When a business owner decides to redesign their website, they may lose rankings from their SEO efforts that have accumulated over time, if they fail to take into consideration factors aside from design. Losing these valuable rankings means a decrease in traffic, leading to a loss in prospects and conversions. When considering a website redesign, always approach the process from an SEO perspective.

Consider the following factors when making changes you’re your website:

Keywords:

Always choose the most valuable keywords – highest ranked, greatest search volume and most traffic. You can determine which words are most beneficial using analytics software. If you are developing new content for your new website, be sure keyword weight appropriately, or hire an SEO copywriter with experience.

Content Management System:

When switching content management systems, your rankings may suffer. Your original website has a URL that is established and trusted by search engines, such as Google and Bing. While it may be necessary to switch CMS systems, do not change your URL(s). If it is essential that you switch systems, make sure all of your old pages are redirected to your new URLs.

Links:

Inbound links provide your page with a significant amount of traffic and give you authority in search engines. If you know who is linking to your pages, be sure to redirect them to your new page or keep your existing URLS on your new website. In addition to inbound links, internal links also need to be updated or redirected.

Tags:

Search engine bots use the metadata written in the title, keywords and headings on a website. Your keywords should be in your metadata descriptions and other content on your page in order to achieve the highest ranking.

A designer must work in conjunction with an SEO professional to ensure that the website both looks great and achieves valuable rankings to help a business reach its goals. SEO maintenance and improvements must be made prior to working on a custom website design. A smart designer knows to build a website that has plenty of text that can be picked up on by search engines rather than focusing only on design. If you are interested in redesigning your website, consider the design, copywriting and SEO services from the online marketing professionals at Fasturtle. With over a decade of experience, our team of experts has the knowledge to build a custom website design that establishes rankings in search engines and is appealing and user friendly.  Please contact Fasturtle at (888) 468-8785 to speak with one of our internet marketing consultants or visit us online for more information on custom website design.