How to plan a website for SEO before you build it
SEO planning works best before the sitemap and content are fixed. The aim is not to force keywords everywhere; it is to give each useful search intent a clear, genuinely helpful destination.
Start with customers and intent
List the problems, comparisons and decisions your customers search for. Group phrases that mean the same thing. Separate informational questions from commercial searches so an article does not compete with the page meant to sell the service or product.
Map one primary job to each page
Assign every important topic or intent to the strongest existing or planned page. Avoid creating several thin pages for near-identical phrases. A commercial page should explain and sell the offer; supporting guides should answer narrower questions and link towards it.
Build internal links into the plan
Link from relevant guides to the commercial page, between related guides and from high-authority navigation pages to priority destinations. Use natural descriptive anchor text and place links where they help the reader take a next step.
Specify technical essentials
Plan clean URLs, titles, descriptions, headings, canonical rules, index/noindex decisions, structured data, redirects, image handling, mobile performance and an XML sitemap. Technical SEO cannot rescue a confusing site, but missing basics can hide a good one.
Measure the journey
Define conversions and supporting events before launch. Connect analytics and search reporting, record a benchmark, then review queries, landing pages and real customer behaviour after launch.
Quick check
- Search intents grouped
- Commercial and informational jobs separated
- One primary topic per page
- Useful internal links mapped
- Metadata drafted
- Redirects listed
- Indexing rules agreed
- Performance and accessibility tested
- Conversions measured
Turn the advice into your finished website plan.
The £14.99 Website Planning Kit gives you a printable planner, editable workbook, visual planning board, completed example and your own planning SuperAgent.
See the Website Planning Kit