How to Do SEO Web Design and Development

In a perfect world, site owners would consider SEO from the very start, before the Web design and development of the site was even a twinkle in their eye or a symbol in their code. We all know this isn’t the case, but every once and a while, we get lucky enough to build SEO in the site from the ground up, and it’s a beautiful thing.

When people think “Web design,” they often think of the look and feel of the site, the colors, the graphics, etc. From an SEO perspective, the design of the site includes that and so much more. It’s the architecture of the website that ensures it’s as search engine-friendly as possible, and it touches everything from the code to the content to the navigation and more.

Let’s have a look at what it takes to build SEO into Web design and development right from the start. In-depth commentary follows this image.

Phase 1: Identify What Type of SEO Strategy Fits

In the first phase, the framework for the site is built. It’s through the research process that the wireframe for SEO is discovered. If possible, it’s ideal to build PPC campaigns simultaneously, since SEO and PPC are often interconnected through the content and keywords of the site.

The very first step in SEO Web design is identifying what type of site it is (B2B, e-commerce, news publishing, microsite, etc.). SEO tactics vary by type of site because people search differently depending on if they are buying a product or researching a topic and so on. (Of course, both of these behaviors can fall into one category like e-commerce, but defining what type of site first maps out the process for keyword research.)

On the PPC side, you’ll need to decide if the campaign will drive people to pages within the site using the keywords for those pages, or if there will be a designated standalone page for a particular promotion.

Deciding what type of CMS will be used in this phase is crucial to the SEO strategy as well. The content management system needs to be flexible enough to support SEO initiatives in the long-term. This includes things like full URL control, clean code, ease of use for every type of role that will touch the site, ability to make edits on the fly and apply to multiple pages as needed, and more.

Phase 2: Plan the Architecture of the Site for SEO

Next is the keyword research and planned construction of silos, or content categories, for the site. The silo planning influences the keyword research and the keyword research further refines the silos.

Ideally, the site owner first gives input on what kinds of services, topics, and objectives are important. Then, keyword research is performed to support those objectives by finding out what the target audience is searching for. Once the keywords sets are defined, topics will be defined for the silos and the navigation on the site can be built out.

Next comes the layout of the site and planning the design theme. SEO objectives in the Web design phase should be considered. Figure out which program will be used for design – is it search-engine friendly? This is where you’ll consider options like HTML5 instead of Flash, and look at the construction of pages through the code so that they are set up to be easily crawled by search engine spiders.

During this phase, the content for the silos will be written with the topics that were defined in the previous phase – those topics that are driven by keyword research, business objectives, and of course, providing relevant information to the target audience. In this phase, you’ll optimize the content with the keyword sets appropriate to the pages within the silos.

Phase 3: Build the Site for SEO

The SEO Web development phase is fairly straightforward. In this phase, the planning and the vision for the site should have already been approved and signed off on, and the developers should know how they will be constructing the site for SEO, so there won’t be any surprises. In short, this is the phase where Web pages will be built so the bots can crawl and index them quickly and easily, so they can present your pages to the target audience when users perform queries related to your keyword set.

During this phase, the content will be uploaded and the pages will be constructed in a search engine-friendly way, ensuring on-page optimization through the use of Meta tags, custom URLs, and more. There will likely be tweaks and revisions to the design to see it through to the end product, as well as validation of the code by W3C and other tests to get all the bugs out and ensure it’s ready to be presented to the search engines.

Phase 4: Ongoing SEO

The job of SEO is never really quite finished. Once the foundation of the site is solid SEO-wise and the site is launched and running, the SEO strategy continues on. Think of it as a cycle, where the strategy is applied, results are measured and then another iteration of the strategy is applied, always ensuring the site is improving upon itself.

In the ongoing phase, the site and its SEO strategy are also complemented by other Web marketing initiatives that include:

•  Ensuring analytics is set up and tracking progress on goals.
•  Managing the PPC campaigns that support the site’s Web pages and content or individual promotions.
•  Social media integration and management to build community around the brand, and to market and distribute content,
• Conversion rate optimization to help Web pages perform even better on the site, turning traffic generated from SEO and other means into clients and/or revenue.
• Web maintenance – tweaking content, layout, design — or whatever is needed to keep the strategy on track.

Keep in mind that many of the same principles applied in the construction of the site from the ground up can also be applied when reconstructing a site to make it search engine friendly. The process will vary slightly based on the performance of the individual site and other factors discovered in a site audit.

Jessica Lee is the founder and chief creative for bizbuzzcontent Inc., a marketing boutique that focuses on digital content strategy and professional writing services for businesses.

See Jessica's author page for links to connect on social media.