This list looks at more than just meta tags and the basics of SEO Web Design, so even if you've got some of the factors, you may not have everything. Scroll to the end of the list to look at the things you should never be doing, as well as the things you should always do at the beginning.
SEO Web Design still exist in the web design community and
many designers, who have at least some knowledge, are often acting with outdated
information. Once a designer understands the value of SEO Web Design,
there is still the concern of how to keep a design attractive, while also being
search friendly.
Designers love beautiful websites and SEO Web Design love
optimized content and code, but neither should fool themselves, because these
days, both matter. In that spirit, I’ve put together a list of 9 SEO Web
Design tips that help keep your stunning website optimized for search
engines. Instead of focusing on SEO Web Design basics, I’ll be
covering some design-focused SEO Web Design tips, to show how
SEO Web Design and beautiful design elements can co-exist.
1. It’s not the same old SEO Web Design
SEO Web Design can be hard to keep up with, because it is
always changing. Today, SEO doesn’t mean a site has to be ugly.
First, forget everything you’ve learned about keyword meta tags and keyword
stuffing, because those days are over. This is a great thing for designers,
because search engines are looking for great content, written in natural
language. Metrics, like keyword density, which make sites look hideous, are a
thing of the past.
If you’ve been a designer for several years, start fresh and learn search engine
optimization from a source that keeps up with all things SEO Web Design.
Don’t let out-of-date SEO practices make you think pages have to be riddled with
repetitive keywords.
2. Links talk
Links tell search engines what pages are about. This holds true on-site as well
as off-site. The words you use in your designs to link to other pages do matter.
The web has matured and no longer needs to be told “click here”.
This is just another form of the dreaded “click here”. There is an opportunity
wasted here, where the designer could link out with the keyword-rich headings
like “HR solutions”. The “learn more” link is great for users, but leaves search
bots blind to what is on the other end of that link. As a human, we make the
connection, and know that this link is about “HR Solutions”, but you’re telling
search engines it is about “learn more”.
CSS can be used to keep the style, but the site would benefit from either
linking the major headings, or changing the link text to something like “Learn
More about HR Solutions”. This would drastically improve the site’s internal
linking, with minimal impact on design.
3. Design is linkbait
This is great news for designers. Much of the life of an SEO Web Design
is focused around baiting links from the link-giving portion of the web. The
amazing thing is that this portion of the web loves great looking websites.
Great design improves credibility and the user experience.
If you design great sites, use services like The CSS Gallery List to get your
site submitted to CSS showcases across the web, or at least do it by hand.
4. Look at search bots as browsers
Earlier I mentioned how using “learn more” leaves a search engine blind.
Considering a search bot as a disabled user or another type of browser, is
exactly the type of approach needed for search friendly web design.
Search bots are extremely disabled and unintelligent users who use a dreadfully
outdated browser. This user’s ability to understand your site may mean the
difference of thousands or millions of dollars for a business.
One of the best SEO Web Design tips I can give a designer is to
test as if Lynx was one of the web’s major browsers. If you can properly
navigate your site, and understand its content in a browser like Lynx, then you
are on your way to being a great SEO Web Design web designer.
Other tools, like the Web Developer toolbar, really help test a site without
elements like CSS, images, and JavaScript.
Keep up on the Google webmaster guidelines, so you know the limitations of this
highly impaired user of your site. Focus on creating beautiful designs that
gracefully degrade for this limited web user, “the search bot.” Or, instead of
designing the site and working backwards, start with the lowest common
denominator (the search engine), and work up.
Let’s Get Tactical
5. Smoke some hash
That little symbol, the hash mark or pound symbol, is an extremely powerful
SEO Web Design tool in the hands of a developer who knows what
to do with it. The hash mark creates an element in the URL that is not
considered unique by the search engines, so it is dropped