In the digital age, a well-designed website is the backbone of any business or brand. However, not all websites are equal. Some fail to meet basic usability standards leaving visitors frustrated and disinterested. Here, we’ll dive into 10 bad websites examples and provide actionable tips to help improve these common mistakes. Whether you are a business owner or a web developer, you will learn from these examples not to make the same mistakes in your own projects.
1. Bad Navigation and Cluttered Layout
Imagine landing on a website where you cannot find what you are looking for because everything feels jumbled. Many bad website examples suffer from poor navigation and overwhelming layouts which makes it hard for users to locate important information.
Tip for Improvement:
Simplify your site’s navigation. Use a clear menu structure and ensure essential pages (like Home, About and Contact) are easily accessible. Additionally, leave plenty of white space to reduce visual clutter.
2. Slow Loading Times
One of the most frustrating experiences for users is a website that takes too long to load. In 2025, site speed remains a critical factor with many bad website examples failing to prioritize performance.
Tip for Improvement:
Optimize images, reduce use of heavy scripts, and adopt the usage of caching. Sites such as Google PageSpeed can highlight areas that can improve.
3. Non-Mobile Friendly Designs
A website whose designs don’t work well on the mobile is a website with errors. Users tend to bounce off your site if they fail to navigate it easily from their phones.
Tip for Improvement:
Make sure your website is fully responsive. Test on different devices and screen sizes so that it is seamless for everybody.
4. Out-of-date Visuals and Content
Websites with outdated design, clunky fonts or obsolete content lose credibility. Examples of bad websites often have designs as if they were from a decade ago which scares off all the modern users.
Tip for Improvement:
Refresh your designs and content. Maintain updating your blog, update your visual theme, and be up to date on the latest web design standards.
5. Inadequacy of Accessibility Features
The accessibility of your website helps ensure that everyone can use your website including those who have disabilities. Most of the bad website examples forget about attributes such as alt text for images, keyboard navigation and readable font.
Tip for Improvement:
Adhere to accessibility guidelines such as WCAG. Test your website using tools like screen reader software so that it is accessible to everyone.
Read More: Best Vue Devtools to Look Forward in 2025
6. Too Many Pop-Ups and Ads
Pop-ups and ads can really ruin the user experience when they’re intrusive or impossible to close. Some of the worst bad websites examples bombard users with multiple pop-ups the moment they arrive.
Tip for Improvement:
Restrict pop-ups and advertisements on your site. If you need them, make sure they’re pertinent, closable and not obnoxious and distracting for a user.
7. Broken Links and 404 Errors
It is probably one of the most annoying experiences to click a link only to get a website with errors. Websites full of broken links or those throwing up a 404 error frequently really ruin the user trust and their ranking on SERPs.
Tip for Improvement:
Review your website regularly to search for broken links. Tools like Google Search Console can help indicate these types of errors and provide a much healthier website generally.
8. Unclear Call-to-Actions
A call-to-action is compelling when it steers users into the right action, say, into newsletter registration or a shopping cart. So many lousy examples of websites fail with this as their call-to action is too vague or misleading.
Tip for Improvement:
Use clear, concise, and action-oriented CTAs. Make sure they stand out visually and are placed strategically throughout your site.
9. No Search Functionality
A search bar is an essential feature for larger websites. However, some bad websites examples forget to include this, making it difficult for users to quickly find what they’re looking for.
Tip for Improvement:
Make sure the search function is robust with filters and predictive text. This makes a huge difference in usability especially for content-heavy sites.
10. Inconsistent Branding
A website that does not align with a brand’s identity can confuse users and weaken the brand’s image. Most bad websites examples have inconsistent color schemes, mismatched fonts and conflicting messaging.
Tip for Improvement:
Develop a consistent branding strategy and maintain it. Have colours, fonts and voice of speech across all the pages on the web.
Conclusion
It requires focus on details and user experience for the website to be successful. From the bad websites examples mentioned above, you can see the areas to improve and design a website that is functional as well as aesthetically pleasing. Avoid the pitfalls that have been most common: slow loading time, poor navigation and outdated designs to make sure that your website stands out in 2025.
Remember that your website often marks the first impression a user will make of your brand. Avoid letting simple mistakes push away a visitor. Instead, always seek to improve continuously while keeping your audience’s needs in the front of your decisions regarding design and functionality.
