The IT department, the web developers, and the SEO pros often find themselves at loggerheads when it comes to website development. However, in 2023 the role of a website developer in SEO has become more collaborative. A web developer will solely focus on making the website appear pretty, but an SEO professional will bring functionality to it. Thankfully, every company is now recognizing the significance of SEO for web developers as they cannot afford to work in silos anymore.
When companies hire a good web development company they want them to come up with more than just coding skills. They want someone who can also optimize the website for search engines and increase its visibility by integrating SEO and web development.
Let us understand the role of web developers in boosting a site’s SEO value.
What is SEO in Web Development?
A website has to rank on the search engine to make it effective in the market. You can easily meet this objective by accommodating SEO into your website design.
In fact, SEO optimization has become critical for businesses that want to increase their online visibility. Without proper SEO optimization strategy, your website will be lost in the vast sea of online content.
As a web developer, you must ensure that the way the content is presented on the site is optimized for search engines. The most crucial objective of any website design is attracting more visitors. In this regard, hiring a good web development sydney company who can design a friendly website by coordinating SEO and web development helps the client the most because it makes the site rank.
Position SEO at the core of your web development process to attract more traffic to the website. Hence, knowing the process of consolidating the SEO features for a site is a requirement for all website designers. It saves the visitor’s time and effort.
6 Must-Know Basics of SEO for Web Developers
There are several vital elements that every developer should be aware of to achieve the goals of SEO-friendly web development. Here are a few SEO basics that every web developers should consider:
1. Website Speed
A Website speed test with good results is important and hence it is an essential factor to consider when designing a website. About 59% of users believe a well-structured website must not take more than 3 seconds to load completely. You can expect these users to skip over your website if it takes a second more than that. Check out your e-commerce website speed here.
The slow speed of your website may also affect its ranking on search engines. It becomes challenging for an SEO expert to improve the site’s rank with SEO content. This fact recommends that web developers should incorporate SEO in web development or either work closely with SEO experts or learn the SEO principles themselves.
2. Mobile Friendly
You are likely to get more visitors to your website from mobile users. Today, people use their smartphones more than ever to browse the internet. Attracting and retaining visitors can become challenging for an e-commerce website without mobile device optimization. It is a challenge for web developers because they must account for the different screen sizes. Web developers must ensure their websites are responsive and adapted for mobile viewing.
Google provides a mobile-friendly test for your website. With this test you can gain valuable insights on the performance of your website on mobiles highlighting areas that require improvement.
3. Readable Material
A web developer will have the knowledge of how to use SEO to arrange the content in a meaningful manner for the readers. They will know how to present the title, subheadings, and body text. The design would enable the users to read and understand the content easily. A skilled developer knows the significance of SEO in web development and will strategically place the CTA button to encourage engagement and conversion. He will also hyperlink the content to other reading materials on the website that can help clarify the readers’ doubts.
Here are seven tips to help you develop better UI/UX designs to enhance your website’s readability and user experience.
4. User-centric Development
Any business that flourishes does so by appealing to its customer base. For a web developer, the users should be equally important as the client. It is ultimately the user that the client wants you to target. By ensuring that your website is developed with SEO in mind, you can maximize its impact. Your design should allow users to move from one page to another easily. It convinces the user of the validity of your client’s business and may lead to a sale. Your UX design must incorporate SEO principles to be able to deliver optimal results to the client.
5. Secure Website
For a developer, the website he develops must be secure against external threats. In today’s landscape, cyber attacks are becoming increasingly common and sophisticated. Therefore, it is crucial to implement robust security measures to protect your client’s website. This step also builds trust in the users, who can rely on your security measures and provide sensitive information like bank details. The protection afforded by the HTTPS protocols is a great place to start.
6. URL Structure
Finally, the URL structure can also help the SEO of your e-commerce website. A web developer can use the URL to provide precise information about the website by using keywords or phrases. A well-structured URL can also improve the user experience by making it easier for them to navigate your site and find what they want. It’s essential to remember that the URL should accurately reflect the content of the page it leads to and avoid using generic or irrelevant terms.
Conclusion
To summarize, we can see that web developers have a huge role to play in a site’s SEO. Without the proper understanding of SEO principles, a web developer cannot hope to create a website that ranks well. We encourage all web developers to integrate the core propositions of SEO to enhance the quality and reach of your website.
Feel free to reach out if you need assistance with SEO best practices for your website.
