SEO elements to consider during website development

SEO and website development is no longer a linear set of services. Both are to be done simultaneously to get the full benefit of the website developed in the SERP from the day the website is made live. This process involves hiring an SEO executive to join the team right from the day 1 of the website development process so that he/she can assist the development team and make the website SEO compatible.

Going live without taking care of the SEO elements during the development phase results in low performance even if the website is developer perfectly design and functionality wise. Let’s look into some of the issues faced.

- Not being able to track the behaviour, traffic, and other parameters of the events happening on the website.

- Improper image optimization fails to leverage the Google Image search.

- Google and other search engine bots fail to understand the context of the page and hence cannot list the page in the SERP.

- Failing to give proper information about the site to the crawlers can result in crawlers crawling the unnecessary pages and even worse ignoring the important pages.

The issues are endless. Let’s now explore the basic SEO elements to consider during website development.

1. Image Optimization: Optimizing the images of the websites is the very first task to be done. In fact, whenever an image is uploaded, it should be made sure to see it’s optimized in following ways.

- It should have .svg or .webp extension.

- ALT and TITLE attributes are given.

- The name of the image file should be logical and in context to what image is.

- The image size should be less than the section/container size it would be loaded into.

2. Canonical Tag: The canonical attribute is an essential component in SEO during the development stage, assisting search engines in identifying the primary version of a webpage when multiple versions with similar or replicated content exist. By defining the "canonical" or preferred page variant, it helps avoid duplicate content issues and consolidates ranking signals. This tag channels all link authority to the chosen version, ensuring optimal use of the crawl budget by directing search engines to prioritize the canonical page. Consequently, only the preferred version is displayed in search results, improving the website's overall search engine optimization.

3. Meta Title and Description: The meta title and meta description are vital components of on-page SEO, significantly impacting a website's visibility in search engines and user engagement. Incorporating these elements during the development phase lays a strong SEO foundation. They provide search engine crawlers with a concise overview of the webpage content. These elements help search engines assess a page's relevance to user queries. The meta title, as the first element users notice in search results, greatly influences click-through rates. Including primary keywords in the title ensures alignment with user searches, while a compelling meta description enhances the search snippet's appeal.

4. Robots.txt: The robots.txt file is an essential tool for controlling how search engines interact with a website. It provides clear directives to search engine crawlers on which pages or sections they should or should not access. Configuring a proper robots.txt file during the development stage establishes a solid SEO foundation. A well-configured robots.txt file ensures that sensitive or irrelevant content remains hidden from both search engines and users, safeguarding the website's functionality and privacy.

5. H1 tag: The H1 tag and the H-tag hierarchy (H1 to H6) are crucial elements for both SEO and user experience, forming the structural framework of a webpage's content. Proper implementation of H-tags during the development phase ensures an organized and search-engine-friendly page that is also user-accessible. These tags guide search engine crawlers in understanding the content’s hierarchy, highlighting the primary heading and determining content priority.

6. Link previews: Link previews, generated by social media platforms and search engines when a URL is shared, are essential for boosting your website’s visibility and engagement. Ensuring that each page has optimized link previews during the development phase can greatly improve SEO and click-through rates (CTR).

7. Schema markup: Schema markup is a type of structured data that aids search engines in understanding a webpage's content and enhancing its display in search engine results pages (SERPs). This structured data allows search engines to generate rich results or snippets, increasing the chances of your content being featured separately in search results. Properly adding schema markup is crucial and may require expert developers.

The elements mentioned above are a bare minimum to what is needed for the website to perform well SEO wise. Explore each SEO element for website development in detail to know more about it.