What is the difference between a normal website rebuild and a properly SEO-structured one?
Answer: ENORMOUS flow of free traffic from Google!
*caveat: The site must already be well-aged and has substantially strong authority/history with Google.
When you rebuild your website, do make sure it is not purely from an “aesthetic” reason or just simply that it needs a new update.
Most web design agencies started during the hey-days of the desktop world, where screen sizes were big. This resulted in people wanting “beautiful” websites that they can show off.
Today, more than 70% of content consumption is on the tiny mobile screen. There is not enough leg-room for fancy designs and the focus is on usability and speed.
Look at the world’s biggest websites: Google, Amazon, etc. They are “minimalistic” in nature but the stress is on good user-experience and conversions.
See the above chart of a client of ours.
They had their website rebuilt by a “well-known” branding agency which lacked all the necessary SEO structures. Of course, in their proposal the new site will be “mobile-friendly” and will come with “free” SEO. 
When the client came to us, we saw that all content in the old site were just “conveniently” redirected to the homepage.
There were no properly researched keywords in URLs, titles, etc. and the site structure was in a mess, creating tons of potential duplicate content penalty.
Many of the info were “cannibalizing” each other and their web copies were just full of self-praise and fluffy words that say how established they are.
This is what happens when you use a “branding” agency with no marketing chops or the right SEO skills.
As a business owner, you have to decide if you want “fancy pride” or commercially intent-based web traffic which will give you leads or revenues.
Remember, branding is definitely a MUST for a business, however, there should also be a balance with marketing KPIs.
With a proper marketing site setup, all KPIs and numbers can be tracked and attributed. As for branding, it can’t.
Do consider all these when you plan out your website rebuild.
You can also check out our post on Why SEO Website Design is Essential For Your Business.
