SEO Shouldn’t Be an Afterthought
It’s easy to think of SEO as something that can be added to a site or marketing plan down the road. Many small businesses make the mistake and assume they just need a well designed, great looking website to get things started, and SEO comes in as a second phase project somewhere down the road. The problem with that idea is that waiting until later means your website and business are missing out on critical SEO opportunities from when the site goes live – some that are tied into the very structure and setup of the site even.
Think of it like building a house. You can’t build the walls and put the roof on and then decide to add the foundation. The foundation is what everything else depends on. SEO works in much the same way for websites. It is the foundation and base structure that determines whether or not your site will stand strong or not. This will lead to an impact in search rankings, attract visitors, and grow your business.
At Full Scope Creative, we don’t view SEO as an optional extra. It’s built into every website we build – even before we start the design process. With this approach, when your new site launches, it’s not just look and function great, it’s going to be designed to be found, to bring in leads, and to support your business goals. And we can still go into detailed SEO campaigns and plans once the site is launched.
What SEO at the Design Stage Really Means
When we say that SEO needs to be part of website design, it goes well beyond just adding a few keywords here and there. It’s about building a strong, search-friendly foundation for the website at every step of the process. This includes:
- Keyword focus – Before design even begins, we’re going to find the search terms that matter most to your business and customers. These keywords will be used throughout the site and provide a guide to the structure and content of your site. This ensures that each page has a clear purpose and keyword to pull users in.
- Page URL structure – Clean, keyword-friendly URLs allow for both users and search engines to easily explore and understand what your page is about. “/green-bay-janitor” is far more effective than “/janitor” for ranking for the keyword.
- Word count and content strategy – A site filled with short or vague content won’t easily rank well in search engines. Search engines want to see pages with enough substance and quality content to provide value to searchers. That doesn’t mean filler text at all! It means quality content and relevant information that answers your audience’s questions and proves that you and your company are authoritative experts in your field.
- Heading structure (H1s, H2s, etc.) – Search engines look at your website headings as a roadmap. A properly structured page helps them understand your content and rank it appropriately. This also includes page structure such as having an H1 listed first, followed by a paragraph, and continuing on. Having a line above the H1 can lead to SEO concussion for search engines.
- Color and design choices – Visual design plays a huge role in SEO. The colors used need to provide enough contrast for readability and accessibility. These features help your site perform better with both users and search engines. The colors used will also help determine how well users can explore the site, how vividly the photos can pop off the screen, and how effective a call to action button might be.
- Mobile-first and site speed – Google very heavily prioritizes mobile-friendly sites that load quickly. This means design decisions have to be about so much more than just the looks and appeal of the website. They need to support performance and usability on every device.
When all these pieces come together, your website becomes so much more than just another digital brochure. Putting SEO first makes for a powerful SEO platform that’s ready to perform from the moment it goes live and well into the future.
At Full Scope Creative, we don’t view or treat SEO as only a separate service. It is included in the design process itself, the programming and setup, content creation, and the entire website design process. By doing this, when we move into an ongoing SEO campaign with clients, we don’t need to do this foundational work – it’s all set and ready to go! We can then dive right into the SEO monthly activities that bring real results for our clients.
The Risks of Skipping SEO in Website Design
So what happens if SEO isn’t part of the website design process?
First off, your site might look amazing, but it won’t be positioned to show up in search results. You’ll have a stunning digital brochure that nobody can find. That’s like spending thousands of dollars on a beautiful billboard and putting it on the dark side of the moon where nobody is going to see it.
Second, you’ll often end up needing to go back and fix things. Businesses that launch websites without SEO in place quickly realize they need to restructure content, rewrite copy, or even redesign navigation. That usually means paying for a second project and wasting valuable time.
Third, you’ll miss out on critical traffic and leads right from day one. A brand-new site should be an opportunity to start attracting more business immediately, not a waiting game while you scramble to get SEO in place later.
And lastly, your competitors who did launch with SEO already baked in are going to be way out ahead of you. They’re already climbing rankings, already showing up in searches, and already building trust and authority with their audiences. Playing catch-up in SEO is possible, but it’s always harder and more expensive than starting strong from the beginning.
