August 20th, 2010 by Jo

Just as every web designer will bring his or her own particular style to the pages they create for you, so will they have a slightly different slant on SEO services. They’ll have opinions about which methods are the most important to focus upon, and their own techniques for including them and applying them on your site. It’s a little like getting an interior designer in for a party.

You want to create something that people will want to visit. And when they get there you’ll want them to stay. A good web designer will these days make effective use of all the search engine optimization tools at their disposal and while many aspects of web design are subjective, the results of good SEO are not. SEO is all about getting results. It’s about ranking highly on results pages and getting people to your site so that they’ll be converted into clients. The web designer’s remit extends beyond SEO, but you need to bear in mind that SEO is one of the most important parts of the entire process with which they are involved.

To get the best SEO results from the design of your site, what should you be looking for in a designer? We’ve put together five useful tips to act as a guide in this important decision.

1. Select a designer who is familiar with SEO. What we really mean by telling you this is that you shouldn’t make the mistake of assuming that all designers are up to speed with the latest methodology surrounding SEO. Search engine technology is advancing very quickly. The ‘robot’ or ‘spider’ programs they send to search the web and index pages are growing ever more sophisticated, as are the algorithms used to decide where in a search engine results page a site should appear. Remember that different people got into web design for different reasons and that, despite their importance, SEP strategies such as reputation management, SEO link building and social media marketing may not be as interesting from a design perspective as a pleasing and challenging ‘look’. Remember also that some of the tools designers generally get excited about are not conducive to good SEO. Flash, Splash, Frames and Java are just some of the things that might make a site pleasing to look at and use, but which may have a negative impact for SEO.

2. Make sure you choose a designer who knows about the importance of links. There should be plenty of scope within your site’s design for internal links (on-page optimization) and other links (off-page optimization). Although this ties in with tip #1 it’s something that’s worth pointing out as a definite pre-requisite in a designer.

3. Select a designer who understands users. Again, this may sound like an obvious requirement, but it’s really more complex than you might think. A site designed for modern artists to showcase their work might be difficult for users to navigate by its nature. Such a site presents an example of one where the design might not have featured usability at the top of its priorities. With a site designed for good SEO the opposite is true. Results in terms of results pages, robots and usability should not be eclipsed by any design features. User-friendliness is important because, as any search engine optimization agency will tell you, pleasing the visitor is vital for achieving popularity and popularity is pivotal.

4. Avoid designers who depend too heavily on programs to aid web building. Such programs can establish unwanted parameters for your site. Better to choose a designer with experience in tailoring sites to SEO with the minimum reliance on ready-made software. Choose a designer who will look to the future and bear in mind that times change and so must sites.

5. Find a designer who talks to robots. Anyone with a responsibility to know about SEO strategies will be aware that the text files used to communicate information to the robots sent by websites is extremely important. Don’t employ a designer who get so carried away with the look of your pages that they forget this.

In conclusion, you need someone who understands the need to visually arrest users while at the same time featuring the text necessary to appeal to robots too. You need someone with an understanding of the need for relevance, good practice, adaptability and usability.

Good luck in choosing the very best designer!

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