SEO is Not an “Add-On”!

Lately I’ve come across too many instances where clients work with their web designer & developers to create a new website and THEN call me into a meeting to discuss SEO services so their site can rank higher in search engines.

The problem is – it’s critical that your SEO vendor be involved DURING the site design and build. Why? Plain and simple, web designers & developers are not search engine experts. The decisions your designers/developers make will have a profound impact on your site’s ability to rank in search engines – whether they understand those impacts or not!

SEO should not be considered an “Add-On”. A solid SEO foundation is essential for any business hoping to compete effectively online.

Web designers and developers have very important roles, but here are just a few examples of how an SEO can not only add value to your next redesign or web project, but also prevent a rankings disaster!

1. Web Designers – Does Your Website Look Great To Google Too?

Many designers aren’t aware of how a search engine reads and indexes your site. For example, having a site that is all image based with no HTML text might look great – but to Google, that’s all empty space. Similarly, some visually appealing options like Javascript menus cannot be properly crawled by search engines – so while your site might look great to people, Google won’t be able to determine its structure.

A good SEO can help you strike a balance between function and fashion, helping your developers build a website that wows your visitors and satisfies search engines at the same time.

2. Web Developers – Are They Building The Right Foundation?

When building or redesigning a website, a web developer’s primary focus is getting that site to function as laid out by the designer. But whether you’re building a new site or transitioning to a new design, there are many SEO considerations that can be overlooked!

For example, the URLs of your pages often change during a redesign. However, killing certain pages on your site and creating new ones without proper url redirects can cause your rankings and traffic to plummet. Even small changes to the way your content is organized can have big impacts on your web presence.

Working with your SEO vendor during this transition will prevent you from losing rankings and incurring additional costs to regain them.

3. SEO Moves Fast – Can You Keep Up?

There is a great misconception out there that SEO is a static, unchanging field; that just having the right “metadata” or keywords throughout your site is all it takes to rank well.

But consider this: In February, Google rolled out 40 new updates on to their search engine algorithm. In March, 50 additional updates were announced. Those numbers should put “staying current” in a whole new light – SEO is a field that is constantly changing.

A lot of web designers & developers are not able stay on top of these updates (understandably so) as they are focused on designing  and building the best site for your company. SEO experts stay on top of these updates, evaluating what they mean for your website and ensuring you won’t be impacted negatively.

What’s The Worst That Could Happen?

Recently, a client informed us that they were going to launch a new website. We provided them with very specific directions on how to properly launch the site to ensure a smooth transition, but our recommendations were not implemented due to design and development considerations when the site was relaunched. The impact was immediate and drastic.

Luckily we were able to recover the rankings eventually.  However, it took us 7 months of intensive link building and content revisions to recover the rankings and search traffic. This meant a loss in revenue for the client & added fees to fix the site.

Do It Right The First Time!

Overall, if you are building or designing a new site, be sure to involve your SEO vendor at the beginning of the process to ensure that you don’t incur additional costs later on. And if your current SEO vendor isn’t getting involved or voicing the importance of their involvement in a new site build/design, you should probably revaluate how qualified they are.

If you have any questions regarding your website and how to set yourself up for search engine success, give us a shout! We’d love to show you just how valuable an SEO expert can be to your online presence.