Many redesigned web sites fail to enhance SEO, usually damaging current rankings and creating challenges for Search engine optimization groups attempting to recuperate misplaced site visitors. This could severely have an effect on enterprise visibility, lead era and gross sales.
I’ve been handed many a model new web site and requested to “Search engine optimization it” when untold harm has been achieved and vital effort and time should be spent simply to get site visitors ranges again the place they had been earlier than the redesign.
Many articles assist with website SEO and how to retain SEO traffic during a redesign. There are additionally useful books and frameworks for web site planning.
But, seemingly no useful resource combines a wise method to planning a brand new web site with the retention and enchancment of Search engine optimization.
This text will define the best way to plan a brand new web site successfully to retain current site visitors and create a platform to enhance your Search engine optimization.
To make following alongside simpler, you may fill out the steps within the template beneath:
Web site planning and Search engine optimization
To make sure your new web site retains and improves your Search engine optimization, it’s useful to make sure you have a clearly outlined SEO strategy and you’ve got articulated this in a easy SEO plan.
The worst factor in any web site design mission is when sudden issues or adjustments arrive throughout improvement.
A well-developed plan that has enter from all stakeholders helps guarantee much less of this. Extra importantly, if the shopper adjustments their thoughts or the scope creeps (the scope at all times creeps), you might have the doc to point out the unique scope and justify the required charge will increase.
I want I had a greenback for each time we had been requested to evaluate a brand new web site that was nearly completed – solely to search out that Search engine optimization hadn’t been thought-about, placing its success in danger.
We just lately labored on a six-figure mission for a enterprise that thrived on natural site visitors. The mission would primarily destroy all of the hard-earned Search engine optimization.
This took a number of months and possibly one other six figures in PPC spend (to switch what was free Search engine optimization site visitors from an SEO vs. PPC perspective), in addition to additional Search engine optimization time and redevelopment. You need to keep away from that if in any respect doable.
We’ve additionally seen different websites that had so comprehensively broken Search engine optimization site visitors that the one wise method was to roll again to the earlier web site.
Suffice it to say that guaranteeing you keep Search engine optimization site visitors and set the scene for enhancements will not be one thing you may depart to probability.
The method laid out right here combines a reasonably customary method to web site planning, which, achieved effectively, will save a lot time, cash and ache, with the type of jobs wanted to retain current Search engine optimization site visitors whereas constructing a furtive platform for additional Search engine optimization improvement.
The output of this course of must be a doc that both acts as the inspiration of the web site transient or is built-in into a standard transient.
Observe: The place the Search engine optimization transient and web site transient are separate entities, I at all times advocate reviewing the ultimate web site transient to make sure the Search engine optimization transient has been integrated earlier than the mission kicks off.
There are 5 key steps to work by way of to create your Search engine optimization-friendly web site blueprint:
1. Present rankings and site visitors
Your should perceive your site visitors and the place it comes from.
To do that, spend a while in Google Analytics and Google Search Console to determine:
- Excessive-ranking key phrases.
- Excessive-traffic key phrases.
- Excessive-traffic content material.
- Excessive-opportunity pages.
- Excessive-opportunity key phrases.
Your purpose is to obviously doc what works at the moment. These should be included within the new web site.
If high-traffic content material is eliminated, not appropriately optimized, or misplaced within the new web site’s hierarchy, then you’re inviting issues.
Google Search Console
Google Search Console is a treasure trove of SEO information and gives you the straight dope in your rankings and site visitors.
Right here, you’ll see high-opportunity key phrases and pages with a number of impressions however not many clicks.
- Go to Search Console
- Efficiency > Search Outcomes
The primary info you’re searching for is within the queries and pages tabs. You may order this by clicks (site visitors) and impressions (which is a chance).
Work by way of this info and doc your findings within the template.
Crawl information
Crawl your web site and save a duplicate of the crawl (Screaming Frog is an economical or free approach of doing this beneath 500 pages).
This can help you examine hyperlinks to the web page and examine with the brand new web site if (and when) issues come up.
