Search Friendly - User Friendly Content Management Systems

When evaluating a proposal from any company offering a CMS solution it is important to consider how flexible it is for SEO practice, it is imperative that this is established at the outset as it is not an enjoyable experience when a site is built to discover that it cannot perform in natural search.

It is also very beneficial to hold a provider to task if the functionality they promised is not there when the system is populated. This becomes a very strong lever when the extra functionality needed for SEO gets factored in and then costed.

Most importantly any large budget site that is going to use either a CMS or E-Commerce solution MUST get advice from a reputable SEO agency before they sign on the dotted line. The agency can and will ask all the questions needed to establish the level of SEO functionality and importantly the usability of that functionality. This should significantly affect the decision on which system to sign up to, DO NOT glibly accept the marketing jargon that states a system is S.E. friendly, get the experts involved at the first stage of the site planning process and pressure the company delivering the architecture into answering specific questions.

The SEO agency must be reputable and really know how to evaluate the potential of a system, they must also be very confident because the CMS suppliers will be very defensive and will try to side step the questions. High Position have witnessed some very aggressive conferences when the credibility of a CMS solution is questioned, lets face it the suppliers are looking at a sale worth many thousands of pounds and will argue the user friendliness and administrative capabilities of the system above all else.

This process of evaluation is as important a step as the site design itself but so many large corporate companies miss this step out and subsequently pay a huge cost either in retrospective costs or through lost sales due to no natural profile.

We have worked on many existing systems whereby we are tasked with improving the CMS over time, working alongside the solution suppliers to advise on adding extra SEO functionality each time the core system is updated.

We have a wealth of experience in working directly with the CMS developers but also with companies who are trying to determine which CMS will deliver the right solution. We have averted several disasters and been instrumental in improving systems prior to publishing dates.

We have also supplied in-depth SEO friendly CMS blueprints which are helping CMS suppliers to improve legacy systems.

The golden rule is you must get a good SEO agency involved at the outset, there is simply no excuse in this evolving online world to go live with a bad system. The current trend is to talk to an SEO expert once the site is built and in this world retrospective = money.