Every web designer knows that there are two essential qualities in every good websiteappearance and how it performs in the search engines. There is no doubt it is critically important for pages to look good so they keep visitors on the page. But visitors will never arrive at the site to appreciate even the best design without search engine optimization (SEO). Integrating these fundamentals of effective website design can be complex, and compromises are almost always required.
The place to start finding the balance between appearance and performance is SEO. If you never generate traffic, your beautiful page design will never be appreciated. The essentials of SEO include keyword density, linking between pages, meta tags, and proper tagging of images. Each of these factors is something to consider as you begin designing your site.
Your site must integrate enough text to allow for the keyword density it requires. Nowadays less is more when it comes to keyword density, so that means you need concise and compelling copy that is long enough to give you acceptable keyword density, but short enough to retain the attention of your visitors. This also means that you cannot have every possible image or screen shot on your page. If you put them there, the search engines, and certainly Google, will have no means of determining how to index your content. Words, not images, tell the search engines what your site is about. That's why it is essential that you create multiple pages with text that can be optimized.
The next step is to tag all the images you use on your website with the "alt" in HTML. Each and every image without exception must have this tag. The "alt" tag permits you to tell the web browser which text will pop up when visitors run their mouse over the image. It's also essential to labe every image with an SEO-friendly title. For instance if your site is about swimming with dolphins and you use a picture of dolphins on a page, a name like dolphins. swimming.jpg is far more effective than 477876ACDAW.jpg. Keywords in the tags become keywords for your pages. Just be sure you do not make your pages too keyword-dense with image names, either.
Another key step in search engine optimization is including links between the pages of your site. Visitors appreciate internal navigation. The websites also appreciate internal navigation, because these links are places you can place keywords that identify your pages. For instance, if you have a page called "Dolphins in Belize," you can link to that page from every other page in your site with a link entitled "Dolphins in Belize." This way you not only signal the search engines that you have created a page, but you tell them what the page is about.
Is there an ultimate rule for integrating page design and SEO Yes, and here it is: Keep it simple! Use flash sparingly. Avoid excessive images. Shun complex design. Paying attention to these vital rules will boost your freedom to do SEO. You always want your pages to be beautiful, you just need to do more with less.
The place to start finding the balance between appearance and performance is SEO. If you never generate traffic, your beautiful page design will never be appreciated. The essentials of SEO include keyword density, linking between pages, meta tags, and proper tagging of images. Each of these factors is something to consider as you begin designing your site.
Your site must integrate enough text to allow for the keyword density it requires. Nowadays less is more when it comes to keyword density, so that means you need concise and compelling copy that is long enough to give you acceptable keyword density, but short enough to retain the attention of your visitors. This also means that you cannot have every possible image or screen shot on your page. If you put them there, the search engines, and certainly Google, will have no means of determining how to index your content. Words, not images, tell the search engines what your site is about. That's why it is essential that you create multiple pages with text that can be optimized.
The next step is to tag all the images you use on your website with the "alt" in HTML. Each and every image without exception must have this tag. The "alt" tag permits you to tell the web browser which text will pop up when visitors run their mouse over the image. It's also essential to labe every image with an SEO-friendly title. For instance if your site is about swimming with dolphins and you use a picture of dolphins on a page, a name like dolphins. swimming.jpg is far more effective than 477876ACDAW.jpg. Keywords in the tags become keywords for your pages. Just be sure you do not make your pages too keyword-dense with image names, either.
Another key step in search engine optimization is including links between the pages of your site. Visitors appreciate internal navigation. The websites also appreciate internal navigation, because these links are places you can place keywords that identify your pages. For instance, if you have a page called "Dolphins in Belize," you can link to that page from every other page in your site with a link entitled "Dolphins in Belize." This way you not only signal the search engines that you have created a page, but you tell them what the page is about.
Is there an ultimate rule for integrating page design and SEO Yes, and here it is: Keep it simple! Use flash sparingly. Avoid excessive images. Shun complex design. Paying attention to these vital rules will boost your freedom to do SEO. You always want your pages to be beautiful, you just need to do more with less.
About the Author:
Justin Harrison is a leading Internet Marketing consultant responsible for the Internet Marketing strategies behind some of the biggest online brands including Amazon, BBC, MasterCard and many others.
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