We’ve seen this play out firsthand. We’ve had local business’ came to us after having a brand-new site built elsewhere, only to realize that the design was lacking this some of these basic SEO elements in the design. Their site looked great, but to do on going SEO work that would really bring in results we had to go back and shore up the weak SEO foundation. All that work is something that should have been done right from the start.
At Full Scope Creative, we don’t want our clients to play catch-up on SEO. We start with SEO so that our clients and their websites get the head start they need. When we move into an ongoing SEO campaign – we start by working on new keywords, new users, new leads right away. No fixing what should have been done the first time.
Building a Website That’s an SEO Powerhouse
When SEO is part of the entire design process, your website launches as a powerful marketing tool, not just a placeholder. Every detail matters, and every choice is made with performance in mind.
Here’s how we set our clients up for success:
- Research-driven keywords – We don’t guess which terms matter. We research and plan so your site is targeting exactly what your customers are searching for.
- Content strategy – Each page is designed to provide valuable, engaging, and keyword-optimized information. This makes your site a resource, not just a surface-level design.
- On-page SEO standards – From title tags to meta descriptions, these elements are in place and optimized at launch.
- Design that’s functional and beautiful – Your site can’t just look good; it has to be structured and optimized to work hard in search engines as well.
When your website launches with all of these things in place, it’s like opening your doors on day one with a neon sign, a ribbon cutting, and a full-page newspaper ad—all rolled into one. People can find you, trust you, and start working with you right away.
Your business deserves a site that starts strong, not one that needs patchwork fixes down the road. Your website should provide a great starting point to go blasting off into SEO success. The foundation should all be there and ready to support the future marketing efforts. When you’re ready to move into SEO work, you shouldn’t have to go back and shore up the weak SEO foundation.
We recently worked with a nonprofit that wanted their new site to be both beautiful and easy to find. By planning their keyword strategy, content layout, and design together, they launched with pages already ranking in Google within the first few weeks. Because the foundation was set, they were able to dive straight into blogging and ongoing SEO work instead of fixing missed basics.
How SEO and Design Work Hand in Hand
It’s a mistake to think of SEO and web design as separate projects. In reality, they’re two sides of the same coin.
Design brings people in, makes the site easy to navigate, and keeps them engaged. SEO helps make sure people can actually find your site in the first place. Without SEO, nobody arrives. Without good design, nobody stays.
The real magic happens when they’re woven together from the start. For example:
- A navigation menu can be built with both usability and keyword strength in mind.
Calls-to-action can be designed to stand out visually while being supported by keyword-rich content. - A page layout can guide the eye while also making sense to search engines scanning the structure.
When design and SEO are approached as a single process—not separate checkboxes—you end up with a site that’s not just nice to look at, but one that performs, converts, and grows along with your business.
The Full Scope Creative Approach
At Full Scope Creative, we’ve built our entire process around this belief: SEO is not a separate upgrade. It’s not a second project. It’s not an “extra” you might consider down the road. It’s part of every single website we build.
Here’s what that looks like:
- Planning and discovery – We start with your goals and audience, not just your color preferences or logo files.
- Keyword and content strategy – Before we touch design, we make sure the content strategy is aligned with what search engines and customers are looking for.
- Design and programming – The visual side of your site is crafted to work hand-in-hand with SEO best practices.
- Launch – By the time your site goes live, the foundational SEO work is already done.
The result? When you’re ready for an ongoing SEO campaign, you don’t have to backtrack or redo the basics. We can dive right into monthly activities that drive more traffic, more leads, and more results—because the foundation has already been set.
Start Your Website with SEO Built In
Your website should never be just an expense—it should be an investment that drives growth from day one. But for that to happen, SEO has to be included right from the start of the design process.
By weaving SEO into every step, you launch a site that’s ready to rank, attract visitors, and help you grow your business. You avoid wasted time, wasted money, and wasted opportunities.
At Full Scope Creative, SEO isn’t an afterthought—it’s the foundation. If your business is ready for a website that doesn’t just look great but actually gets found, let’s talk.