The best time to start SEO is during the build of your new website, not after. In this article, we’ll detail the benefits and why starting before launch might actually help you rank higher in the search results a bit faster than you would otherwise.
Why is Starting SEO Before Launch Better?
In one of Google’s patents (US9767157B2 – “Predicting site quality”), it describes a system to predict a “quality score” of a new website (or a site that hasn’t gotten a score yet).
This “quality score” is determined by going through the words of your website. It looks specifically at certain recurring phrases across the site. It checks to see how these recurring, site-wide phrases compare to other sites that it’s already looked at before.
Think of it like picking an outfit for the first day at a new school. Before you even walk through the doors, students already have an established “style dictionary” (e.g., skaters wear X, jocks wear Y, and everyone wears plain white socks).
The second you step onto campus, people look at the specific combination of clothes you’re wearing and instantly categorize your vibe based on what they already know about those clothes. Ideally, you want to pick an outfit that instantly resonates with the crowd you want to hang out with.
So, when you launch your website, it’s a good idea to have it launched in a way that Google will think, “This is high-quality and has potential!”
What SEO Work Should Be Done Before Launch?
Before launching a website, there are many things that you can easily do as a business owner, and some things that are a bit more technical (working with the code of the site). Let’s dive into these further:
Establish Your Brand
This means providing all the small details that make you different from other companies on the web. Search engines like Google don’t know the difference between “Bob’s Venture, LLC” and “Sally’s Enterprise, LLC” unless there are unique, defining characteristics that are written out. It’s up to you as the business owner to highlight things like:
- Your team.
- Your story.
- Any licensing you have.
- Guarantees, warranties, discounts.
- Your processes.
- The services you offer, and what makes them unique.
If you’re working with an SEO company, they should be able to assist you with lots of questions that will help you win in SEO.
Analyze Competition for Pages to Write
Initially, you might think, “We offer these 3 services. So we’ll write about them”. However, if you look closely at some of your competitors, you might find that they’ve covered something very helpful that you didn’t think of right away. This will give you a good idea of the kind of things you should talk about on your website.
Get Content Ideas Through Keyword Research
Using platforms like Ahrefs or Semrush can help you see what people are searching for and give you ideas for pages and content to write about. The idea is not too different from the concept of supply and demand. Keywords tell you about the demand. You supply that demand with the pages and content on your site.
Add Interactive Elements
Things like cost-calculators, transparent pricing, free checklists, instant booking, etc., can all make it easier for your website visitors to come to a decision. They reduce the need for a searcher to continue searching.
Technical & Advanced SEO
There are also technical and advanced SEO techniques that can make a massive difference in your SEO performance. These include:
- Adding detailed Schema Markup to every page of your site.
- Increasing your website speed.
- Connecting relevant pages to one another through internal links.
- Adding alternative text (a type of image description) to your images.
- Writing concise, but meaningful URLs.
These tasks are usually done best by an SEO company. In fact, an SEO company can also bring advantages in the way your content is written and organized across your website so that you get the very most out of your launch.
Should I Hire an SEO Company Before Launching?
Yes, you should hire an SEO company before launching your new website. Or, if your web designer also offers SEO services, you should ask about having SEO built into the new site.
Again, this provides you with a long-term advantage when it comes to your visibility on search engines and AI models by presenting a website that’s useful for searchers and easy to crawl/understand.
What Will an SEO Company Do Before Launching My New Site?
BIG Marketing has a process that starts by building a Topical Map (a map of all the different topics to cover on your website). It then proceeds with turning your website into a network of information to satisfy all of the searchers that need your services.
Our process also works on areas of SEO, such as:
- How to interlink your content.
- Speeding up your website.
- Writing code for the site.
- A plan for publication frequency (new pages).
- A backlinking strategy.
How Much Will Hiring an SEO Company Cost Me?
BIG Marketing starts at $1,000/month for its SEO services, and SEO campaigns can get as much as $10,000/month depending on the level of competition and the scope of work.
In terms of the time it takes to implement strategies (“time cost”), it may delay the launch of your website if most of the design work has already been completed. So in a sense, starting SEO before your website launches may cost you time.
However, you can also start SEO after the website is launched. It’s less advantageous than starting beforehand, but that doesn’t mean you won’t see results.
Is SEO Effective After Launching My Site?
Starting SEO after a website launch is effective. However, you might miss a major opportunity to start out with a good quality score.
In addition to that, Google starts to track how people are interacting with your site (or not interacting with your site). This is a concept in another Google patent called “Modifying search result ranking based on implicit user feedback” (US8661029B1).
When you launch your website, if you haven’t provided enough helpful content or enough pages to assist searchers, you’re going to have people leave your website faster than they would for a more helpful website. That information accumulates over time.
That information tracked over time acts like feedback, telling Google’s system whether your content is good to continue serving to people, or whether it results in people searching again because you couldn’t provide the answers they needed.
That said, starting SEO shortly after your new website is launched isn’t as beneficial as starting while your site is being built, but not as bad as waiting several months/years. Talk to an SEO agency like BIG Marketing to analyze the best strategic approach for launching your website.
Can I Just Do the SEO Myself?
Yes, you can start working on your SEO by yourself. However, SEO can get extremely complex, and if it’s done incorrectly, it can hurt your visibility.
If you’re concerned about getting things done correctly, contact an SEO agency that offers a free consultation, like BIG Marketing.
What Can BIG Marketing Do to Help?
BIG Marketing offers a free consultation, which we call a “Marketing Action Plan” or “MAP”. We take a look at your current visibility (if any), what your competitors are doing well, and what it’ll take for you to win on Google and in AI searches.
You’ll also be given pricing options based on the level of service that you need. However, if you decide we’re not a good fit, you’re welcome to take our plan and implement it yourself, or have another company implement it for you!
How Can I Get Started With BIG Marketing?
Give us a call at (615) 772-4999, or fill out our online form for a free consultation. We’ll get to know your business and goals so that we can begin researching what needs to be done in order for you to succeed in SEO and in AI searches (GEO).
You’ll get a full report of what it’ll take to win in SEO for your new website!
