SEO vs. Design – Round 2: O3 Strikes Back

Recently, you may have noticed some subtle changes to our O3 site, particularly to the home page. We’ve just wrapped up the first month of a year-long engagement with SEER Interactive, and it was suggested that we make some changes to help with the process. Our goals are fairly simple: we want to place on the first page of results for a handful of regionally relevant web design, branding and marketing terms. We had no idea the battle that would follow.

Essentially, we were asked to sacrifice a few aesthetically pleasing, user-centric components of our home page and about section to make room for keywords and structural changes that would help Google better index us for the terms we’ve requested. For a design and branding firm, this turned out to be quite a challenge. While SEER’s requested changes to our about section proved too difficult to contend with (they’re graciously conceiving a “plan B” as I write this), the recommended home page changes pushed us to create a solution that was both elegant and functional.

The first thing SEER asked for was a big header containing some of the key terms we’re targeting. No problem… we gleefully obliged (01). Then they asked for a “big block of copy above the fold” that they could weave terms into. Ugh… kind of an issue… but we put our giant brains together and developed a slider module using Javascript and CSS that allowed us to hide and show copy that is accessible to Google’s spiders (02). The trickiest part however was making the content read correctly. While we are proud to be a Philadelphia web design company (see what I did there), we do service many regional, national and international clients… and we didn’t want to pigeonhole ourselves. But rules are rules, so we did our best to creatively intertwine the Philadelphia terms we’re targeting with broader content that (hopefully) appeals to a larger audience (03).

While, like Frazier vs. Ali, the epic battle ensues, we’re enjoying the process of developing solutions that meet both the aesthetic expectations of our clients and the functional needs of SEO. We’ve discovered that a healthy balance of Javascript, CSS and properly written content can make the two play nice. While we’re excited to see the results of our efforts, we have a long way to go. So stay tuned for updates from the front lines and Round 3: An Interactive Agency Steps Toe-to-Toe with an SEO Company’s Website!