How to take SEO into account when developing a website so as not to redo it twice
In today's digital landscape, a successful online presence largely depends on how well your website is optimized for search engines. Errors at the development stage can lead to the need for additional site rework, which means additional costs and loss of time. My name is Sergey Yurkov, Head of SEO in SEO&ROI, and in this article we will look at the key aspects of SEO that are important to consider when creating a website in order to avoid repeated rework and immediately lay the foundation for successful promotion.
1. When to hire an SEO specialist?
The ideal time to hire an SEO specialist is during the website development stage.
Why you shouldn't wait until development is complete:
The site structure does not cover all demand. Without SEO analysis, you risk not covering all the demand in your topic, missing out on potential customers.
Lack of critical content or functionality. Some elements are necessary to achieve high rankings in search results.
Platform limitations. Using an inappropriate CMS, JavaScript framework without additional ones. Settings for SEO or using a builder can make it difficult or impossible to promote the site.
Loss of traffic during updates. Without taking into account SEO, when changing the design or CMS, the site may lose the already accumulated search traffic.
Additional costs for rework. Making SEO changes after website development is completed requires more additional resources.
Advantages of early involvement of an SEO specialist:
Optimal site structure. Allows you to initially design the site so that it covers maximum demand and is convenient for users and collects maximum search engine traffic.
The necessary content and functionality were designed. This will improve a number of site ranking factors and increase its ranking in search results.
Choosing a suitable CMS. Provides flexibility and scalability for future growth and advancement.
Saving positions during updates. If you migrate to a new CMS or change design wisely, important content and URLs are preserved.
Saving resources. You avoid additional costs for modifications and rework, which speeds up your time to market.
2. How to design a website structure to meet demand?
Stages of website structure design:
Collection of the maximum list of requests. Use analytics tools to determine which queries are the most popular in your niche.
Grouping requests by needs. Divide requests into logical groups based on user intent derived from the top 10 analysis.
Formation of URLs. Create human-readable and optimized URLs for new and existing pages.
Placing internal links. Prepare technical specifications for placing internal links to reduce the level of nesting and the number of incoming links to important pages of the site.
How to quickly collect target queries:
Use marker queries and analytics services. Start with basic keywords and expand the list using tools like Yandex.Wordstat, “Query selection and market analysis” in Yandex Webmaster.
Analyze your competitors. Collect queries for which your competitors rank in the top positions so you don't miss out on important keywords.
Grouping requests by needs:
Understanding user intent. Not all intuitively similar queries are the same for search engines. Requests may differ from each other only in number, but hide different meanings. For example, in one case the request may hide the user’s need to buy, while in another case it may hide the user’s need to read reviews and articles. In such cases, requests should be promoted on different pages of the site.
Generating URLs based on demand:
Use human-readable URLs. Add the most frequently used search queries in transliterated/translated format (avoid Cyrillic URLs) to the URL of the promoted page. It's still important.
Technical specifications for setting up internal links:
Reducing the level of nesting. It is important to ensure a minimum number of clicks from the main page of the site to key promoted pages.
Increasing the number of incoming links to a document. It is important to ensure the distribution of static weight (Page Rank) on the key pages of the site by placing the maximum number of internal links on them.
Presence of words from search queries in link texts. For effective ranking in Yandex, it is important that the texts of internal links included on the page contain words from queries, and not phrases like “Read more”.
Increasing page traffic through internal traffic. For effective ranking in Yandex, it is important that site documents have accumulated traffic statistics. You can increase traffic to a page by placing links to it in a prominent place from other internal pages of the site with high traffic.
3. What content and functionality is needed to confirm expertise and increase trust in the site?
Google has a concept called EEAT on Google for YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) topics:
Experience.
Expertise.
Authoritativeness.
Trustworthiness.
This concept is especially relevant in topics affecting the health, finances and safety of users. In order to rank highly in both Yandex and Google, it is important that there is content within the site that confirms high performance within the EEAT..
A universal set of necessary pages and elements on the site:
About the company page.
“Contacts” page.
Expert or team profiles.
Customer reviews.
Authorship of articles.
Privacy Policy.
Links to social networks.
Portfolio or examples of work.
Other content and functionality may be specific to each topic. To understand what content is appropriate to add, you need to study competitors with high visibility in search engines.
Search and analysis of competitors
Pay attention to pages and content that communicate directly about the competitor's business and the specifics of its work.
4. How to prepare optimized texts without damaging your reputation?
When should you start preparing optimized texts?
In the process of developing the site. This will allow you to fill the site with quality content by the time of launch.
After the site is launched. Risky, as you will waste time and delay the launch of the site, since some pages will be without content.
Optimized Text Components
Volume of text and use of keywords. The text should be of a volume commensurate with the URLs from the top 10 that are close to your type (for example, by business model). Despite the era of neural networks and understanding the meaning of texts, it is important to add words from search queries to the text in the range of your similar competitors in the top 10.
Text structure. It is important to write not just text, but text that organically complements and fills the page layout. At the same time, the page layout is prepared based on the analysis of the top 10 and responds to the user’s request.
High-quality copywriting. The text should contain a maximum of factors and specific information about the company's work. The more general information that does not apply to your company, the less quality the text will be.
Text generation by a neural network. In some cases, it will be more effective to use a neural network to create a large volume of texts. But to create a high-quality text, you will need to prepare a high-quality prompt and upload materials on the topic to the Neural Network to provide context in the article.
Expertise and precision. Taking into account the EEAT concept, the text should not contain factual errors and should be moderated by an expert in the topic.
Visual content. Visual content, in addition to structuring the textual content making it more convenient, also speaks about the quality of the product and contributes to whether the user will solve the problem on the site or not.
Conclusion
Considering SEO during the website development stage is a strategic decision that saves resources and provides a competitive advantage. Early involvement of an SEO specialist allows you to create an effective, convenient and authoritative resource that can take high positions in search results. By investing time and effort into properly optimizing your site from the start, you avoid additional costs and have a site that's ready to effectively drive traffic and grow sales.
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