SEO at site development stage | Web-systems Solutions

How are most Internet projects created? You came up with a great idea, found a designer, developed a bright layout, found a programmer to make it and… that’s all. Your site is ready-to-use, but there are no conversions. Then the questions begin: why is my site not the first result on Google or another search engine? One of the solutions is SEO at the stage of website development. In this article, we want to tell you how to prepare a site for launch. Read it and find out how to unleash the full potential of your site already in the final stage of development.

What is SEO and why is it important at the website web development stage?

Let’s start with theory, SEO is a set of internal and external optimization measures that increase the position of your site in search results. The higher the position, the easier it is for a potential client to find your site and order a product or service right here. Therefore, if you consider organic (organic traffic from search engines) as the main channel for attracting new customers, it makes sense to think about attracting a seo-specialist to the development of your project.

SEO at the stage of website development is a strategically important stage that will significantly reduce the number of errors that can negatively affect the further growth of positions.

In addition, high-quality optimization also includes website content recommendations, selection and structuring of high-quality content. All this together has a positive effect on behavioural factors. The user receives a high-quality Internet product. An attractive and useful website can create interest and inspire confidence of a potential client, which means the customer is more likely to use this service.

If by the time of developing your project will be optimized for all search engine algorithms, you will receive a number of advantages:

• accelerated growth of positions, an optimized site will quickly enter the top search queries;
• saving money for further SEO-promotion, there will be no need to fix existing mistakes;
• less time spent on payback, an optimized project allows you to generate income and cover development costs much faster.

What are the main components of SEO at the stage of website development?

The main interest of clients who plan to order SEO at the stage of website development is in what kind of work exactly will be carried out. We propose to look at the main stages of the work of a SEO specialist at the development stage.

Preparatory or analytical phase.

Before the stages of work will start, it is necessary to obtain basic information from the customer: the main idea of the project, the theme, its development plan and the final vision of the development result. Based on this information, seo-specialist select an optimal solution that will meet the requirements of search engines and suit the client. Then we choose a CMS (most often OpenCart, Shopify or WordPress) or the framework on which the development is carried out. And finally, start a process of developing the site layout and discussing the deadlines. During this stage, the SEO specialist analyzes your market and competitors and evaluates:

• the effectiveness and features of SEO promotion in this niche of the market;
• specific technical requirements that will facilitate promotion on the client’s niche;
• general analysis of competitiveness, determinate the level of competitors’ optimization;
• features of filling with content and purchasing external links.

The preparatory stage allows you to assess the efficiency and cost of SEO promotion at the development stage. Also, it allows you to predict the further development of the project.

Recommendations for technical site optimization.

An SEO specialist who is involved in the development of the site will pay attention to the optimization of technical aspects that can affect the promotion of the site and prepare technical specifications for developers: for designers and programmers. Technical aspects that are included in SEO optimization at the stage of website development:

• Practicality and clarity for customers and search bots. An SEO specialist will help build a good internal linking on the site, so customers will find the desired product or service faster, and search bots will better crawl the content.
• Site indexing. A correctly formed and included .xml sitemap, configured robots.txt will help to correctly and timely index the necessary pages, and not display technical or incomplete pages in the search.
• Searching and closing duplicates. It is necessary to display only high-quality and unique content that will be useful to users in the search results.
• SEO Friendly URLs that are easy for users to read.
• Optimization of the mobile version and increasing the speed of loading pages. Recent search engine updates (in particular, Google’s Web Vitals) are focusing on the quality of sites. Sites and pages that have a convenient responsive design and load quickly on many devices are more likely to be included in the top 5 search requests.

Work with the content, text content of the site.

SEO at the stage of website development includes setting up a generator of meta tags and micro-markup. Clearly written and structured title and description, useful micro-markup as an organization, product or FAQ-pages are displayed correctly in search results, and extended snippets attract more users. No less important for promotion is the text content of the site. High-quality content that meets the needs of users will increase behavioural factors and contribute to the position’s growth in the search results. At the stage of website development, the SEO specialist forms the semantic core of key requests and prepares the technical task for the copywriter. Filling landing pages with content also includes the correct hierarchy of h1-h6 headings, visually attractive and structured text, photo and video materials on the topic. For images that will be prescribed Alt and title, they can also become an additional channel for attracting new customers who will come from image search, for example.

Connecting analytics systems.

To track customers’ reactions and improve the quality of the site, you need to connect and properly configure analytics systems. They will help to understand what your users are interested in, why and where they come from, how they refuse to buy a product, etc. SEO at the development stage allows you to create and prepare accounts in Google Search Console, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics and Yandex. Metrica so that they function from the first day of the project launch.

Creating a good link profile.

To increase the effectiveness of promotion, an SEO specialist can prepare a plan for buying links (both forum and article ones). Link building needs to be done with caution, as a spike in your link profile can create suspicion of search engines and lead to sanctions. Therefore, a specialist must carefully select donors with a high search engine thrust rating and build up the link mass gradually and organically.

If you consider these nuances, SEO at the stage of website development will create good conditions for a project launching. Optimization measures carried out on time will allow you to unleash the potential of the site already at the time of its public release. A high-quality product will quickly pay off and begin to bring a stable income. The cost of preparation work will be much cheaper than optimizing the whole existing business. Therefore, if you are looking for a project developer, you should always give preference to companies that include SEO at the stage of website development.

Originally published at https://web-systems.solutions.