Building a website or switching platforms involves many moving parts. A crucial step is setting up your site for search engine success.
But after their new website goes live, some brands make a costly mistake: they neglect to develop an ongoing SEO strategy.
“We built SEO into our site during development, so we don’t need an ongoing program” is a common misconception.
They assume the initial setup was enough and rely on the content or social media team to handle the rest. However, this approach is similar to having a new lawn.
While it may look great initially, it will gradually lose its appeal without regular maintenance such as mowing and fertilizing. Also, if your neighbor (i.e. a competitor) takes care of his lawn properly, it will look even better.
This article breaks down some key steps during the website development (or replatforming) phase and why the SEO process should be continuous.
SEO during website development/redesign
Before you build or redesign your website, make sure your SEO fundamentals are in place.
Below are the critical steps to prioritize.
Construction of the site structure
During this phase of the project, ensure that the website architecture is aligned with the business strategy.
Let’s say you sell “jeans”, but the marketing manager prefers to call it “denim”. In this case, discuss and make decisions based on keyword research.
Not every aspect of the business can be highlighted in the top navigation, so it’s crucial to have a strategic, data-driven conversation about what’s important.
Use this discussion to drive other elements of your site structure, such as URL structure and taxonomy.
Good technical practices
During this phase, make sure everything is set up well and that search engines can easily locate your content. This involves implementing redirects, 404 pages and canonical tags.
Neglecting these aspects can lead to search engine crashes or significant traffic gaps when large pages are not redirected.
Content creation and migration
In this step, make sure you have the right content for the new site. For redesigns, plan for any existing content you want to keep.
Create a content/URL map to organize this. Likewise, target your backlinks to make sure they point to the right location and remain relevant.
Remember that content is still crucial, even in an AI-driven world.
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Ongoing SEO activities
Fresh and relevant content
Your site needs to stay current and relevant. You should write new blogs and perennial content that reflects your current demand from your customers.
This could be as simple as creating and updating an FAQ page as new questions are asked. Relevant and consumer-centric content is crucial to success.
Technical cleaning
Even if you try to keep up with all the changes to your website, things can still break without your knowledge.
Conducting a monthly or quarterly technical site audit helps you step back and identify any changes that require cleanup.
Promotion off site
Building a strong site is great, but don’t forget the value of how the rest of the internet sees your site.
This is often best measured by inbound links and link quality. Your link profile is always changing and should be constantly worked on to maximize offsite promotion opportunities.
Don’t stop your SEO efforts after launch
You might think that if your website doesn’t change much and you’re already ranking well, you don’t need to worry about ongoing SEO. However, this is a surefire way to outperform in the market.
Even if your business remains the same, the environment around you is dynamic, with constant changes.
Competitors are always striving to outdo you.
Search engines are constantly evolving, introducing new algorithms and features to deliver accurate results and keep up with technology.
This is particularly relevant with the current introduction and testing of generative AI without clear expectations of its impact.
The best approach is to test and understand how these changes affect your business. Slowing down between releases or redesigns will put you at a disadvantage.
The views expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.
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