What Came First The Web Site or The SEO

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Unfortunately in most cases it is the web site.

The Typical Scenario

A business decides it's time to either develop a new web site or redesign an old one. In most cases the first thing they do is look for a Professional Web Development Company, which is imperative to obtain a professional credible design to represent the company online.

But…..The first step should be to contact a Search Engine Marketing Consultant to ensure critical Search Engine Optimization tasks are completed prior to Web Site Development.

Ideally your Search Engine Marketing Company and your Web Development Company should have a close relationship and work together to ensure the final Web Site product is an effective tool with a high ROI for your company. Doing this will save substantial amounts of money, time and frustration.

The Search Engine Marketing Consultants - Worst Moment

One of the worst moments for a Search Marketing Consultant is the first review of the web site and the instant recognition that some redesign or editing of content is necessary to ensure the SEO initiative is effective and not a waste of company resources. The worst thing about the situation described is it adds additional costs to the project which would not have been necessary if SEO was considered in conjunction with the initial Web Development.

Where do You Start Web Development

There are a number of issues directly related to getting your web site development of to a good start which I will not go into detail here. Your Professional Web Designer will be able to assist you with these important issues. However, I will briefly identify some of the more important issues.

Web site’s objective - sales, leads, brochure
Processes required to enable visitors to complete your business objectives
What information is required
- Information you want to provide
- Information clients require to make decisions

Keyword Research The Most Important SEO Starting Point

I have said it before, others have said it before and I will say it again “Content is King” and this is the biggest single truth and success factor when it comes to successful SEO and creating a web site that will be beneficial for your business.

Keyword Research and Analysis of your proposed keywords should be the first SEO task of the development stage of any new or redesigned Web Site.

A quick over view of the use of keywords should clearly define why this is the case:

Used in Domain Name
Used in Web Page URL's
Used in Keyword, Description, Title and Alt HTML tags
Used in H1, H2, H3 etc header tags in content
Integrated into content to provide keyword rich relevant content for both humans and Search Engines

If consideration to keywords in not given prior to Web Development when the time comes to Search Optimize the Web Site it is more than likely the following Web Development will be necessary:

Change web page URL's
Create additional pages to utilize identified keywords
Edit current content with new optimized content
Additions to navigation structure due to additional pages

Additional Pre Web Development Considerations

Although keywords selection will have the most impact on your Web Development the following issues should be given consideration during the Web Development Cycle:

Web Site Navigation Structure is intuitive and well labeled
Consideration of what out bound links will be included and the anchor text to be used
Consideration of what inbound links are sought and what pages they will be directed to

Pre Web Development SEO - Conclusion

The current development process where the Web Site is developed and then Search Optimized create excessive work and costs. It is not the most efficient method to complete the job but so often that is how the Web Development Cycle works.

Neither web development nor SEO are new both have been around long enough businesses and web developers should of learned this lesson, but they haven't. The Global Economy is in recession and all businesses must look for efficiencies wherever they can. Now is the time to change the Web Development Cycle to include Search Engine Optimization in the pre development stage.

How can this be done? Education through Social Media and Blogs such as this is an ideal start. Lets streamline SEO and Web Development for the benefit of all.