A major aspect of an effective website is its copy but it can be ignored in favor of the pages, an expert has commented.

Justin Cooke, managing director of web design firm Fortune Cookie, suggested that over the last five years, firms have had a tendency to concentrate on aesthetics and ignore the content of their sites.

This is a mistake as many companies fail to communicate with their clients online in the same way they do offline, he continued.

Businesses must "make sure that the copy on the website is written in plain language, that it is searchable and that it is on-brand", Mr Cooke added.

However, websites considering acting on the web designer’s recommendations may want to heed previous advice from Eric Enge, president of Stone Temple Consulting, who made his comments in an article for Search Engine Land.

The search marketer warned that providers such as Google only want to offer users one copy of an article, meaning that it is important to use unique content.