Designing a search engine friendly web site is not complicated, but it requires dedication and constant
communication between the graphic designer, content developer and SEO analyst, as well as special attention to the
site's architecture. Site architecture should not be an afterthought, nor should SEO. Your site must be both visually
appealing to visitors and contextually appealing to the search engines.
There are some key basic ingredients to building a site that is search engine friendly. Designing such a site is not
difficult but it can be time-consuming. As long as you are prepared to be methodical, do careful keyword research, create
unique, interesting and well-written content, and work closely with all the members of your team, you will be rewarded
with high engine rankings and recognition in your field of expertise.
KEYWORDS - There are many articles available on the internet about choosing keywords
and how to do keyword research. If this is new to you, spend some time doing the research first. You need to focus on
the first 200 words of content on your site. You need to make sure you are using keywords in a manner that makes sense to
a visitor and will allow the search engines to 'see' your site as a subject matter expert. NEVER stuff your pages with
keywords (within Meta tags or content) or the engines will penalize or worse yet, ban you for spamming. You should use a
mixture of both broad and targeted words. Prepare a short list of words your site is trying to promote and/or words
about your industry.
SITE ARCHITECTURE - The use of templates, to keep the look consisten throughout the site is
important visually and from a search engine perspective. Using CSS, tables and external JavaScript will ensure that the
search engine spiders are able to crawl your site without getting bogged down within the HTML code. You want them to be
able to go to the page and quickly establish what your site is about. This will determine whether or not you get ranked.
SEARCH ENGINE GUIDELINES - Here are some key components from Google, MSN and Yahoo:
- Make a site with a clear hierarchy and text links
- Offer a site map to your users with links that point to the important parts of your site
- Create content-rich pages that clearly and accurately describe your content
- Think about the words users would type to find your pages, then make sure your site actually includes those words
- Try to use text instead of images to display important names, content or links
- Make sure your TITLE and ALT tags are descriptive and accurate
- Check for broken links and correct HTML
- Exchange links
- Say something - sites with frequently updated and new content typically rank higher in search engines
