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Is it ever okay to hire a web designer who doesn’t do SEO?

It is generally a bad idea to hire a web designer to build a website if they have no or very limited knowledge of search engine optimization (SEO). The only two exceptions would be if they are working with someone who does SEO or the website isn’t intended to be found in search results. Other than those exceptions, if you hire a web designer who is not also an SEO specialist, you’ll end up with a website with no SEO, very minimal SEO, or bad SEO.

You’ll either have to also hire an SEO specialist as your site is being built or hire one later when you realize you want your website to be more visible in search results, meaning you’ll have to work with two people or two businesses instead of one. If an SEO expert is hired after the site is completed, you may end up having to pay for a significant redesign or transfer to another platform, as well.

Ideally, you should look for a designer who understands at a minimum basic SEO principles and can incorporate them into the website structure and design, but a Web Designer/SEO Specialist will get you best results.

Why is a website designed without SEO a bad idea?

A website designed without SEO from the start could significantly hinder your online visibility and potential customer reach in local search results. It generally takes 6-12 months for a website to become established in Google Search results. What this means is that it takes time for Google to index your website and determine where it should go in search results. That’s a lot of time lost due to not doing SEO from the beginning.

Without SEO, the website is unlikely to show up in local search results for anything but branded searches (your business name), if that. The problem with that is that most potential clients are not searching for your business name when they need your services, they’re searching for those services and going with the businesses shown at the top of local search results.

If your web designer doesn’t understand how to help you get your services and not just your business name ranking on page 1 of Google Search results, you may just be throwing your money away. I’ve seen popular web design agencies charge $1000’s for a website that doesn’t even show up in local search results in small towns with low competition.

But their web design portfolio looks so nice!

Unfortunately, most web designers are not experts in search engine optimization (SEO), including many web designers and agencies who charge in the $1000s for even a 5-page website. A nice-looking website is great, but if it isn’t built to show up in search results or for conversion, or has a bad user experience (UX), it isn’t doing you any favors.

Hiring a web designer who is also an SEO generalist, meaning they have broad knowledge in the various areas of SEO, will give you the best results. SEO generalists are great because they are able to create a comprehensive SEO strategy instead of focusing on being an expert in just one area, such as technical SEO or SEO copyrighting. There are some signs you can watch out for to help you spot a web designer who isn’t also an SEO specialist or SEO expert.

Hire a web designer with over a decade of experience in SEO

Give your website the best start possible. Delphinium Marketing’s lead web designer has over a decade of experience providing SEO for service-based businesses. We offer long-term website support and all websites are built with SEO in mind from the start, and we take the time to discuss the future of your website with you. Adding monthly SEO services after your website is built will give you the best results and help your website move up in search results faster, but even if you choose not to move forward with additional SEO services after your website is built, we give you a few tips on things you can do on your own to help increase your website’s visibility.

Contact Delphinium Marketing today to schedule a discovery call and see how we can help you grow your online presence and reach more potential clients with an SEO-optimized website.