Crafting search-friendly sites: A guide to SEO-driven development.

In today’s digital landscape, a well-designed website is essential for any business and a great optic to the rest of the marketplace. However, a visually appealing website is not always enough to successfully drive organic traffic and achieve an optimal return on investment. 

This is where an integrated approach between Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and web development comes in. SEO is a central aspect of web development, ensuring that your website ranks highly in search engine results pages (SERPs) from point-of-launch and ultimately attracts the relevant visitors.  

With SEO constantly evolving, addressing technical aspects of website optimisation is paramount to achieving high rankings and driving organic traffic. Read on to find out why your new website needs to be SEO-centric while also looking the part. 

The Benefits of SEO Optimisation

When developing a website, it’s easy to focus solely on aesthetics, functionality, user experience, and user interface (UI). These elements are crucial, and SEO compliments all of them and should be considered the next step of the web-building process.  

Previously, if a new heavy tech-laden website was released without SEO input, it may struggle to drive traffic from its inception. Now, by drastically improving load times and prospective bounce rates, websites can attain optimal SEO performance from the day the website is sent live.

To achieve this, SEO ensures that your website appears prominently in search engine results. When users search keywords relevant to your business, you’ll want your website to feature amongst the top results. While paid ads will mean you’re constantly paying for your traffic, organic search traffic is an investment for long-term results. Embedding SEO practices during the early stages of your website’s development is, therefore, a huge advantage.  

Higher rankings, in turn, will likely lead to better click-through rates (CTR) as users trust sites that appear on the first page of the SERP. Make sure to ‘optimise’ your website, meta tags, and snippets around relevant keywords to increase the likelihood of clicks.  

Enhancing user experience through SEO

While SEO is often viewed through the lens of search engines and easy crawlability, it’s equally important to consider user experience (UX). A website optimised for UX will, by design, rank better for SEO.  

One aspect of UX to consider is page loading speeds. Page speed is a crucial factor in both SEO and user satisfaction. Slow-loading pages can frustrate users, leading to higher bounce rates and lower engagement. To combat this, web developers should work with SEO specialists to prioritise optimising images, leveraging browser caching, and minimising code to ensure quicker load times.   

You’ll also want to enhance your website with user-friendly content. While this must be optimised around the relevant keywords, it should not be created solely for search engines. High-quality, engaging content that addresses the user’s queries can lead to longer visit durations, more shares, and higher overall satisfaction. During web development, it’s important to ensure that content is well-organized, accessible to all, and easily readable. Use appropriate headings, bullet points, and multimedia elements to enhance understanding and engagement. 

Finally, couple this with a user-friendly design. Good design enhances usability, making it easy for users to navigate and find the information they need. This includes using a clean layout, intuitive menus and clear calls to action. An aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly site encourages visitors to stay longer, explore more pages, and ultimately drive conversions.  

Technical SEO

While on-page SEO is important, technical SEO – which pertains to the technical aspects of a website to ensure that search engines can crawl, index, and understand its content effectively – must also be considered during web development. 

Improve your schema markup to help search engines better understand the information on a page. Avoid duplicate content issues by specifying canonical URLs. This helps search engines understand your preferred version of a page.  

Finally, if your business has a physical presence, optimise it for local searches. Embrace Local SEO by claiming your Google My Business listing, encouraging reviews, and including location-specific keywords. 

SEO Checklist for Launching a New Website

Technical SEO Setup:

• Ensure the website is crawlable and indexable by search engines. 

• Create and submit an XML sitemap to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. 

• Set up and verify Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools accounts. 
  
  

URL Structure and Navigation:

• Ensure a clean, SEO-friendly URL structure. 

• Implement breadcrumb navigation for better user experience and SEO. 
  
  

Content Optimisation:

• Ensure all content is optimised with relevant keywords. 

• Write unique and compelling meta titles and descriptions for each page. 

• Optimise headings (H1, H2, H3) for better content structure. 
  
  

Mobile Optimisation:

• Ensure the website is mobile-friendly and responsive. 

• Test the website on various devices and browsers for compatibility. 
  
  

Speed and Performance:

• Optimise website loading speed by compressing images, minifying CSS and JavaScript, and leveraging browser caching. 

• Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to identify and fix performance issues. 
  
  

Internal Linking:

• Implement a strong internal linking strategy to help users and search engines navigate the site. 

• Ensure that all internal links are functioning correctly and leading to relevant pages. 
  
  

Schema Markup:

• Implement schema markup (structured data) to enhance search engine understanding of your content. 

• Use tools like Google's Structured Data Testing Tool to validate the markup. 
  
  

Robots.txt and Noindex Tags:

• Check the robots.txt file to ensure it’s not blocking important pages. 

• Use noindex tags judiciously to prevent indexing of non-essential pages (e.g., admin pages, duplicate content). 
  
  

301 Redirects:

• Set up 301 redirects for any old URLs to their new equivalents to preserve link equity and prevent broken links. 

• Ensure there are no 404 errors or broken links. 
  
  

Analytics and Tracking:

• Set up Google Analytics and other relevant tracking tools. 

• Ensure all tracking codes are correctly installed and functioning. 
  
  

Pre-Launch Testing:

• Conduct a thorough SEO audit before launch to identify and fix any issues. 

• Test the website’s usability and functionality to ensure a smooth user experience. 
  
  

Launch Monitoring:

• Monitor the website closely after launch for any issues or drop in rankings. 

• Be prepared to address any technical or content-related issues promptly. 

Looking to improve your website’s organic search ranking?

At Mediaworks, we use an integrated, SEO-driven approach to website development.

Talk to our experts today.