{
  "id": 3743400,
  "title": "Why Developers Should Care About SEO Before Launching a Website",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/27/why-developers-should-care-about-seo-before-launching-a-website",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-08-27T13:10:36.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Dev.to",
    "slug": "dev-to",
    "url": "https://dev.to/ravindrachitla/why-developers-should-care-about-seo-before-launching-a-website-1jdp"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Developers should take search engine optimization (SEO) into account before launching a website, as decisions made during the development process can significantly impact a site's organic search performance later on. This is especially true for developers who may not have considered SEO as part of the original development plan. Often, SEO is seen as an afterthought once a website is live, but many critical decisions regarding URLs, site structure, rendering, navigation, redirects, templates, and performance have already been made.\n\nA prime example of this is the URL structure of the website GamesMom. Initially, the website was organized with nested categories for better logical structuring, but as it grew, the developers decided to switch to a flatter URL structure for better performance. However, changing the URL architecture after launch proved to be far more challenging than anticipated, requiring extensive work with redirects, internal links, canonical URLs, sitemaps, and monitoring the new URLs post-deployment.\n\nThe discussion around URLs should not be limited to choosing between flat or category-based URLs, as both can work effectively depending on the website's long-term needs. Developers should view URLs as public addresses that other systems rely on once the site is live. Similar to public APIs, developers should only change URLs if there is a valid reason to do so, particularly for content-heavy sites where even minor changes can complicate the process significantly.\n\nMoreover, developers should think carefully before building a \"page factory\" using modern frameworks, CMS platforms, automation tools, or AI to generate numerous pages. While these tools make it easy to create pages quickly, they don't guarantee that every page is valuable. Developers should focus on creating useful, distinct content for each page rather than simply generating a large number of pages.\n\nInternal linking is another aspect that developers should address during development. Properly connecting related pages not only enhances user experience but also helps search engines understand the relationships within the website better. For instance, an educational site could link a multiplication resource with other math activities or connect typing games with typing lessons. Building these relationships into the site's structure from the beginning is far easier than trying to establish them after thousands of pages have already been published.\n\nJavaScript applications offer excellent user experiences, but developers must also ensure that critical content, links, metadata, or structured data are properly rendered and discovered by search engines. This doesn't mean avoiding JavaScript altogether, but rather understanding which parts of the application are essential for search visibility and making sure they function consistently for both users and search engines.\n\nLastly, performance is a critical area where development and SEO overlap. Developers may perceive a slow page as an engineering issue, while marketers see it as a search and conversion problem. Users simply experience a slow website. Issues like large images, unnecessary JavaScript, third-party scripts, inefficient rendering, and poorly handled assets can all affect the user experience. Addressing performance during development is more manageable than dealing with it once a website has grown around inefficient patterns.\n\nIn essence, developers don't need to become SEO experts, but they should consider SEO implications during the development process to avoid costly changes later on. Making informed decisions early on can save time, resources, and effort in the long run, ensuring that the website is both search-friendly and user-friendly from the start.",
  "summary": "I have worked in digital marketing for more than 16 years, and one thing I have learned is that many SEO problems are created before an SEO specialist ever gets involved. Developers make decisions about URLs, site structure, rendering, navigation, redirects, templates, and performance because they are building the product. Those decisions can have a major impact on organic search later, even when…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}