SEO Touch-Points throughout Website Design & Development

Step 1 – Information Architecture Development

 
One of the greatest parts of stepping into this role is having the chance to learn that the sitemap and IA are much more complex than I had experienced in the past. We need to judge consumer research, competitive research, business objectives, federal policy, etc.

It is easy to tell that in our case, search strategy is more useful and less very important. Ideally we will be able to attain the best of all worlds, but contributing to the massive research before the construction of a website gives us the chance to weigh keyword optimization & schema with messaging, etc. 

Long story short, having the opportunity to conduct thorough keyword research and use it as an power on the final sitemap rather than a concrete road map results in a final product which integrates comprehensive user research, search strategy, and modern IA strategies. What a great way to start a project.

Step 2 – Copywriting

 
Now that the sitemap for a new site has been resolute, we can conduct another round of keyword research, this time in a much more focused (and less exploratory) manner. The best part about mapping out keywords in this stage is having the skill to oversee their execution, and you don’t have to work alone. 

For an SEO professional, I feel it is incredibly important to gather feedback from all parties involved. Whether its working with your creative team to find out how the keywords mesh with their vision for a site, or discussing with the development team how keyword selections may affect technical execution, this stage is a great opportunity to encourage collaboration and accomplish your SEO objectives while gathering feedback from your peers. Once again, search is truly integrated.

Step 3 – Design

 
This is where as an SEO, you get to pull out your fine-tooth comb. While it may not be the most wonderful of tasks, making sure image naming conventions are in place and teaching designers about a/b testing can be incredibly rewarding in the big scheme of things. 

I personally am careful to never mess with creative juices, but sometime there are search ranking factors that need to be explored during the design phase that can impact how much copy goes on to a page and how well optimized your site is to send users through conversion funnels. 

Step 4 – Development

 
This is a very significant step, and there are a lot of hats in the ring. At this point the site is ready to be built and your guidance as a search specialist is extremely important to the performance of the website post-production.

 Have you mapped out your 301 redirects and talked to the development team about site speed and canonical content? Are you memorable with the CMS and its intricacies? What kinds of issues do you foresee for the development team in implementing your search strategy from a technical standpoint? These are all significant questions, and they have to be answered concisely. In the integrated marketing process this is where the real challenge begins.

Imagine having a client who paid for search addition and your first post-launch advice is to optimize site speed. This is also the point where you have total control over what you want to track and tag. If you can’t converse with development and map out tracking snippets for key events and conversions, you are putting yourself in front of a nice, thick brick wall.

Step 5 – Measurement & Growth

 
It is a pretty overwhelming feeling when a new site is constructed and your new search strategy is functioning after such epic teamwork. Now you have the liability of reporting on your strategy and providing insights that will continue to pick up the site over time.

 First, you can pat yourself on the back for covering all of your SEO bases the first time around, and next you can start to get eager about implementing some good old fashioned reporting. I am a strong believer that website performance doesn’t have a ceiling. 

Although your initial search strategy is solid and in place, there is always chance to improve the site. Good reporting will always lead to actionable insights, so use it to keep your search mojo flowing.

Conclusion

 
The bottom line is that search strategies should be nurtured in to the design and development procedure as much as possible, and it is a long process that requires organization and the willingness to collaborate. When done correctly, working through these five touch points can result in a strong product that is ready for testing and expansion. This process ensures the basics are in place, the right factors are considered, and team structure is taking place.

Why Simple Websites Offer improved SEO earnings

Creating a website is cool. There are tons of special options available when it comes to customizing your site. However, it’s important to make sure that you don’t go overboard and create something mystifying and overpowering. If your website is too complicated, you run the risk of scaring off readers

Why Simple Websites Offer better SEO profit

When you have less to worry about on your website, it’s maybe easier for you as a Webmaster to manage your SEO hard work and really make things happen. Aside from just having more time and thinking about other SEO factors you could perform, however, Google really finds it easier overall to crawl simpler websites.

There are essentially two main reasons that simple websites fair better in the SEO game than the complicated ones:

•    Google Can’t Keep Up. Putting your real SEO efforts aside, Google bots are not necessarily keeping up with all of the most recent design and display technology. It’s hard to believe that Google would be behind on anything, but the truth is that this isn’t the first thing Google has on its mind. Their skill to understand and then crawl all of these new things just isn’t as fast as the rate at which they are developing.

•    Google Outlook on Big Brands. Google oftentimes will make changes because big brands figure a way around their system or they are not earning the rankings Google things they merit because they are so popular. 

•    Apple Case. As we all know, Apple is one of the main brands and has some of the best visibility on Google. However, it wasn’t long ago that Google was having a hard time crowded Apple’s website, which led to direct links to apps lost from Google SERPs. This left a lot of people scratching their heads, and once the issue was set; it sparked the debate of simple vs. complicated websites.

What really qualifies as a “simple” website is up for debate, but it certainly doesn’t mean that your website has to be void of color or cool fonts or quality graphics. A general rule of thumb is to make sure you’re not taking too many risks when it comes to the pages where customers can really convert. On your other pages, just use your best decision

Seven guidelines for Winning with SEO Website Design

One of most difficult aspects of building a site for the search engines is implementing proper SEO website design. 

On one hand, the aim is to create a website that wows visitors and is engaging. On the other hand, you want to make sure the site is correctly optimized. Design-heavy sites don’t always leave much room for on-page optimization, so it’s essential to find the right balance.

Here are seven helpful tips to make it work:

Tip 1: maintain the layout simple 

Make sure the navigation links can be followed by the search engines. Keep the layout easy and clean but packed with design. Trying to achieve too much can work for the search engine spiders but will ultimately discourage visitors from browsing your site.

Tip 2: influence text with CSS 

One of the biggest issues designers face is using plain text (such as the h1 tag) when graphical text is far more beautiful.

The solution is to use CSS to influence how plain text looks so the search engines will be able to pick up the content. It will never look good as graphical text, but it will be a huge improvement more than plain text.

Tip 3: Use mouse-over’s on images 

if the site is image-heavy and needs text, using mouse-over will be the ideal solution. If this is set up correctly, it can turn an image-heavy site into one that is full of content.

To the visitor’s eye, an image will mouse-over to written text. To the search engine spiders, the text will be crawl able and seen as real content.

Tip 4: test with different fonts 

there are many fonts that look like graphical text but are in fact regular text. This means that the search engines will be able to read the text. Try experimenting with different fonts and consider buying font packs. This will let you to avoid using images and keep your design simple.

Tip 5: make a mobile substitute and format it

more people are by mobile devices to browse the Internet.

That’s why it’s significant to build a site meant to be viewed in mobile format and optimize it for search engines. In addition to creating this site, it is necessary to test how it appears on different devices and platforms so it is formatted correctly.

Tip 6: Design is good but loading time is bad 

too much design can slow down the loading time of a site. When that happens, it’s time to go back to the drawing board and figure out how to decrease downloads. Many things can affect loading time from font downloads to plugins for SEO to high-resolution images to scripts.

Tip 7: Conversion is king 

Creating a well-designed site can give you a lot of pride. However, the one thing that matters most is conversion. Try out diverse designs and see which result in more action whether it is e-mail sign-ups, social media shares, or sales. After all, your sales numbers are what matter the most.

Finding the balance between optimization and great design isn’t always easy, but these solid tips will help you to win with SEO website design. There will be many times where it will be essential to go back and forth until all the technical problems are solved and the overall design is attractive.