key SEO considerations to keep in mind during web development

Great SEO isn’t something you bolt on after a project is finished — it's something you build in from day one. As a developer, you're in a unique position to ensure the site’s code, structure, and performance all align with search engine best practices.

Here’s a breakdown of SEO principles tailored to developers, along with practical examples from my DevStack, a codebase that handles all of this out of the box.

🧠 1. Do Keyword Research — Then Use It in the Right Places

You don't need to write the content, but your code should support it:

✅ DevStack includes utilities to auto-slug URLs and populate Open Graph/SEO meta tags from view models.

🧱 2. Use Semantic HTML

Your layout structure matters:

<main>
  <article>
    <h1>...</h1>
    <section>...</section>
  </article>
</main>

✅ DevStack layout templates use semantic HTML5 tags as standard.

⚡ 3. Optimize Page Speed

Google ranks faster pages higher. Use:

✅ All handled in DevStack, including image thumb generation and response compression middleware.

📱 4. Mobile-First Design

Use responsive frameworks like Tailwind or Bootstrap. Set the viewport meta tag:

<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">

✅ Mobile support is built into DevStack’s components and layouts.

📸 5. Image Optimization

jpeg.Alt = model.Title;
jpeg.Title = model.Caption;

✅ Image sitemap generation and metadata injection built in.

🧾 6. Meta Tags and Open Graph

Inject dynamically using Razor:

<title>@ViewData["Title"]</title>
<meta name="description" content="@ViewData["Description"]" />

✅ DevStack auto-generates Open Graph and Twitter cards from controller data.

🔗 7. Internal Linking

Use internal links to build structure and spread authority across your site. Enable editors to add these through your CMS or admin tools.

✅ DevStack’s rich text editor supports safe internal linking with Markdown-style syntax.

📦 8. Schema Markup

Structured data = richer results:

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Article",
  "headline": "SEO for ASP.NET Core",
  "author": "Benny Sutton"
}

✅ Partial views for common schema types are included in the DevStack.

🧬 9. Accessibility (and Bonus SEO Value)

Accessibility best practices help SEO too:

✅ DevStack follows WCAG guidelines by default.

🔍 10. Clean, Keyword-Friendly URLs

Use slugs, not querystrings:

[Route("blog/{slug}")]
public IActionResult Post(string slug) => ...

✅ Automatic slug generation and redirect middleware included.

📊 11. Analytics and Monitoring

Hook into:

✅ DevStack supports all three, with plug-and-play support for tracking and log sinks.

🧰 Need This Pre-Built?

All of these SEO features — and more — are already implemented in my DevStack, an ASP.NET Core 8 boilerplate optimized for:

Looking to fast-track your next project? Check out my CV or get in touch to explore how we can work together.