Website and SEO Services: Should One Company Do Both?
Buying website and SEO services from one company works well when that company treats search as part of the build rather than a package added at the end. It goes wrong when the web company sells SEO as an upsell it does not understand, or when the SEO company builds a site it cannot maintain. The safer test is not who you buy from but whether search decisions are made before the design is signed off. This guide shows where SEO belongs in a website project and how to buy both without paying twice.
- Most SEO damage happens during a website project: lost URLs, blocked pages, slow templates, thin content. Involve search before design sign-off.
- One company doing both is fine if it can show search work it has done on sites it built. Ask for Search Console evidence, not a portfolio.
- If you use two companies, put the SEO one in the room during planning and before launch, not after.
- A rebuild needs migration protection: a redirect map, a pre-launch crawl and a post-launch check.
The short answer
One company can do both, and it is often simpler, but only if that company does real search work and can prove it. A web design firm that adds 'SEO included' to a quote usually means it will fill in title tags and submit a sitemap. That is not SEO. An SEO firm that offers to build your site usually means a template it can control, which may not be what your business needs.
What matters is sequence. Search has to shape the site structure, the page list, the templates and the content plan before the design is approved. If that happens, one company or two makes little difference. If it does not, no amount of SEO after launch will recover what the build threw away.
What goes wrong when website and SEO are separate
When a web company builds and an SEO company arrives later, the same problems show up on almost every project. Each one is cheap to prevent and expensive to fix.
- URLs change without redirects, and the rankings and links attached to the old pages disappear.
- Pages that brought most of the traffic are merged, shortened or deleted because the designer did not know they mattered.
- The new template is slow on mobile because nobody set a performance budget.
- Content is written to fill the design, not to answer searches, so the pages look good and rank for nothing.
- The staging site gets indexed, or the live site launches with a noindex tag left on.
- Schema, canonicals and the sitemap are an afterthought, or are generated wrongly by a plugin.
- Nobody records the baseline before launch, so nobody can tell what was lost.
Our guide on recovering from a Google update is often read by businesses whose traffic actually fell after a redesign, not an update. The dates usually give it away.
What goes wrong when one company does both
Buying both from one supplier removes the handover problem and creates two others. First, the company may be good at one and average at the other, and you will not find out until later. Second, when the site and the search programme are bundled on one contract, you cannot see what each part costs or change one without the other.
Ask a combined supplier to show the search results on sites it built, from Search Console with dates, and to price the website and the SEO separately on the quote. If either request is refused, buy them separately. If both are met, one company is the simpler choice.
Where SEO belongs in a website project
Search work is spread across the whole project, and most of it happens before anyone opens a design tool. Here is where it sits and who does it.
| Phase | SEO work | Who |
|---|---|---|
| Discovery | Baseline from Search Console: pages, queries, links. Keyword map against the business goals. List of pages that must survive. | SEO, with the owner |
| Structure | Site map and URL plan. Which pages exist, what each is for, how they link. Redirect map from old URLs. | SEO and web company together |
| Design | Templates with room for real content, headings in the right order, performance budget, no content hidden behind interaction. | Web company, checked by SEO |
| Content | Pages written to answer searches, with subject-matter input. Titles and descriptions per page. | Writer with SEO |
| Build | Schema, canonicals, sitemap, robots, speed, accessible markup, tracking. | Web company, tested by SEO |
| Pre-launch | Full crawl of staging against the live site. Redirects tested. Noindex removed. Analytics verified. | SEO |
| Launch and after | Post-launch crawl, Search Console monitoring for errors and drops, fixes within days. | SEO and web company |
If you are launching a brand new site rather than rebuilding, our guide to SEO for a new website covers the first 90 days in order. The technical SEO service covers the build and pre-launch checks.
Redesign or migration: protecting what you have
A rebuild is the single most dangerous moment for a site's search traffic. Treat it as a migration even if the domain does not change. The protection is a known routine: a crawl and baseline before, a redirect map covering every old URL that had traffic or links, a crawl of staging against the baseline, and a check within days of launch.
We sell this as a one-off called site migration protection, from CAD $3,500, listed on the pricing page. Whoever you use, insist that the redirect map exists as a document before launch and that someone compares Search Console before and after. The businesses that skip this step are the ones that call in month two asking why leads stopped.
How to buy website and SEO services
There are three sensible ways to buy, and one to avoid.
| Option | How it works | Best when |
|---|---|---|
| One company, priced separately | Web build and SEO on one contract, each with its own scope and price, search involved from discovery | The company can show search results on sites it built |
| Two companies, SEO in the room early | Web company builds; SEO company sets structure, content plan and pre-launch checks | You already have a web company you trust |
| SEO first, then build | Audit and structure plan bought first; the plan becomes part of the web brief | You have not chosen a web company yet |
| Avoid: SEO added after launch | Site launched, then an SEO package bought to fix the traffic drop | Never; it costs more and recovers less |
Our parent company builds software and websites, and this division does search, so we have worked all three ways. The pattern that works is the same each time: search decisions made before design sign-off, and a person accountable for what happens in Search Console after launch. Our on-page SEO service covers the content and template side of a build.
Questions to ask a web company about SEO
Ask these before signing a website contract. The answers tell you whether 'SEO included' means anything.
- Will you produce a redirect map for every current URL with traffic or links, and can I see it before launch?
- What is the performance budget for the templates on mobile, and how will you test it?
- Who writes the page content, and is it written to answer searches or to fill the design?
- Will the site have valid schema, canonicals and a sitemap, and who checks them?
- How will you stop the staging site being indexed and make sure the live site is?
- Can you show Search Console results from a site you built, with dates?
- What happens in the first thirty days after launch if traffic drops?
If you already have a site and want to know how it stands before deciding on a rebuild, run the free audit on a few pages. If you are planning a rebuild, book a strategy call before the design starts; that is when it is cheapest to get right.
Questions
Should my web designer also do SEO?
Only if they can show search results on sites they built, from Search Console with dates, and will price the SEO separately. If they cannot, use them for the build and bring in search early, before design sign-off.
When should SEO be involved in a website project?
At discovery, before the site map and design are agreed. Most search damage happens in structure and template decisions. SEO added after launch costs more and recovers less.
Will a new website hurt my SEO?
It can, if URLs change without redirects, key pages are merged or dropped, or the new templates are slow. With a baseline, a redirect map and pre-launch and post-launch crawls, most sites keep their traffic and many improve.
Does a website need SEO after it is built?
Yes, but less if the build was done properly. After launch the work is monitoring, adding and refreshing pages, reviews and local signals if you serve a place, and fixing what the first months of Search Console data show.
What does website SEO cost alongside a build?
Our site migration protection is from CAD $3,500 as a one-off, a full audit and 90-day plan is CAD $1,800, and ongoing plans start at CAD $2,200 a month. Market prices depend on site size and how early search is involved.