Get Your SEO Firm Involved Before the Redesign
Help swing internal debates and remove the possibility of additional development work after the launch by getting a sound SEO strategy in place early.
Help swing internal debates and remove the possibility of additional development work after the launch by getting a sound SEO strategy in place early.
Redesigns are difficult, time intensive, frequently expensive, and often frustrating. Religious wars can be waged over anything and everything (the messaging, style, imaging, layout, and infrastructure, etc).
These wars can create the kind of hostility and hard feelings that can last for years within an organization.
Redesigns can become contentious because the dedicated actors within organizations frequently have very different beliefs about the makeup and future of a company. The worst thing that can happen is that subject opinion blossoms into a vision that won’t be compromised under any circumstance.
There are a couple important reasons you should never wait until after the redesign to get your search engine optimization (SEO) firm involved:
If you don’t have an SEO firm, select one that can effectively communicate and coexist with your development firm. Try asking bidding development firms to recommend a search company with whom they’ve already had successful engagements.
While some might consider this a conflict of interest, copacetic agency coexistence can reduce petty sniping and encourage cooperative collaboration. This will reduce the cost of the project, mitigate risk, and assist in meeting the launch date.
Understanding the Difference Between Optimization and Compliance
As a general practice, web development firms frequently boast their ability produce search engine friendly sites. While this assertion is generally accurate, it should never be confused with SEO.
While a web development firm will be invaluable in creating an SEO compliant site, they should not be conducting site optimization. Few development firms are properly equipped to conduct market/keyword research, conduct analytics reviews to find soft spots, or generate a content plan designed to generate traffic.
However, a development firm should be able to perform basic tasks such as ensuring search engine compliance through the creation of web friendly code. Any development agency worth its salt should be able to provide clean, div-based code that is clean and lightweight.
This includes leaving CSS and JavaScript off-page, creating XML and HTML sitemaps, building friendly subfolder and URL structures, and making sure content authors/producers can easily create title tags, description tags, H1s, and alt tags.
Additionally, an SEO firm should be able to quickly supply a standards manual to ensure full compliance.
Utilizing an SEO During a Redesign
Budget will indicate the level of SEO involvement, but you should use an SEO in the following disciplines of a redesign: