avoid sending them off to external websites.
Sometimes, you need to reference an external platform, such as a booking system, supplier, or industry partner. But when you use a standard external link, your visitor leaves your site the moment they click it. This disrupts the user journey and can reduce time spent on your website, which may affect your SEO.
What’s The Alternative? Use an iFrame
An iframe (short for “inline frame”) is a piece of code that lets you display content from another website inside your own. Think of it as a window. Your visitor stays on your website but can still view and interact with external content within that window.
At Concept Designs & Marketing, we can embed an external website or platform inside your own website using an iframe. This way, your visitors can interact with the content they need without ever leaving your site.
How We Use iFrames to Improve Engagement
If you ask us to include a link to an external site, such as a product catalogue, service provider, or booking platform, we’ll check whether the site can be embedded. If it can, we’ll create a dedicated page on your website where the external content appears via an iframe. Your visitors can interact with the content just as they would on the original site, but they stay within your domain.
This improves user experience, keeps your branding consistent, and increases the average time spent on your site, which in turn supports stronger SEO outcomes.
What If the Site Can’t Be Embedded?
Some websites have restrictions that block iframe embedding for security or branding reasons. If the iframe doesn’t load correctly or displays a blank screen, the external site likely has settings that prevent this.
In technical terms, these settings might include:
- X‑Frame-Options set to “DENY” or “SAMEORIGIN”
- A Content Security Policy (CSP) that blocks external embedding
This doesn’t mean it’s a dead end. If the owner of the external site is open to it, they can update these settings to allow iframe embedding on your domain.
What To Ask Your Web Developer
If you manage the external site, or have a contact who does, you can ask them to allow iframe embedding for your website. Here’s an example message you can use:
Hi [developer’s name], we’d like to embed [external site URL] on our website using an iframe. Could you please update the settings to allow iframe embedding on our domain (e.g. https://www.ourwebsite.com)? This may involve adjusting the X‑Frame-Options or Content Security Policy headers. Let me know if you need more information. Thanks!
We’re also happy to collaborate directly with your developer if needed.
Need Help Embedding an iFrame?
If you’re not sure whether a site can be embedded, or want to explore the best way to keep visitors on your website longer, just get in touch. We can talk through your options and help set everything up so your website is set up to make the most of every visit.
Book a consultation or give us a call today: 02 8527 0852.