Search engine optimization instruments
It’s also possible to use any Search engine optimization instruments for rank monitoring.
Nonetheless, I favor Search Console and Google Analytics for this as they provide you actual information and perception, not the extrapolated information the everyday Search engine optimization instruments present, which might usually be wildly inaccurate and deceptive.
Dig deeper: Website redesign SEO checklist: Retaining and improving SEO
2. Search engine optimization and web site objectives
Objectives are essential to any mission. Beginning with clear objectives helps you perceive your vacation spot, making it simpler to search out the suitable path ahead.
Objectives give you a instrument for assessing all selections all through the mission.
Will doing one thing assist us hit our objectives? If not, don’t do it. If that’s the case, go for it!
You might have objectives for the web site mission general, ideally these will likely be hierarchical. As an example, we could have one tremendous purpose that states the purpose of the brand new web site is to generate extra leads.
You might then have sub-goals reminiscent of to enhance Search engine optimization and enhance conversion charges that work in service of the grasp purpose.
Bear in mind to make your SEO goals specific and measurable, so SMART objectives are useful right here.
General, you could want a hierarchy of objectives right here that covers:
- Web site Objective: Generate extra leads/gross sales.
- Search engine optimization Objective 1: Rank our service pages extra extremely.
- Search engine optimization Objective 2: Rank our higher funnel advertising and marketing content material extremely.
You may additionally discover it helpful to take a look at stuff you need to keep away from with the brand new web site. Figuring out what you’re aiming at and what you’re operating away from may be simply as useful, if no more so.
- Anti-goal: Keep away from having a web site that’s primarily no completely different from our rivals.
Doc your objectives within the web site plan template and transfer on.
3. Viewers and buyer segments
Fastidiously outline your audience(s) together with some concerns concerning your rivals.
Bear in mind, in advertising and marketing, concentrating on everyone seems to be concentrating on nobody.
That’s not to say you may’t goal a number of audiences, however you do want to provide some consideration to every viewers and issue this into the construction and segmentation of your new web site.
We need to fastidiously take into account the objectives, issues and jobs of our audience to make sure our enterprise objectives, web site objectives and the objectives of the folks we serve are all finely aligned.
Viewers questions
We need to begin by merely figuring out the completely different audiences: males, girls, college students, Gen X, Millennials, and many others.
For every viewers:
- Viewers title.
- Demographics (age, intercourse, location).
- What’s the downside or purpose of the audience?
- The place do they hang around or discover info on-line?
The data you collect right here will show you how to in the case of structuring your web site to assist the person wants of every viewers (which, in flip, makes optimizing for every viewers a lot simpler).
To discover every buyer section in additional depth, you need to use the SEO Value Proposition Template and SCAMPER to grasp your clients and determine the content material you should hit your objectives.
Do not forget that Google desires you to concentrate on creating helpful, people-first content. To do that, you should perceive your folks (viewers) and guarantee you’re writing for them.
This course of feeds into your Search engine optimization like no different, so spend the time entering into the minds of your viewers segments. Your Search engine optimization will thanks for it.
Observe all of this down within the web site plan template and transfer on.
4. Construction and sitemap
A sitemap gives a easy overview of the brand new web site and may be cross-referenced with the present objectives.
As an example, the brand new sitemap ought to embody high-traffic pages on the present web site that drive enterprise efficiency.
Sitemaps assist collect suggestions from all stakeholders and facilitate tough conversations through the planning levels. Addressing these points early can stop issues in a while with supply, timelines and budgets.
I’m a giant fan of the concept it’s best to actually thrash issues out at this level and good concepts get strengthened and stay, whereas unhealthy concepts can die right here – reasonably than in expensive improvement.
Creating your sitemap
You need to create a easy bullet level sitemap within the first occasion.
- Residence
- About Us
- Class A
- Class B
- Sources
- Contact
I like to recommend penning this all down in a spreadsheet so you might have readability and numbering for all pages (which will likely be helpful within the subsequent steps).
