A website redesign is not simply about updated visuals and cool graphics – it’s an opportunity to improve the functionality and search visibility of your brand.

1. WEBSITE REDESIGN:
SEO CONSIDERATIONS
Don’t miss SEO opportunities when redesigning your
website.

2. (2014)
(Early 2010)
(Late 2011)

3. Key Principle
Redesigning a website is an opportunity for a brand or company to
upgrade the aesthetics and functionality of its home on the web.
While updating a website’s visual appeal, a redesign gives SEO’s
a chance to ‘look under the hood’ and retool the SEO qualities of a
website to turn site visitors into paying customers.

4. SEO Stages of Redesign process
Research and Planning
Content Creation and Implementation
Measurement
Refinement

5. Planning
Research
•
Market research and analytics trends - try to avoid re-launch during high traffic
periods or industry related events
•
Benchmark existing data
Site Design
•
Responsive, Adaptive – mobile friendly
Add analytics accounts
•
Apply Google Analytics UA code(s)
•
Google Webmaster Tools, Bing Webmaster Tools
•
Ecommerce tracking, heat mapping, etc.
Install robots.txt code and sitemap.xml code
•
Create sitemap if it does not yet exist

6. Planning
Map out site hierarchy/URL structure
•
Determine sub-domain vs. sub-folder structure
Link Redirect Strategy
•
Create backwards inventory of incoming links, assign
redirects where necessary
•
URL canonicalization
Keyword Research
Content Marketing Strategy
Establish Website/Blog KPI’s

7. Content Creation
Meta Data Creation
•
Create for all static webpages and blog page
Landing Page Optimization
•
Optimize all landing pages
•
Include high quality images with optimized KW alt tags
•
Link to in-page content
•
Ensure title tags and meta descriptions are within character limits
Homepage content
Introductory Blog Post

8. Content Creation - Blog
Determine publishing schedule
•
Publish at minimum one post per week
•
Establish ‘Time of Day, Day of The Week’ reporting in Google Analytics
Establish Google+ Authorship tags for all authors
•
Provides value to content in search results
Incorporate non-SEO items
•
YouTube embeds, Slideshare embeds, etc.
Social Media Sharing
•
Social shares are a signal of content quality, include social sharing options on
blog page
•
Enable blog comments

9. Measurement
A/B Testing
•
Real-time feedback on aesthetic, functionality, and
navigation
•
Execute full website analysis
•
Examine title tags and meta descriptions of all pages
•
Ensure all images and content is optimized
Use Webmaster tools
•
Check for crawl errors, 404’s, 500’s, etc.
•
Check for broken links with Xenu
•
Check page load times

10. Refinement - homepage
Optimize Homepage based on Feedback
•
Use service like Crazy Egg during A/B testing to heat
map homepage
Engaging Content Front and Center
Clear, Simple, Visually Appealing Layout
•
Focus on User Experience
Create Conversion Opportunity
•
Especially important for non-ecommerce sites
•
Email Capture
Incorporate Social Sharing Buttons
•
Social Media profile links

11. Key Takeaways
A website redesign is not just about updated visuals, it is an opportunity to improve the
functionality and search visibility of the site
All must collaborate and be involved from the beginning of the project – designers, developers,
SEOs, Social Media Managers, content writers, and sales teams.
A redesign is a good time to start fresh with new SEO approaches and tactics that were not tried
on an old site