Many web developers and website designers design the website THEY would want to use. Or, they design a website exactly the way the client wants it, even though they know it will ultimately be riddled with long term problems. And any Search Engine Optimization expert can tell you, a poorly designed website is often a dead end for SEO purposes.
What does that mean exactly? Many web developers are incredibly skilled at designing visually stunning, easy to use websites that offer a great user experience. They load quickly, are easy to navigate, and delight clients with the latest web dev tricks of the trade. There’s just one problem: because the web developer treated SEO as an afterthought, no one will be able to actually find this amazing website. And in the end, it’s the client who suffers. That’s why web developers and website designers need to think more strategically when designing a website.
Often times, a clunky, dated-looking website will consistently beat a more stylized website in the battle for Google’s search results. And that’s because the cheaper, simpler site was designed from the beginning with SEO in mind. Here’s a specific example…
Many commerce sites have sophisticated shopping carts or browsing portals on their page, where customers can browse products without visiting multiple pages. Customers might really like this simple, one-stop-shop approach to e-commerce, but it’s a disaster from an SEO perspective. And ultimately, that site will have trouble finding customers. The heavily stylized shopping page might look good, but without individual pages for each of the products, the website will be invisible on Google.
In order to rank highly on search engines, the search engines need to find you. That might seem obvious, but web services that provide SEO see this all the time. A business or commerce site is frustrated because they aren’t ranking for their keyword, “custom athletic clothing with numbers.” And that’s because the actual words “custom athletic clothing with numbers” barely appears on their site at all. And without those words appearing repeatedly on the site and in URL’s, it might as well be invisible to Google.
Web developers need to put a better focus on the client’s needs, even if the client doesn’t know what they are. Sure, you can design a flashy website that impresses the client, but if it isn’t set up to be optimized for Google, that client’s business will ultimately suffer.
Conclusion: Any web developer or website design company that treats SEO like an afterthought is ultimately failing their customers.