You should utilize your favourite drawing instrument to create your sitemap. Draw.io has a helpful set of templates, together with numerous maps, that you need to use for web site mapping (all of that are saved to Google Docs).
A visible sitemap may be helpful for the foremost classes and sections of the location and might support in getting suggestions from stakeholders.
The important thing takeaway right here is that we need to create a sitemap that’s segmented by our goal audiences and serves the overarching advertising and marketing aims.
If our Search engine optimization objectives are to retain site visitors and create an optimized construction, then we will assess that right here.
Key items of content material which have been recognized must be recreated on the brand new web site inside an optimized construction that units the scene for progress.
Bear in mind, the hierarchy right here will inform you of your web site’s folder construction, which helps present context for every doc.
This, in flip, helps you construction your key phrases from high-level broad key phrases to extra particular classes and longer-tail product/service key phrases. The construction is essential, so spend time right here till you’re joyful.
5. Web page scoping
The subsequent step of the planning course of is to find out what content material will likely be on every web page.
Primarily based on the extent of element you need to use right here, you may both create columns in your spreadsheet sitemap that you simply created beforehand or go into extra element.
Usually, for every web page, we should always embody:
- Objective of the web page.
- Performance / Options (e.g., kinds).
- Content material (photographs, textual content, video and many others).
- Search engine optimization (Notes, Web page Title, Meta Description).
- Notes.
The Search engine optimization side right here is pretty apparent, and if we have now a high-performing web page at the moment, we need to guarantee the primary content material is recreated.
There’s little level in including a web page and altering issues radically – decrease the variables wherever doable.
We need to look at the web page’s purpose and be certain that its performance and content material assist it.
Some instance objectives for pages are:
- Generate publicity from Search engine optimization (to feed remarketing).
- Generate leads.
- Funnel customers to product pages.
Work by way of every web page detailing the purpose for that web page after which define the content material that helps that and replace the web site plan template.
6. Search engine optimization specifics
The planning is vital, however we should doc a number of Search engine optimization specifics to make sure this construct side will likely be dealt with appropriately.
- Hold the outdated web site stay on a short lived URL if doable.
- Create an inventory of redirections from the outdated pages to the brand new ones.
- Migrate content material, web page titles and meta descriptions for high-performing pages.
- Replace exterior backlinks the place doable.
- Monitor efficiency after launch (rankings, site visitors, impressions).
Factoring in these 5 areas will guarantee the primary Search engine optimization factors are coated.
6. Your web site plan
At this level, it’s best to have a complete however concise plan outlining what is required in your new web site.
The plan ought to cowl:
- Present rankings and site visitors.
- Objectives for the mission.
- Buyer segments.
- Web site construction and sitemap.
- Web page scoping.
- Search engine optimization specifics (redirects, and many others.).
Most individuals don’t do that. They create an excellent skinny transient and depart it to the net builders.
However the internet builders don’t know your corporation, so it’s a must to put within the work to make sure the brand new web site retains and improves your Search engine optimization (whereas additionally hitting the possible myriad of different objectives that trickle down from administration to advertising and marketing).
Whereas it could seem to be a further step, planning will prevent time, cash and ache whereas enhancing your general outcomes – a win-win.
In a nutshell, you’re going to get higher outcomes by doing the analysis and planning work.
Launch and past
The ultimate features to contemplate are the monitoring of the launch and what your advertising and marketing and SEO KPIs are to measure results.
We at all times count on some turbulence, however conserving a detailed eye on the Search Console and your KPIs will show you how to spot points and squash them rapidly.
Search engine optimization-friendly web site planning to retain and enhance site visitors
Most web sites might be higher deliberate.
In case you observe the easy steps right here, you’ll have achieved extra pre-design planning than 99% of different web site tasks, which might help you be a part of the 1% of corporations that get all the outcomes.
Make sure you perceive what works at the moment and the place you need to go. Weave that into the planning on your new web site and put together to fly excessive.
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