9 June 2009
Why thinking about SEO at the start of the design process might result in a better website.

Whether you are re-launching an existing website or starting from scratch, the chances are that at some point in the evolution of any “new” website you are going to think about search engine visibility. The finest, most user-friendly, visually stunning website ever created still needs people to find it after all!

From experience, though, the “some point” that a lot of people consider this is several months after the site has gone live when the expected traffic and income hasn’t materialized. I’d even go so far as to say this is true when at the early design stages SEO was discussed and strongly advocated by the web design company.

The problem is that when looking at a reasonably large and important investment, spending more money on something as “ethereal” as SEO doesn’t always seem attractive.

But here’s the thing: If SEO is front and centre of the design process from day one you get better and more sustained results – and so the return on your investment is much improved. There are some very good reasons for this.

1. In considering keywords at an early stage you also think in detail about target audience, the purpose of your site and from that you create corresponding keyword rich content.

2. The design team can integrate this into the site with intuitive navigation that draws the target audience into the site towards the desired conversion point (be that a sale or enquiry).

3. From this process comes a website that from day one is fully focused and relevant to the search terms for the business. Titles, tags and text seamlessly match to create a website with a clear, search engine friendly identity that also meets the exact needs of the target audience.

The result is a site that is visible AND that performs. Linking to such a site is much easier then for one with little clear identity or, worse, a site that is attempting to be visible for one set of search terms when the content is geared to another.

A well-thought-through website, with a clear identity ATTRACTS links. It attracts traffic, it ranks well because it is relevant, it is friendly to social media because people know what the site is about and, in turn, can market it for you by sharing with their friends.

So, why make it hard? Thinking about SEO from day one will pay dividends – leave it until later and you have a much harder task.