In the online world, everything is connected. You can’t create a website without a server, you can’t create a marketing strategy (a successful one) without digital tools. You shouldn’t build a website without having an SEO expert by your side. How come? These two niches seem to be far away from each other. In fact, the teams should work hand in hand. If this sounds confusing, let us elaborate on the topic. We’ll talk about the importance of having such a specialist when you’re only planning website design and implementing it. You can also find information on the main dos and don’ts concerning the role of SEO specialists when it comes to website creation.
The Role of an SEO Expert in Web Design and Development
The role is huge since the earlier you build an optimization strategy, the better. Here are some of the factors experts are involved in:
Website Menu and Structure Planning
They need to know whether the most recognizable elements are in proper places. Even if you choose to go full-creative for the design, there must be some common parts of the page like the menu, login button, support button, etc. This is indirectly important for SEO through user experience.
Website Layout
Almost 40% of visitors will leave a page if they don’t like its design. Plus, content placement determines how fast they will find the needed information. An SEO pro has to be involved in the process to see if the design matches the ranking goals of the site. Besides, the importance of UX for conversion rates is crucial, and that experience goes with optimization hand in hand.
Page Design Adjustment
If a page has a high bounce rate, an SEO specialist should contact web designers and offer recommendations on adjustment. The rate is easy to see in Google Analytics, which every optimization expert should be fluent in. Usually, after web designer adjustments, the bounce rate lowers, and the page gets a higher ranking.
Finding Places for Keywords, Tags, Backlinks
The expert has to get paid backlinks of high quality, find the best locations for them, contact a blog posting service, and arrange articles. For all that, they need to know the layout of the website, as well as its features. As you can see, the web design and SEO teams are much closer than it seems. Now, let’s review the dos and don’ts for such a specialist while the site is in development.
The Role Of SEO – Dos in Web Design
There are a lot of things to do. We’ll show you the most important ones.
DO Work on High-quality Backlinks
Creating a content plan and text structure suitable for the designed pages, finding backlinks and places for them are all duties of the optimization team. This requires planning in advance, writing offer templates, etc. If you’re totally new to backlinks, visit this page and learn all the ways of building high-quality links to your site.
DO Participate in UX Design
Cofmag.com offers incredible stats on UX that will persuade you to hire an SEO professional or (if you are one) participate in the process. The two niches are connected as well; both of them can hype the other one up or completely destroy the strategy.
DO Analyze Every Change to the Design and Determine Patterns
A true professional knows all essential digital tools that will help find out the current point A (your current rating, indexation speed, credibility, etc.) and recommendations on where to go to achieve the dreamy point B (the first place in SERPs, high Domain Authority, etc.). Website design and SEO are more connected than you might think. Combine site development with proper keyword insertion, content placement, visuals, etc. As a result, you’ll get a website that will rank high from the very beginning.
The Role Of SEO in Design – Web Design SEO Dont’s
How to make the cooperation of two teams great? What is the largest mistake a specialist in optimization can make? There are small things you can do to improve the strategy that can harm it instead. Let’s see some of the things they (or you) should never do:
DON’T Allow for Multiple Focus Keywords on One Page
Don’t confuse it with general keywords. You can have one focus KW and a bunch of additional phrases to enhance SEO. It’s a much better approach nowadays than creating a landing page for every KW you have on the list. But never put several focus keywords for one page. This will confuse the search engine as it won’t know which one to rank the page for.
DON’T Allow for Keyword Cannibalization
On the other hand, having two or more pages compete in the ranking for one keyword isn’t a great idea either. Google will get confused and may get all of the pages out of the way, choosing another website as its top pick. This especially applies to blogs with lots of publications. You can use modified keywords, but avoid using the same one.
DON’T Interfere with the Processes Unless Necessary
While the presence of an optimization pro is crucial, it’s not necessary to change everything web designers and developers do. Adjustments are allowed after analysis and solid proof that this particular design won’t work unless you change it.
DON’T Put Too many Tags in the Code
Earlier, website codes were filled with tags in the <head> part. It’s not shown in browsers, but search engine spiders crawl it like all elements of the code. Nowadays, the necessity of meta tags other than meta titles and descriptions is very low. You can put a focus keyword or industry-specific words there. However, too many KWs may make the page look spammy. Make sure you check it!
These don’ts may be altered by a specialist, as each one has its own strategies and methods of achieving success.
The Role Of SEO Experts in Web Design – Communication is Key
When creating a website, multiple teams should communicate and cooperate for the best result. This might seem twisted, however, with modern technology, it’s not that hard to achieve proper teamwork, even if your specialists are working from different offices, cities, and even countries.
The role of SEO specialists in web design and development cannot be overestimated. Get help from every specialist you can. Only a complex approach will make your website the best in 2021. Ensure proper communication between teams and their mutual understanding. One website viewed from different standpoints may cause conflict. You should have the head of the project calm those down and try to find the best solution to take the best of all worlds and put it on the site. Embrace technology and offer sheets with mutual access, live chats, Zoom calls, and more. Allow the heads of every team to leave comments, discuss, and find compromises that will result in a positive outcome.