If you hire a web designer or developer and they don’t address the basics of search engine optimization (SEO) as part of the web design project…find yourself another web company. SEO should be part of the web design, not an afterthought.

It always confuses me when we’re approached by a new prospect or even an existing client asking if we do Search Engine Optimization. The situation starts with “we had a new web site built” or “our IT department built our website” and is then followed by “now we’d like to show up in Google’s natural search listings, and they want us to hire a search engine optimization company.”  I always inform them that we can certainly help them, but then I ask why SEO was an afterthought and not part of the web design to begin with. Normally, they don’t have an answer.

SEO should not be dealt with after you’ve designed your website - it should be part of the web design process and should be applied before, during, and after. But in this after scenario, it should be a refinement and ongoing maintenance to optimize SEO.

Any web design firm or internal department should be knowledgeable about the fundamentals of Search Engine Optimization. They should discuss how they plan to incorporate these SEO best practices during development. And they should advise you throughout the process on how aspects of the web design are likely to effect SEO. 

We’ve written a quick article, The 10 SEO Fundamentals, that should be part of the design process. These techniques should be applied during the process - not afterward by some separate company that you’re forced to hire because the original web team didn’t lay down a good foundation.

So I repeat: if your current, prospective, or internal web team isn’t discussing or implementing SEO fundamentals and SEO best practices - then find yourself a new web crew.