Redesigning your Site? Include SEO starting Day 1

Recently a partnering web development agency asked us for an outline of the role of the Web Designer and the role of the SEO in a new or re-design project so that we could better collaborate and plan potential projects. I realized that we address this question often but we did not have any documented outline of this symbiotic relationship.

In an ideal situation SEO will be part of the Web Development process from day one. And that is not just the perspective of an SEO agency looking for work. If you are going to address SEO for your web site why not incorporate it throughout the entire design process rather than launching the web site only to find a post-launch SEO audit tells you that you have to change your great new site design.

Including SEO early in the development process will benefit everyone involved:

· The SEO will be more successful

· The Web Designer will have fewer headaches

· The Client will save money…seriously

So how does SEO fit in with the web development process? Although every web design project has its own unique format the following are generally essential items in the process:

• Site Hierarchy: What pages will exist on the site. Do you come up with the page hierarchy based off your old site, based off competitor’s sites, based off the web designer’s assumptions? SEO Keyword Research can help you identify which pages MUST exist on your site. If you want a ranking for a keyword in reality you need a page that discusses it. Why not identify your target audience through keyword research and then build your site around what your customers are looking for rather than the other way around. We have found that this collaboration can be an eye opening experience.
• Site Navigation: So your main navigation will link to 5 pages. Okay, do those pages address keyword targets? Is there secondary navigation to ensure search engines can deep crawl your site? The main navigation is the directional interface for your users. Get this essential site feature correct before you launch rather than conducting and SEO analysis and having to change your whole look and feel later.
• Wireframes: Even though you don’t have specific content included at this point SEO review can help guide the foundation of your web site. The wireframe dictates the overall template that will be used throughout your site.  Sure you can optimize individual pages all you want, but why not ensure every page on your site has an SEO friendly layout to begin with.
• Design Comps: Ahh, all the text is embedded in images! There is nothing for a search engine to read. SEO Design recommendations are tough as the designer has specific skills and goals in mind and the SEO has specific goals. A good SEO understands a balance is needed and is skilled at adding complimentary SEO strategies without harming the excellent visual elements your designer is created. This is also a great opportunity to bring in a separate Usability expert!
• Content Development: So you are ready to write your content. Do you know what search engines look for? Send your content to your SEO and get edits and enhancements BEFORE you get final approval from management or even your legal department. This is the definition of efficiency- never submit content to legal, get it approved, then get SEO edits, and resubmit to legal.
• Implementation: At this point it will probably be up to the designers to implement the new web site. Why not provide the designers with all the SEO elements at the same time. They will thank you for it. Give them the SEO changes a week after the launch and they will not be happy.
• Launch: Ready to launch your site? Make sure your social media elements are in place and send out a press release announcing the site launch and start building those links!

Any successful SEO campaign will require a good working relationship between the Site Marketer, the Web Designer, and the Search Engine Optimizer. If everyone understands the goals and are on the same page form the beginning you’ve accomplished one of the major SEO challenges.