The design and coding style of a web page can make a profound difference to its search engine rankings. Yes, you still need good content, and yes, you still need links, but if the search engines can't find your content or figure out what your site is about, then all the rest of the stuff won't do you any good. This lens will help teach you about search engine friendly web site design.
Powerful Search Engine Advice Straight from the Source
Matt Cutts is an engineer with Google who has become quite famous within the Internet marketing community for his blog posts that help online marketers better understand how Google works. A recent MediaPost article focusing on tips culled from various Cutts blog posts revealed the following strategy for optimizing a web page for a particular keyword:
Once in the title, once in the description tag, once in the heading, once in the URL, once in bold, once in italic and once high on the page.
Brilliant. The above sentence masterfully and simply summarizes how to optimize a web page, at least from a content perspective. Now, certainly there is more to on-page optimization. For example, the way a page is coded can have a significant impact on its ranking. But if you combine clean coding with the above copy writing strategy, your web pages should be very well optimized.
Possibly the hardest part of this strategy is getting the keyword in the URL. The ideal solution is to have a domain name that contains one or two critical keywords. This is often in conflict with a company's branding strategy, however. I mean, we (Work Media) might possibly generate more search engine rankings if we had the domain name "internet-marketing-search-engine-optimization.com", but it just doesn't flow as well as "workmedia.net". It would definitely be harder for people to remember.
Fortunately, blogging provides a way to generate web pages with keywords in the URL. We use Blogger, but most blogging platforms probably work in very similar ways, in that pages are automatically created based on the content of the blog posts. If you use important keywords early in your blog posts, and use keyword-rich tags to describe your posts, then your blogging platform should create archive pages that contain those keywords in the URL.
As for the other parts of the strategy, it's easy. Just figure out the best keywords for which to optimize your site (we've discussed keyword research in previous blog posts) and use those keywords often in your pages, spread out exactly as recommended above.
Once in the title, once in the description tag, once in the heading, once in the URL, once in bold, once in italic and once high on the page.
Brilliant. The above sentence masterfully and simply summarizes how to optimize a web page, at least from a content perspective. Now, certainly there is more to on-page optimization. For example, the way a page is coded can have a significant impact on its ranking. But if you combine clean coding with the above copy writing strategy, your web pages should be very well optimized.
Possibly the hardest part of this strategy is getting the keyword in the URL. The ideal solution is to have a domain name that contains one or two critical keywords. This is often in conflict with a company's branding strategy, however. I mean, we (Work Media) might possibly generate more search engine rankings if we had the domain name "internet-marketing-search-engine-optimization.com", but it just doesn't flow as well as "workmedia.net". It would definitely be harder for people to remember.
Fortunately, blogging provides a way to generate web pages with keywords in the URL. We use Blogger, but most blogging platforms probably work in very similar ways, in that pages are automatically created based on the content of the blog posts. If you use important keywords early in your blog posts, and use keyword-rich tags to describe your posts, then your blogging platform should create archive pages that contain those keywords in the URL.
As for the other parts of the strategy, it's easy. Just figure out the best keywords for which to optimize your site (we've discussed keyword research in previous blog posts) and use those keywords often in your pages, spread out exactly as recommended above.
Where to put your main keywords
Once in the title...
Once in the description tag...
Once in the heading...
Once in the URL...
Once in bold...
Once in italic...
Once high on the page...
Commentary: Hire an SEO Expert BEFORE Building Your Web Site!
We get lots of calls from businesses wanting us to optimize and promote their new web sites after their construction...people, people, when are you going to learn that you need to hire your search engine optimization expert BEFORE building your site?
We are working with an ecommerce site that was built in a platform that does not allow the product category links (which are text links) to have titles. This is a definite weakness and one that we would have suggested the company fix before launching the site. And this is just one example of numerous flaws that should be fixed. To fix these items now, our client will have to pay its developer to implement the changes. The Company would probably have saved money overall if it had hired us to begin with so that the site could be constructed properly to start with. But now that the site has already launched, extra charges are required to implement our suggested changes.
I wish I could get into the head of every person currently in charge of having a web site built for his business and say these words:
Hire a search engine optimization professional to consult on your web site development!
If you will do this the next time your business begins the process of launching a new site, you will end up with a site already optimized to rank well for specific keywords. You will also save yourself a lot of redevelopment time and expense because the site will already be done right the first time.
We are working with an ecommerce site that was built in a platform that does not allow the product category links (which are text links) to have titles. This is a definite weakness and one that we would have suggested the company fix before launching the site. And this is just one example of numerous flaws that should be fixed. To fix these items now, our client will have to pay its developer to implement the changes. The Company would probably have saved money overall if it had hired us to begin with so that the site could be constructed properly to start with. But now that the site has already launched, extra charges are required to implement our suggested changes.
I wish I could get into the head of every person currently in charge of having a web site built for his business and say these words:
Hire a search engine optimization professional to consult on your web site development!
If you will do this the next time your business begins the process of launching a new site, you will end up with a site already optimized to rank well for specific keywords. You will also save yourself a lot of redevelopment time and expense because the site will already be done right the first time.
Books that Relate to SEO Friendly Web Site Design
Building Findable Websites: Web Standards SEO and Beyond
Amazon Price: $29.69 (as of 11/09/2009) 
Web Accessibility: Web Standards and Regulatory Compliance
Amazon Price: $40.45 (as of 11/09/2009)
WordPress for Business Bloggers: Promote and grow your WordPress blog with advanced plug-ins, analytics, advertising, and SEO
Amazon Price: $31.57 (as of 11/09/2009)
SEO: Search Engine Optimization Bible
Amazon Price: $29.19 (as of 11/09/2009)
Create Web Content That Sells! Wow Your Market With Writing Strategies, Search Engine Hints, and Graphic Tips That Work
Amazon Price: $19.95 (as of 11/09/2009)
Blog Posts about Search Friendly Web Design
- SEO Based Web Design | Internet Marketing | Marketing tools, tips ...
- When the web page loading is swift, the search engine spiders too will acknowledge the website more quickly. As the search does not last for more than few split seconds, one has to employ the best possible SEO friendly techniques so ...
- Increasing Traffic With SEO And Website Design | Attraction ...
- Many website designers have perfected techniques for creating sites that are user friendly and provide the look that is required to attract a large audience. It is the purpose of SEO to take the site one step further and provide the ...
- 8 Steps to SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Your Blog Page ...
- The following article discusses about the design implications on search engine optimization and pointing you in the right direction towards a search engine friendly design. SEO-web. 1) Identify relevant and specific keywords / phrases ...
Work Media Internet Marketing Blog
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by WorkMedia
Company Bio
Jerry Work was working in Memphis as a financial analyst at one of the top business appraisal firms in the country when he realized he wa... (more)
Jerry Work was working in Memphis as a financial analyst at one of the top business appraisal firms in the country when he realized he wa... (more)
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