How to Build or Redesign a Website without Compromising SEO

March 28, 2023

Building a Website that Works with SEO Best Practices

SEO is one of the most important aspects of any website. 

No matter how good your website looks, or how user-friendly it is, if it doesn’t rank high on search engines, you’re not going to get the traffic you need. 

In fact, it’s proven that 75% of people don’t even scroll past the first page of Google when they’re searching for something. So, if your page doesn’t have some of the most competitive SEO for your category, there’s a high chance that most people will never even see it!

In this blog post, we’re going to talk about how to build a website that works with SEO best practices. We’ll also discuss how to redesign a website that already exists, and make sure that it’s still compliant with SEO standards, and maintains or surpasses it’s existing search rankings.

Explaining the Importance of SEO for Determining Google Rankings

Before getting into how to build a website that maximizes SEO best practices, it’s important to take a look at why SEO is so important

It all comes down to one thing: Google rankings

Google uses algorithms that are constantly updated to determine which websites appear higher up on the search engine result pages (SERPs). By understanding and following SEO guidelines, you can increase your chances of appearing high on those SERPs for relevant keywords.

Google also looks for certain features when determining its ranking system. This includes things like: 

  • Meta titles
  • Descriptions
  • Headings
  • Image alt tags
  • Keyword density
  • And readability scores. 

It’s these factors that can determine whether or not you make it onto page 1 of Google. It’s also these that you need to pay close attention to when building or redesigning your website.

How to Build a Website with the Absolute Strongest SEO Practices: 7 Key Insights

Once you understand the basics of SEO, it’s time to make sure your website is SEO-friendly. 

Here are some tips for building a website that works with SEO best practices:

1) Use optimized URLs: Make sure your URLs are short and keyword-rich rather than long and generic. This will help search engines find your pages more quickly and easily. 

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2) Conduct thorough keyword research and input your terms naturally: For SEO, few things are as important as ensuring you’ve conducted in-depth keyword research on your page’s topic, with relevancy and key word competition at the forefront of your endeavor. These keywords will become the foundation for your SEO plan going forward. And as they say, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”

Once you’ve completed this highly technical step, your next task is to use all of your researched terms naturally throughout your page, keeping in mind that you’re writing first for the user, and second for Google’s algorithm.

3) Structure content using headings: Headings break up content into manageable pieces, making it easier for both readers and search engine robots to navigate through the page. 

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4) Use optimized images: Image optimization is crucial to making sure that your website ranks in SERPs. Make sure all of your images include keyword-rich alt text and file names, and are compressed for faster loading times. 

5) Write unique meta titles and descriptions: Meta titles and descriptions should be unique, attention-grabbing, and relevant to the content on the page. This will help search engine robots understand what the page is about and increase your chances of appearing higher up on the SERP.

6) Include internal links: Internal linking helps search engine technologies discover more pages on your website, which can lead to better rankings for those pages. 

7) Monitor SEO performance regularly: Last but not least, it’s important to monitor your SEO performance regularly. This will help you identify any improvements that need to be made, as well as any areas where you are succeeding. 

By following these steps, you can ensure that your website is SEO-friendly and has the best chance possible to rank higher up on SERPs. When done properly, there is a higher chance that you can get more organic traffic to your website and increase your chances of success.

However, it’s also imperative to keep top of mind that a lot of SEO takes place off-site through backlinks and citations. And, while following all these SEO best practices will provide you with an increased chance of ranking higher up on SERPs, SEO performance depends on a variety of factors, and sadly there are no guarantees around top-level performance.

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How to Redesign an Existing Website for Stronger SEO than You had Before

If you already have a website and want to make sure it’s compliant with SEO standards, then the first step is to audit your current website. This will help you identify any areas where optimization could be improved. 

Once you’ve done this, you can start making changes that will improve your SEO rank. For example, you should pay attention to your: 

  • URLs
  • Headings
  • Images
  • Meta titles and descriptions 

Because these are all key elements in improving SEO rank. 

Additionally, make sure that content is well-structured using internal links and that readability scores are high. 

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Finally, once the redesign is complete, don’t forget to monitor the performance of your pages regularly so that you can make further adjustments where necessary. This will ensure that your website continues to stay up-to-date with the latest SEO standards and is always visible in SERPs. 

3 Advanced SEO Best Practices for Creating a Website with Stronger SEO Performance

The evolving practice of Search Engine Optimization contains many elements that, upon initial induction into the subject, may seem elusive or nebulous. However, these elements are of critical importance to ensuring optimal SEO performance for your website, and once learned, are easier to implement and keep track of than you might think.

Here are three advanced SEO best practices you can implement to help ensure the highest chance at a page 1 ranking for your website, based on the relevant keywords you’re targeting: 

1. Ensuring You Do 301 Redirects

When redesigning a website, one important aspect to keep in mind is to ensure that you do 301 redirects. 

This is because when you change your website’s URL structure or remove any existing pages, it can lead to broken links or ‘404 errors’. These issues can negatively impact your SEO performance as search engines may view them as a poor user experience.

A 301 redirect is a permanent redirect that automatically directs users and search engines from the old URL to the new URL. This ensures that any links pointing to the old URL are redirected to the new URL, which helps preserve the website’s link equity and ensures a seamless user experience.

Therefore, it is crucial to identify all the pages on your website that need to be redirected and create 301 redirects for them. This can be done using a .htaccess file on Apache servers or using plugins on content management systems like WordPress. By doing so, you can maintain your website’s existing traffic and preserve any existing SEO value.

2. Properly Publishing Your Sitemap

Another important step to consider when redesigning a website is to ensure that your sitemap is properly published. 

A sitemap is a file that lists all the pages on your website and helps search engines understand the structure of your website.

Having a well-structured sitemap can improve your website’s crawl-ability and indexing by search engines, which in turn can improve your SEO performance. Therefore, it is important to ensure that your sitemap is properly published and accessible to search engines.

You can create a sitemap using various tools and plugins and then submit it to search engines using Google Search Console. It is also important to keep your sitemap updated regularly as you add or remove pages from your website. 

This ensures that search engines have the latest information about your website’s structure.

3. Properly Implementing Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a free tool provided by Google that helps website owners monitor and improve their website’s presence in search results. 

When redesigning a website, it is important to properly implement Google Search Console to ensure that you have access to important data and tools that can help you optimize your website for search engines. 

The first step in implementing Google Search Console is to verify your website, which involves proving to Google that you own or manage the website. Once verified, you can submit your sitemap to Google and monitor your website’s performance in search results, including the keywords people are using to find your site and the pages that are getting the most traffic. 

You can also use Google Search Console to identify and fix technical issues that may be impacting your website’s search engine optimization (SEO), such as: 

  • Broken Links
  • Crawl Errors
  • And Security Issues

Properly implementing Google Search Console can help you improve your website’s visibility and drive more organic traffic to your site.

By following these steps, you can make sure that your redesigned website follows the best SEO practices available and improves upon your existing ranking.

Creating the Best Website Possible for Your Brand (with Strong SEO) Using Pixelcarve

Pixelcarve is the perfect service for creating website designs that are beautiful, functional, and also optimized for SEO.

With 24 years of success, Pixelcarve has become a leading force in digital web design. 

Our talented team is proficient in helping our clients confidently create and realize their visions with award-winning work such as website build outs, video production, content development, and branding – all backed by top rankings in the industry.

Contact us today to learn more about our process and how we can help create a website that elevates your brand to new heights, and can get you found in the search engines.