As an SEO specialist I often find myself pulling my hair out and screaming into my monitor when I see a website that has been built without any consideration for optimisation.
Ten to fifteen years ago, designing and developing a website in a way that you personally thought looked good and might please your audience was enough and quite simply it did the job.
But as today's market sees virtually every business have some form of online presence; online marketing is a never-ending battle.
As a result of this extreme competitiveness it is no longer enough for a website to just 'be there'; for real success it has to be designed and developed to be easily discovered by the search engines and that is where SEO comes in.
SEO is search engine optimisation; a marketing strategy that ensures a business website can be easily found for popular search terms.
Whether your business specialises in "cheap legal advice", "small business accountants" or "hotels in Birmingham" with users rarely going past the first two pages of a Google search; successful optimisation can ensure you reach the masses, gain new customers and hit those all important sales figures.
Many business owners, whatever their business size will come to me, show me their website and say "please can you make it rank in the search engines?" without having any idea of their keywords or the amount of work that is involved.
If I consider working on a website, the first thing I will look at is whether the website has been designed with optimisation in mind because although we may not know the full details of the search algorithm, what we do know is that URLs, page titles, tags, on page content, content keywords, descriptions, images and even structure can all be considered when those search bots attempt to deem your business worthy.
For this reason, when I begin an SEO project, the first thing I will ask is "did the website designer/developer take SEO into consideration?" a site must be optimised to its very core which is why, from the moment the web design process begins; SEO must be a factor.
Without an initial, clear understanding of SEO you risk facing incomplete or missing Meta data, URLs that need reconstructing, content that needs rewriting and in-fact your whole site may need to be re-tweaked and new pages created.
It really is that simple; website design and SEO go hand in hand.
Ensuring your website is designed not only for users but for the search bots will benefit your business in the long run and ensure you have a better chance of ranking for even the most competitive terms.
Was your website designed with SEO in mind?