Questions I need to ask design company?

Hi everyone,

I'm in the process of having a website designed for me and wondered if there was anything specific I should ask my designer in regards to the coding of my website for SEO Purposes.

Please forgive my ignorance - I am a complete newbie and don't want to find out later in the day that something or other is wrong with my site. I guess in a sense I am asking how you determine whether a design company is professional and competent.

Many thanks in advance,

Slooshy

Slooshy,

Ask for previous sites they have made which are SEO Friendly and I will have a look for you if you like.

You may also ask if they code using CSS /XHTML. user the H1-H3 tags properly, use descriptive names on images, PROPER use of alt tags, good internal linking structure, if they will make a sitemap, and use mod re-write if needed.

These are few of the on-page factors you should look for in an seo friendly design, but remember, that off page factors are more important than on page factors for seo. Do they offer link building with proof of submission? Are the designs still aesthetically pleasing so as to bring in the best type of links, natural. Do they offer content creation services for the same reason?

Last but certainly not least, is their own site SEO friendly? I hope this little bit of information helps you choose the right company for the job!

Thank you so much for your very swift response and the much welcomed advice. Here are a couple of websites designed by the company I'm thinking of using.

beautyexcellence.co.uk/
pretaportobello.com/

Your thoughts would be much appreciated. Thank you.

theres alot of things to consider in terms of design.. page design/structure.. etc...

i suggest to read/learn more about seo...

while somewhat attractive, both fail by a considerable margin IMO...

Do you think I would struggle to compete in the serps if I used this design company? If so please could you explain why so that I can run the specifics by my designer.

Many thanks,

Slooshy

Most web design companies are either bad at SEO or ignore it completely, and most SEOs dont know web design.

Meaning you are going to be hard pushed to find a web design company that does both. I suppose if you learn the basics you could inform the web design company of the necessary on-page changes you want.

The thing is I don't know the basics, please can you point me in the direction of where I can learn about them?

Many thanks,

Slooshy

This will help you understand http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors

Also, type in on page optimisation/optimization (us spelling) into Google there are loads of articles on it.

Then once the website is up and running you need to know about off page optimisation.

This is very true. If you go to a reputable SEO company they generally have good designers who they have hired and trained up to make sure they know how to ensure the website is created with SEO in mind.

Ensure you get Design prices rather then SEO prices though (unless you want the full package and have a large budget).

if you to make sure they can give you quality designs, ask them a portfolio which will prove their work quality. After that go back to this forum and ask for advice if there work are fine.

Whether you will struggle or not will depend on your market and keywords competitiveness, the amount you have to spend on SEO, online and offline advertising and a myriad of other questions.
It is a too generalized question for me to answer. If you are asking if you could do better with a different design, certainly. In all three major US search engines a different design will go further faster.

For a page that is concerned with SEO, CSS/XHTML works well and all the important links and images need to be properly declared at a minimum. Most site designs are a compromise of SEO, design and price, you will need to work on this compromise with your design company but I think the two links you left compromised SEO, one compromised both style and SEO IMO.