Picking An SEO-friendly Web Designer

As an SEO we get two kinds of websites, those that were designed in the past and where the designer is no longer involved, and the websites where the design is either ongoing or we are working with the web designers from the start. Both of these have their pros and cons as an SEO but there is a clear advantage of one over the other for the client.

First, let us discuss the pros and cons to the SEO. If we are coming in after the design is completed there are more than likely (and by that I mean 99.9% likely) some structural and or major design issues that will need to be addressed. Unless the web designer is skilled in SEO-friendly web design we are going to have our work cut out for us just dealing with structural issues. On the positive side of this scenario, we're left to just work on the website with no designer taking it personally when we tell them we need to make changes (and that can lead to some issues).

Now let us look at the other scenario. Working with a designer has it's cons which is generally – we are going to have a designer taking it personally when we need changes made to the structure of a site or challenging us when we are arguing that while an all-Flash site is visually appealing, it leaves something to be desired from and SEO standpoint. This conversation generally goes something like this (and all you SEO out there can sing along) SEO – Flash cannot be properly read in the same way as HTML and we need to have easily spidered content for the search engines to see.
Designer – Flash can be read by Google.
SEO – But not in the same way.We need multiple pages of optimized content and Flash just is not going to provide that.

Designer – Well I disagree (probably read in some forum somewhere that a misc. guy had no problem ranking for “bob wyverniuschuck artist” with a Flash site) but even if that's true – it's the conversion that counts and this Flash site is going to convert.

SEO – Yes we understand that conversions are important but so is traffic.If we can't get traffic to the site then a 100% conversion ratio is irrelevant.

Designer – There are other ways to get traffic.

SEO - Yes I understand that but this is what the client has hired us to do and has asked that we work together to build an attractive site that ranks well.

Designer –  I am going to have to talk to them about this ...

SEO - another big sigh in preparation to talk to the client about the fact that you DIDNOT say conversions are irrelevant, etc. etc.

So this is the down side and an extreme example of it (for humor as much as illustration).But there is a big upside and that comes when you have the opportunity to work with web designers who know how important SEO is (as an SEO who knows how important a good design is).Working to balance the two can be a daunting task and having the skills of the SEO matched with the skills of the web designer can be a true blessing. For example, I may have a great idea to make a site more easily navigated by search engines but an ugly solution to implement it whereas the designer may have a more attractive solution in mind if they know the problem and the technical solution.

Such a scenario has recently come about in our dealings with Furniture Deal UK while starting work, we had to understand the clients needs and has since had us helping structure the site properly from the ground up. There is no resistance and we donot tell them what to do, we indicate the functions required – provide any technical background as necessary – and they implement it in a way that leaves the site FAR more attractive than if we had to do it ourselves. Expert designers doing what they do best and understanding that what we do is SEO and the client wants to rank highly. Ah, it's a beautiful thing.

It is this experience and reflecting back on other web designers we have worked smoothly with in the past that inspired me to write this article. The article is more for potential clients of designers than for the designers themselves. So for those looking for a designer – if you want your site to rank highly and/or you will be hiring an SEO – here is what to look for.