Web Designer vs SEO Expert: Who Does What?

The responsibilities between a website designer and an SEO expert often overlap, but each role focuses on different aspects of a website's development and performance.

Here's a breakdown of who does what:

Website Designer Responsibilities:

1. Visual Design:

   • Creates the look and feel of the website, including colour schemes, typography, page creation, and overall layout and navigation.

   • Ensures clean URL structure.

   • Designs graphics, images, and other visual elements.

2. User Experience (UX):

   • Ensures the website is user-friendly and easy to navigate.

   • Designs the site's structure and flow to enhance usability.

3. Responsive Design:

   • Makes sure the website looks good and functions well on all devices (desktops, tablets, and smartphones).

4. Brand Consistency:

   • Ensures the website aligns with the brand's identity and values.

   • Incorporates brand elements like logos, fonts, and colours.

5. Front-End Development:

   • Codes the design into a functioning website using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

   • Implements interactive elements and animations.

   • Fixes technical issues like broken links, duplicate content, adding new pages, etc.

SEO Expert Responsibilities:

1. Keyword Research:

   • Identifies relevant keywords and phrases that potential visitors are searching for.

   • Analyzes competitor keywords to find opportunities.

2. On-Page SEO:

   • Optimizes website content, including meta titles, descriptions, headers, and images.

   • Ensures proper use of keywords throughout the site content.

3. Technical SEO:

   • Improves site speed and performance.

4. Link Building:

   • Builds a network of backlinks from reputable sites to improve the site's authority.

   • Engages in outreach to get mentions and links from other websites.

5. Analytics and Reporting:

   • Monitors and analyzes website traffic and performance using tools like Google Analytics.

   • Provides regular reports on SEO progress and adjusts strategies as needed.

Collaboration Between the Two

While the website designer focuses on the visual and structural aspects, the SEO expert ensures the site is optimized for search engines and performance. Collaboration is key:

• During Design and Development:

  • The SEO expert can provide input on site structure, URLs, and other elements that impact SEO.

  • Both should work together to ensure the site is both visually appealing and optimized for search engines.

• Content Strategy:

  • Develops and implements a content strategy that includes blog posts, articles, and other relevant content.

  • Ensures content is high-quality, engaging, and optimized for search engines.

• Ongoing Optimization:

  • The designer may need to make adjustments based on SEO recommendations, like improving site speed or updating content layouts.

  • The SEO expert continually monitors performance and suggests updates to maintain and improve rankings. Many of the updates should be completed by the designer.

Effective collaboration ensures a website that not only looks great but also performs well in search engine rankings.

Is ongoing SEO Support Worth it?

Ongoing SEO Support can be a great help if it includes monthly blog content, consistently checking SEO analytics and adjusting website content based on data and doing paid ads we recommend this however it isn’t totally necessary.

Investing with a designer for ongoing updates, content and marketing support will absoutely provide you a much better ROI.