What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think about redesigning your website? A different platform? Improvements in functionality? Design changes? I'm guessing you're not enthusiastically shouting, "SEO!" While search engine optimization may not be the first thing on your list, we would argue that these three SEO tasks should be at the top of your redesign to-do list.
You might be thinking, "What does SEO have to do with the design of my website?" The answer? Everything. Think about it: if you're taking the time to design and build a whole new site, you want to make sure people can find it when they're searching.
We've done hundreds of site redesigns for our clients. Before a creative concept is selected or a line of code is written, we first perform a full SEO audit of the old site in order to build a comprehensive checklist of items that need to be addressed in the new site.
Rather than starting with assumptions about what's working and what's falling short, we get the data and create a holistic picture of the site's actual performance. Which links on the homepage are most popular, and which do users mostly ignore? Using this heat map approach, we can design a new site that gives users what they're actually looking for, all driven by data.
Once you've completed your site audit, take a look at the content on each page. Are you using the right keywords and clusters, things people are actually searching for? Are they relevant to the topic of the page? Are you using your keywords or phrases too many times on one page? Google puts it this way:
"In creating a helpful, information rich site, write pages that clearly and accurately describe your topic. Think about the words users would type to find your pages and include those words on your site."
You may find yourself revamping your old content, and a fresh site is a perfect time to do that.
Believe it or not, one of the best things you can do for your SEO strategy is to design a mobile-friendly website. A responsive site is Google's preferred configuration for a mobile-optimized website. Responsive design uses the same set of URLs served up in the same HTML code across platforms. This makes it nice and easy for search engines to crawl your site. Plus, responsive design makes for a better mobile user experience.
Want to know how your current site is performing? Contact us for a free SEO audit and we'll deliver the data.