Why design and SEO overlap more than people think
A lot of what decides whether a page ranks is set while the site is being built: how fast it loads, how pages are structured, whether each service has its own page, what the headings say, and whether search engines can read the content at all. Those are design and development decisions.
When SEO only starts after launch, the SEO person often finds the problems are baked in. Fixing them means going back to the designer, or rebuilding pages, and paying twice.
Hiring separately: the pros and cons
- Pro: you can pick a specialist for each, and swap one without touching the other.
- Pro: works well for larger companies with someone in house to coordinate.
- Con: the two often disagree, and you end up refereeing.
- Con: SEO changes need developer time, which is quoted and billed separately, so they happen slowly or not at all.
- Con: when traffic drops, each side can point at the other.
Bundled: the pros and cons
- Pro: the site is built to rank from day one: fast pages, clean structure, structured data and a page for each service.
- Pro: SEO changes get made directly, without a new quote.
- Pro: one bill and one team accountable for results.
- Con: you depend on one team's skill at both. Check their own site and their client sites before you sign.
- Con: a bundle is less useful if you already have a strong in-house marketing team.
What "SEO included" should actually mean
The phrase gets used loosely. At a minimum, a bundled plan should include:
- A fast site that passes Google's Core Web Vitals.
- Clear titles, descriptions and headings on every page.
- Structured data for your business, services and FAQs.
- A sitemap, Search Console setup and redirects from any old pages.
- For local businesses, consistent name, address and phone details, and a page for the area you serve.
Ongoing SEO goes further: regular on-page updates, new content aimed at what your customers search for, and a report that shows rankings and traffic changing over time. Ask which of these you are getting.
How to decide
- You have an in-house marketer and a separate dev team already: hire separately.
- You are a small business and want the site to bring in customers without managing two vendors: bundle them.
- You are not sure yet: start with a site built on solid SEO foundations, then add ongoing SEO once the basics are in place.
How Bunched bundles it
Every Bunched site launches with SEO foundations built in. Growth ($349 a month) adds a monthly SEO health report and on-page SEO updates. Premium ($699 a month) adds full on-page SEO management and Core Web Vitals monitoring. Clients see what was found and fixed in their own portal. What is included, or see plans and pricing.