SEO Checklist for Architects: 12 Steps That Win Commissions

Jul 15, 2026 · SEO for Industries

Check this first: open Google Images and search "[your city] modern home architect". If none of your projects appear, your best marketing asset — years of built work — is invisible to the people scrolling for exactly what you design. Most architecture sites are image-heavy and text-starved, which is beautiful for humans and nearly blank for Google. This seo checklist for architects fixes that in twelve steps, without making your site ugly.

Pair it with the companion SEO for architects guide for the strategy; this list is pure execution.

The 12-step seo checklist for architects

1. Give every project its own page (half a day to restructure)

A single portfolio grid where clicking a photo opens a lightbox gives Google nothing to rank. Each project needs its own URL: /projects/hillside-passive-house-portland/. That one change creates a dozen or more rankable pages from work you've already done. Organize the portfolio index by project type — residential, commercial, renovation — so each category page can rank for its own keyword too, and so a prospect looking for exactly your ADU work doesn't have to wade through office interiors to find it.

2. Write 300+ words per project (45 minutes each)

Describe the brief, the constraints, the materials, the square footage, the neighborhood. This is the text that ranks for "hillside home architect portland" — and it's the story clients want anyway. Write like you'd present the project to a jury, minus the jargon. A structure that works: one paragraph on the client's brief and the site's constraints, one on the design response and materials, one on the outcome — square footage, budget class, and anything the client said afterward that you're allowed to quote.

3. Optimize project photos for search (2 hours across the site)

Rename files before upload (portland-passive-house-exterior.jpg, not IMG_4821.jpg), write descriptive alt text, and compress to under 300KB each. Architecture sites are routinely the slowest sites we crawl — full-resolution photos on every page will sink your rankings and your mobile visitors' patience. Keep one full-resolution hero per project if the detail matters; everything below the fold can be a compressed version nobody will ever tell apart on a screen.

4. Title-tag each project page with type + location (30 minutes)

Pattern: Modern Hillside Residence in Portland, OR | Foster Studio Architecture. Project type plus city is what prospects actually search; "Project 14" is what they never will.

5. Build pages for the project types you want more of (2 hours each)

If you want more ADU commissions, you need an ADU page: "ADU architect Portland", "accessory dwelling unit design". Same logic for custom homes, renovations, commercial tenant improvements. Each page links to your relevant projects — the type page ranks, the portfolio convinces. Cover your process on these pages too: feasibility, schematic design, permitting, construction administration. Prospects who've never hired an architect don't know what they're buying, and the page that explains the journey wins the inquiry.

6. Claim your Google Business Profile — yes, even as a studio (45 minutes)

Architects skip this because it feels like it's for restaurants. It isn't. "Architect near me" and "residential architect [city]" trigger the map pack, and an empty or unclaimed profile forfeits those searches. Category: Architect; add your best exterior shots as profile photos. Our Google Business Profile explainer covers the setup details.

7. Crawl your site and fix the image bloat (20 minutes + fixes)

Crawl your site and look specifically at page size, broken links, and missing alt text. Portfolio sites that have been through a redesign almost always carry broken internal links from renamed project URLs — each one a dead end for visitors and crawlers.

8. Publish your Houzz and AIA profiles, and align them (1 hour)

Houzz ranks well for residential searches and functions as a high-value citation; your state AIA directory adds professional weight. Match the studio name, address, and phone exactly to your site.

9. Put your city in your homepage title and H1 (15 minutes)

Residential & Commercial Architecture Studio in Portland | Foster Studio. Studios love abstract taglines ("Space. Light. Form.") — keep the tagline, but not in the title tag.

10. Add awards, press, and registrations where Google can read them (1 hour)

AIA awards, licensure, NCARB certification, press features — as HTML text on your About page, not baked into images. Trust signals only count when they're crawlable.

11. Answer the fee question (1 hour)

"How much does an architect cost" has huge volume and almost no good local answers. A page explaining fee structures — percentage of construction, fixed fee, hourly — positions you as the transparent option and captures prospects at the research stage, months before they're ready to call. Explain what drives fees up or down — site complexity, level of service, construction budget — and give an honest range for a typical project in your market. You'll lose the clients who could never afford you and gain the ones who can.

12. Ask for reviews at project handover (15 minutes per project)

Architecture projects end with champagne, not review requests — which is why most studios have three reviews from friends. Make the ask part of your closeout packet: one email, direct link, sent the week after move-in while the goodwill peaks.

Do steps 1–4 first; they convert your existing portfolio into your ranking engine. Everything after that compounds it.