SEO for Web Designers: Why It Should Be Part of Your Packages
If you are a website designer in the online business space, chances are that you’ve heard of SEO, or search engine optimization.
But as a website designer myself, I’ve been surprised at how overlooked SEO is. Honestly, it’s barely talked about since Instagram and Facebook are seen as the holy grail of marketing tools for coaches and service providers.
And why is SEO for web designers an important concept to understand and implement for clients?
SEO is a critical tool for any web designer who wants to create websites that will generate traffic and therefore sales for their clients.
It’s an important part of digital marketing since it allows you to establish your online authority and expand your audience, converting leads into customers.
The better optimized your website is (as a whole and for individual pages), the more online awareness your website creates, becoming more popular and visible.
Translation: no more chasing clients in the DMs. Clients come to you.
As both a website designer and SEO strategist for coaches and creatives, I’ve truly experienced how these two go hand-in-hand.
And frankly, people have hired me specifically because I have a professional background in SEO and make sure the websites I design are technically sound for Google and its users.
So what are the top reasons why website designers should also have an understanding of basic SEO concepts and strategies?
Read on to find out.
1. Design is just as important as the backend tech
While the page design happens on the front end, what happens in the backend is equally important.
Design is important in catching a user’s attention, but what’s going on underneath is not something to be overlooked even though it’s “hidden.”
Think of a beautiful, pristine car on the outside. However, the engine is shot and it’s in serious need of an oil change.
It's pretty to look at, but you can’t drive it anywhere.
Website designers tend to get so caught up in all the nitty gritty aesthetics of the site that they’re creating, and oftentimes they forget to implement basic yet important SEO elements.
Or sometimes, website designers don't realize they need to implement them.
And if you want your client to have any chance of ranking on page 1 of Google instead the abyss of the interwebs, there’s a few basic SEO elements to give attention to:
Title tags
URL structure
Image file names
Image sizing
This actually brings me to my next point…
2. Site speed
You can build the most beautiful website - one that you get rave reviews about when you post on Instagram. But if the website takes 8 seconds to load, what’s the point?
A website that loads slowly will be less competitive, and visitors will close your page once it takes time to open. Google users are impatient, and they will abandon a site that takes too long to load.
Read more: 8 Quick Squarespace Website Changes That Improve Your Bounce Rate
People want a website to load in under 2 seconds. So if no one is actually making it to the website, then it’s almost rendered useless to the client.
Therefore, they paid thousands of dollars for a pretty online brochure that no one is reading.
If users leave a site because it is slow, the website loses to competitors that have better-optimized sites. Having a fast-loading website is an edge over your competitors; otherwise, it will negatively impact your SEO and chance of ranking high on Google.
Google rewards sites that load quickly to provide visitors with a consistent search experience.
So what impacts page speed?
Image size is a huge factor. For Squarespace, your page sizes should be below 15MB. To achieve this, each image on an individual page should be below 500KB.
Read more: Squarespace Image Size: How to Resize & Optimize for SEO
When clients come to me for SEO after either building a website themselves or hiring a designer to do it for them, uploading large image files is one of the top mistakes I see.
This is why even the most basic SEO is so important.
3. Clients expect designers to have a basic understanding of SEO
Some of these clients may be familiar with the term "search engine optimization," while others may not. Regardless, it’s an important aspect of websites you should have an understanding of because more often than not, clients will be curious about how to appear high on Google.
Be prepared to answer basic questions about how SEO works and how long it may take to rank on page 1. And if you don’t know an answer to a more technical SEO question, that’s okay.
There’s various online communities like Facebook groups, where you can ask your questions and get responses from SEO strategists.
There are also online courses and publications on SEO for web designers available if you are unfamiliar with how to optimize a website.
This is why I created my course, SEO Strategy Simplified, because I saw a need and gap in the marketplace (watch the free on-demand training here).
The course covers all the necessary information you need to confidently optimize your clients’ websites and advise on creating a blog strategy to increase their traffic.
4. Websites should have SEO foundations set up
If website designers do not begin by laying the necessary SEO foundation, then their clients will need to hire someone to go back and redo the work that you’ve done.
That means more time and money on their end, and unfortunately, possibly less referrals for you. And of course, we don’t want that!
Things like optimized title tags, meta descriptions, file names, and alt text are staples of a website. A well-designed website that follows SEO standards will provide your client’s business with the foundation to get a steady stream of free organic traffic and leads.
Especially if they want to get serious about using blogging as their main strategy to get clients to their website. Backlinks from quality websites can take a while (not to mention a lot of work), so it’s common to focus on blogging as an on-page SEO strategy.
Generating organic leads on autopilot is SEO's allure, and that is why it should be part of your website design package.
5. Simplicity and accessibility feature
A website designer should be aware of the importance of website structure, navigation, and user experience (UX) considerations. Because it makes websites more enjoyable and simple to use, it retains users, increases traffic, and attracts visitors.
According to the SEO three-click rule, users should be able to find any information on a website in three mouse clicks.
This necessitates easy and consistent navigation and use of a website and a clear and uniform structure - making it simple for users to utilize without feeling frustrated or perplexed.
Bottom line
Understanding what an SEO service involves and how to implement it when designing a website is a crucial skill that no web designer should be lacking. I hope this post on SEO for web designers was super helpful!
My course is a terrific way to get started if you're looking for more insight into SEO and blog strategy.
Looking for more Squarespace SEO tips? Check out these blog posts: