Building an SEO focused Website

Last post I mentioned I had my first client. They’re a young international couple who decided to take a leap of faith, quit their respective careers, and open a cafe in Barcelona. From their business research, they knew they needed an SEO optimised website. This is where I came in.

As their cafe is currently overrun with builders and the like, we met at a cafe close by. We discussed their vision and they showed me a website that encapsulated the look they desired.  Clean and simple.

Back in my home office however, I  mentally shelved the design in lieu of focusing on the SEO research. In this post I discussed why SEO is so crucial to Web Design, however, one thing I didn’t mention was the order of things, so I’m here to tell you now – do it first! URLs are an integral part of SEO so make sure you choose them wisely. Over time, they build authority on Google so if they’re changed at a later date there will be a negative impact on their search rankings. If you have a client that is absolutely sure they want to change their URL, check out this step by step guide that’ll help reduce the impact.

My research method focused on keywords and phrases, recording page one results, and then determining which websites made repeat appearances. From this I could see who were the top bloggers, publishers, and review forums. These will be used for their off-site SEO strategy. From the repeat top cafe websites, I dug deeper into their on-site and off-site SEO strategies comparing keywords, page elements, and social media.

I’ve left the in-depth keyword trending research for when I’m up to the content stage. As for now, I am currently having fun building the website using WordPress.org.  More to come on how I conquered WordPress!

Why knowing SEO is critical to UX

I’m a big fan of the guys on UX Podcast. One episode in particular had me wanting to learn more about Search Engine Optimisation so I went forth and enrolled in a SEO course online…as I do!

Prior to taking this SEO course I would’ve have said knowing SEO was only useful for UX Content Writers, but now I’m persuaded to say how relevant it is for ALL of us under the same tent.

Why?

• In UX we say design mobile-first because most users’ engage websites via mobile devices. In SEO they say design mobile-first because Google Search penalises websites that aren’t mobile-responsive. According to the course material, non-mobile-responsive websites are excluded from first page search results.
• When we design, words matter. In UX we learn that the design format needs to be adaptable for other languages. But, those same words should be used to optimise organic traffic to our sites (and products). Yet, if we get those words wrong, or overuse them, we become a target for Google Search penalties.

What does a Google Search penalty mean?

Google uses different algorithms in order to provide its users with less spam. A website that doesn’t pass an algorithm test for authenticity, reliability, and usefulness is given a penalty which means it will rank lower in Google search results.

So at the end of the day, what good is a well-designed website if it’s a struggle to find on the internet?

Update: This article just came up in suggested reading material; it’s a great checklist for getting your on-page SEO right so check it out.