What I’ve learned about putting SEO first in website design

A few years ago, my SEO colleagues at Candour were asked to review a company’s website before they launched a big redesign. The new site featured stylish comparison tables at the top of a key page. It looked great, but we soon noticed that they had been rebuilt with divs, instead of the previous HTML tables.

Without a data structure like a table, Google is unable to generate rich snippets. Our marketing director, Mark Williams-Cook, explained the issue, flagging that unless they were changed, the website would likely experience a 25% decrease in traffic from this feature if the issue wasn’t fixed. After launch, that’s exactly what happened.

This is the kind of issue that can easily go unnoticed during development and will not be flagged by SEO tools. In this case, the issue only affected a small portion of the site, but more dramatic versions of this story happen every day. It may even have happened to you!

Like a shop on a deserted island

To be commercially successful, a business’s website needs to be seen by its intended audiences. Search engine visibility is a big part of that, and while it might sound obvious, it is a crucial step that is too easily overlooked. It can be easy to get swept up in appearance and design choices but aligning those things with SEO best practices as early as possible will mean that your website has the best possible start towards optimisation. Neglect this, and you may as well spend all your resources building your business on a deserted island.

For too long, SEO has been a somewhat distant relative of the web-building process, brought in only after the sleek, finished site is built. My colleague Jack Chambers-Ward, SEO expert and Search with Candour podcast host, says those days are over: “SEO shouldn’t be an afterthought when it comes to website design. The standards and expectations from users, and Google, have risen exponentially, even in the last few years, so every site really needs to be user and search-friendly from the ground up.”

SEO considerations really need to be made as early as possible. We recommend regular interdepartmental check-ins throughout a website’s development. Involving SEO teams in the QA process will also ensure oversight before anything goes live on-site to help prevent any potential issues.

What may appear to be a simple design and build choice can have a significant impact on a lot of things, a more obvious one being site traffic. Another example is category filters, which can cause problems for e-commerce websites when not executed correctly. Even if they are usable and well-designed, using query parameters or hashes in a URL for category filters can cause indexing and cannibalisation issues. Getting this right, however, can bring in new traffic and enhance the user experience through better navigation and search functions.

Integrating SEO with your overall business objectives

Integrating SEO feedback while you’re developing your business’s website is more cost-effective in the long run, as trying to retrofit SEO optimisations can be costly in terms of staff time and lost search performance.

While search engine optimisations can feel unknown, SEO best practices do cross over with other website priorities you might already be thinking about, including UX (user experience) and design principles. Clear navigation and accessibility are already things that should be on your radar, and good SEO practice today is just as concerned with user experience as your designers and developers are.

You may even already be optimising for search through your business choices without realising it. Consistent branding helps with AI search visibility and builds trust with your customers, while a clear visual website style can inspire users to engage more while browsing.

In my role as Lead Designer, I am fortunate to have a team of SEO experts on-site to learn from, but I also keep up with trends and Google updates by reading industry publications and listening to podcasts, a practice I recommend to other designers and business leaders looking to improve their SEO knowledge.

I also try to take time early on in any project to properly consider accessibility, content structure, information architecture and site performance.

Though these things can be less exciting, concentrating on these basic building blocks means that users will understand the site and navigate through it easily to find the content they need. In turn, it means that my design work will only enhance this as we continue through the development process.

Ultimately, the key is to bring in the SEO expertise throughout your business’s digital strategy, so you can have a better understanding of the impact your decisions have on your website’s performance.

If you’re curious about our previous work, you can find more on our website: withcandour.co.uk/work

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Additional information - About Candour

Candour is a digital agency that builds brands, develops websites and drives business results with search engine optimisation. Based in Norwich, Candour prioritises results for clients, working collaboratively as transparent, frank partners. As part of its design and build service, Candour builds search-optimised platforms designed to inform, engage, and convert audiences. More than just websites, Candour creates business tools that promote organic growth.

About the author:

Somewhat unusually for a designer, Mark started his career with a degree in Computer Science and is now a keen reader of behavioural science. It’s perhaps no surprise then that the design systems he creates demonstrate meticulous attention to detail and a user-centric approach. Mark also brings an incredible creative flair and understanding of brand development to his practice. Having co-run a branding and design agency for twelve years, he brings a wealth of design and commercial experience to the team.

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