As the founder of an SEO agency, you get used to solving problems. But some problems are bigger than others. Some are catastrophes waiting to happen. I want to tell you a true story about a client, a beautiful new website, and a complete disaster that could have been avoided.
It’s a story about a business owner just like you, caught in a technical tug-of-war that cost them dearly.
The Phone Call That Started It All
It was a Tuesday morning when my phone rang. It was our client for marathalagnagathi.com, a matrimonial site. They had just launched their brand-new website, built by a freelance website developer, and they were excited. It looked fantastic—modern, slick, and professional.
They had hired us for SEO, to get them to the top of Google. But when my team ran our initial analysis, we felt a pit in our stomachs.
I had to make the call.
Me : “Hi, I’ve just seen the report on the new site. I have some concerns.”
Client: “Concerns? It looks great, doesn’t it? The developer did a fantastic job!”
Me: “Visually, it’s stunning. But from a Google perspective… the website is practically invisible. When Google’s robots visit, they aren’t seeing any of the text, images, or content. They’re just seeing a blank page.”
Client: “…What? I don’t understand. I can see it. You can see it. What do you mean it’s a blank page?”
And so it began. The client had spent their entire budget on a state-of-the-art car with no engine.
The Technical Problem, in Simple Terms
Imagine you write a beautiful book. But instead of printing the words on the page, you write them in invisible ink that only a special pair of glasses can reveal.
When Google’s crawlers (their “readers”) came to our client’s website, they didn’t have the special glasses. The website was built using a modern technology called React, which is great for slick user interfaces. But in this case, it was set up to load all the content inside the user’s browser (Client-Side Rendering).
Google, for the most part, prefers when the content is already there on the page when it arrives (Server-Side Rendering).
Our client’s website developer had essentially handed Google a book written in invisible ink. And if Google can’t read your website, you will never, ever rank.
The Escalation: “Why Can’t You Just Fix It?”
What followed were two months of painful, circular conversations. We tried to bridge the gap. We explained the technical requirements to the developer. The client was stuck in the middle, growing more and more frustrated.
A typical three-way phone call went something like this:
Client: “So, any progress? Are we live on Google yet?”
Me: “I’m afraid not. We’ve sent the developer the documentation on how to fix the rendering issue. It’s a fundamental change, but it’s the only way.”
Website Developer: “I’m trying, but this is a huge change to the site’s code. The designs are built a certain way. I don’t think this SEO stuff is that important; the user experience is perfect.”
Client: “Not important? What’s the point of a perfect user experience if NO USERS CAN FIND US? I’m paying both of you! Why is this so difficult? I just want the website to work!”
You could hear the desperation in the client’s voice. They trusted two different experts—their website developer and their SEO consultant—and now those experts were at a deadlock. The developer, while talented at design, was out of their depth with this specific technical SEO requirement. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to fix it; he didn’t know how.
The Point of No Return
After months of failed attempts, we had to have the hardest conversation of all.
We advised the client that the website, as it stood, was a lost cause. The cost and complexity of re-engineering the entire site would be more than starting over.
They had to scrap the entire project.
The financial loss was devastating. The time lost was even worse. They missed their launch window and had to go back to square one, all because the left hand didn’t know what the right hand was doing.
The Real Lesson: A Gap in Communication is a Crack in the Foundation
This entire disaster wasn’t just a technical problem. It was a communication catastrophe.
The website development was done in a silo. The SEO was treated as an afterthought—something to “add on” later. This is a recipe for failure.
As I, always tell our clients now, the single most important decision you can make is to hire one integrated agency to handle both your website development and your SEO.
Why?
- No Gaps: Your SEO strategist and your website developer are on the same team from day one. The SEO plan is baked into the website’s architecture.
- No Blame Game: There’s one team, one project manager, and one point of accountability. The buck stops with us.
- Efficiency and Savings: Building it right the first time saves you unimaginable amounts of money and stress compared to fixing it later.
In the end, our client hired a new company that worked directly with my team’s SEO requirements. Their new site was built on a solid foundation and is now growing its presence on Google. But the scars from their first experience remain.
Don’t let your business become another case study. A beautiful website is useless if your customers can’t find it.
If you’re planning a new website, talk to an expert who understands that development and SEO aren’t separate jobs—they are two halves of the same whole. At Wireframes Digital, we build your digital presence as one unified team.
Let’s build it right, the first time.
