When creating a website for your company to showcase your services and products to your clients, it’s important to set clear design standards before the developers start building it. This includes defining the site’s structure, colors, designs aligned with your brand identity, content, and services. However, you must also establish SEO fundamentals to prepare your site for visibility on search engines.
What is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, which means improving your website’s performance to rank higher in search results on platforms like Google, Bing, and Yahoo.
But how can you integrate SEO basics even before launching the website?
Before diving into SEO setup, you need to understand the main types and stages of SEO:
On-Page SEO:
This is the first stage during the website building process. It involves optimizing pages and content internally before the site goes live.
Off-Page SEO:
This includes promoting your website through marketing efforts, building backlinks, and using social media channels to enhance site visibility and credibility.
Technical SEO:
This stage focuses on the technical aspects that improve site efficiency and usability, such as increasing page speed, adding security features, optimizing mobile performance, and implementing Schema Markup to help search engine crawlers understand your content better.
Key On-Page SEO Essentials You Should Know:
Content:
Strong, valuable content is the foundation of SEO success. High-quality, engaging content builds your site’s domain authority and customer trust.
Headings (H1 Tags):
Search engines prioritize the H1 heading when indexing a page. It should include targeted keywords and relate directly to the page’s content. Only one H1 tag should be used per page.
URLs:
Create clear, descriptive URLs that accurately reflect the page content — for example, services pages.
Images:
Including images boosts your site’s indexing rate but make sure to:
Optimize image size to avoid slowing down your site.
Use descriptive file names (not random characters).
Add Alt tags describing the image content.
Meta Descriptions:
A brief summary of the page content placed within the code that appears below the page title on search engines. Well-crafted meta descriptions can improve click-through rates.
Keywords:
Including relevant keywords naturally throughout your content increases your chances of ranking higher. However, ranking depends on factors like site trustworthiness, content quality, SEO compliance, and sometimes paid advertising on platforms like Google Ads.
Top SEO Tools for Monitoring and Improving Your Site Performance:
Google Search Console
Ahrefs
Semrush
Screaming Frog
HubSpot
Regularly auditing and optimizing your website ensures better ranking against competitors and keeps you visible to your target audience.
