Hiring guide 05
How to choose a web designer without guessing.
The short answer
Choose a web designer by inspecting the process behind the portfolio. Ask who writes the content, what is custom, how mobile and accessibility are tested, how old URLs are preserved, which accounts you can access, what the contract excludes, and what support costs later. The strongest candidate answers in specifics and lets you verify the work before launch.
How this guide was made. Parcha Lab synthesized firsthand service scope and the official sources listed below. AI assisted with drafting and structural checks.Human review byMikeon.
A portfolio is the beginning of the check.
Open the actual sites, not only screenshots. Use a phone. Follow the navigation, submit a safe test only when the business permits it, read the service copy, and look for broken paths. A beautiful image of a homepage does not prove the live site is fast, accessible, complete, or easy to update.
Ask what the designer personally handled. Design, writing, development, photography, search work, and integrations may come from different people. There is nothing wrong with a team, but the answer tells you what the portfolio actually demonstrates about the person or company you are hiring.
- Can I visit three live projects that resemble my needs?
- What parts of each project did you personally deliver?
- What changed for the business after launch, and how was it measured?
- May I speak with a recent client whose scope was similar?
Related: See Parcha Lab's published work
Make the invisible work visible.
Good design begins with decisions about audience, offer, proof, pages, and actions. Ask how those decisions are made before colors and layouts. Then ask how content is approved, how changes are tracked, what counts as a revision, and who makes the final launch decision.
The process should also explain how the site works on narrow screens, with a keyboard, and with slow connections. Google uses the mobile version of a page for indexing, but this is not only a search issue. Most buyers simply need the site to work wherever they open it.
- Who interviews me and writes the first draft?
- How many distinct design choices will I see, and at what stage?
- How are phone, tablet, desktop, keyboard, and form behavior tested?
- How do you handle accessibility findings and browser defects?
Related: Use the mobile-friendly checklistUse the accessibility checklist
Ask for search work you can inspect.
A useful search plan names the queries and customer questions each page serves, makes the pages crawlable, writes unique titles and descriptions, uses descriptive internal links, and installs measurement. It does not hide behind a bundle of keywords or a promised position.
Ask what happens to existing URLs during a redesign. Each valuable old page should map to its closest new equivalent. Redirecting every old URL to the homepage is not a preservation plan.
- Which pages target which customer questions?
- What technical checks happen before launch?
- How are redirects, canonicals, sitemaps, and indexing reviewed?
- Which reports will show impressions, clicks, leads, and failures?
Related: Read the website redesign checklist
Read the access and exit terms before the design terms.
Write down every account the project needs: domain registrar, hosting, content system, analytics, Search Console, Business Profile, email, scheduling, payments, and media libraries. The contract should say who creates each account, who receives administrator access, and what is handed over if the relationship ends.
Also ask how backups, security updates, outages, and requests are handled. A support promise without a response window, request channel, or stated limit is not a usable service level.
- Which account lists my business as the registrant or primary owner?
- Will I receive administrator access and recovery methods?
- What published files, content, and records are delivered at handoff?
- What requires an ongoing service, and what continues without it?
- How are cancellations, transfers, and unresolved balances handled?
- How will final acceptance, launch approval, and open issues be documented?
Related: Use the domain access checklist
Score the finalists with the same evidence.
Create five columns: outcome, proof, responsible person, due date, and price. Give a provider a point only when the answer is written and verifiable. This prevents charisma, jargon, and a single dramatic mockup from outweighing operational details.
The winner does not need to be the cheapest or the largest. The winner needs to be the best fit for the site you can define, the risk you can accept, and the relationship you want after launch.
Questions
What buyers usually ask next.
How many portfolio examples should I check?
Three relevant live sites are more useful than dozens of screenshots. Check them on a phone and desktop, read the content, follow important links, and ask what the designer personally delivered on each project.
How can I tell whether SEO is really included?
Ask for the page-to-query plan, technical launch checklist, title and description process, internal-link plan, redirect map if needed, sitemap, and measurement setup. A keyword list by itself is not an SEO deliverable.
What should a web design contract clearly state?
It should state scope, responsibilities, milestones, payment, revision boundaries, account access, content and file handoff, recurring services, cancellation, and what happens when either side misses a dependency.
What is the biggest red flag when hiring a web designer?
A confident outcome with an undefined process. If a provider promises a ranking, launch date, or finished result before identifying content, integrations, approvals, and migration risks, the certainty is not supported by the scope.
References
Official sources used for factual claims.
Advice and checklists are Parcha Lab's original synthesis. Changeable technical, platform, standards, and legal-context facts are grounded in the primary sources below.
- Google Search Central SEO Starter Guide
- Google Search Central Mobile-first indexing best practices
- Google Search Central How to move a site with URL changes