Rule Three: Clean Code is Searchable Code
Build your sites
in a text editor, and write clean, human-readable HTML. The HTML should follow
the conceptual structure of the page, navigation first, followed by the H1 tag,
then the first paragraph, etc. Try to use descriptive tags when possible. Use
UL for lists, P for paragraphs, H tags for heads and subheads, and STRONG for
bolded text. Don’t overuse Divs. Your site can still be artistic and cool,
that’s what CSS is for.
Rule Four: The Home Page is the Most Important Page
Your home page
is the key to your site being found by search engines. It should summarize the
rest of the site, and give a clear, compelling reason for a user to look at the
other pages in the site.
Rule Five: Links Have Meaning
Search engines
pay a lot of attention to the links on your site, and the words used in those
links. Never use “click here” or “see more” for a link. The link text should
describe where the link will take the user, such as “more examples of CSS web
design” or “learn how we can improve your SEO.”
The more
relevant the links on a page, the more findable the page becomes. Don’t go
overboard, and don’t link to anything irrelevant. If your page is focused on
minimalist web design, a link to the Design MeltDown page on minimalism will
boost your SEO. A link to a hilarious picture of a cat will not.
Rule Six: Title Tags for the Win
Every page in
your site should have a title with the site name and a short description of the
page. About 60 letters total. Include a keyword. Remember that the page title
is what appears in search results, it should give users a clear reason to click
on it.
Your navigation
links should have title attributes that match the titles of your pages. This
looks like . It’s a small thing, but
it will give you a significant SEO improvement.
Rule Seven: Don't Re-Use Your Title Tag On Every Page
Many times your
website designer doesn't even realize this is being done. Your creative
team is more concerned with the visual presentation than to worry about
something they consider more of a minor 'nuisance".
Most of the
time, your website has been created from a template, which ensures that
everything looks the same -design wise- from one page to another. This is
perfect to get the site off the ground and out there. Most WYSIWYG (what
you see is what you get) editors work this way as well, templates allow for easy
production of web pages.
The drawback to
this from an SEO perspective is that the Title and Meta
tags are all repeated. To get your website off on the right foot, change
each page's title tag to reflect what the page is about. You'll be
surprised at the good this can do for each of your web site's pages.
Rule Eight: Alt Tags Matter
Every image on
your site should have an alt tag. Especially images that are relevant to the
page. If your page is focused on CSS tricks, labelling a screenshot “example of
rounded CSS corners” will improve your page’s findability. Labelling it
“screenshot” or “image” will do the opposite.
Rule Nine: Ignore Most Meta
Tags
A long time ago
meta tags were the secret to SEO. Those days are gone. The only meta tag that
really matters now is the description tag. Search engines may use it to provide
the text under the link to your page in their results. Make sure it describes
the page in a way that explains why a user searching for your content would
want to look at your page.
Rule Ten: Don't Use Keywords In Images
Your designer
might yell at you, question your judgment, or complain that it will ruin the
aesthetics of the design, but let me put it to you this way; "What good is
a great design if no one can find it?"
If your keywords
are embedded in images, the search engines have no clue that keyword is related
to your page. They cannot "see" your images. So if the
term "camel rides" is important to your business, make sure it's
actual text somewhere within your content, not part of an image.
Rule Eleven: Have a Site Map
Make sure you
have a site
map. This is an xml file that describes the structure of your page. Make
one, and give it to Google.
Providing an
HTML Version that lists the links to the pages of your site can guide the
search engine spiders to all of the pages of your site. If your
navigation is currently in flash or javascript, this is a great alternative way
of making sure the spiders find the site's pages. Make sure that your
link to your sitemap is a simple "a href" tag, not a link formed with
javascript or flash as the spiders will not be able to follow that type of
link.
Rule Twelve: Check Your Robots.txt File
Check, double
check and go back and recheck that Robots.txt file. Make sure it's in the
root folder of your domain. Ensure all the folders and files you want to
be found by the search engines are allowed. Any development folders,
javascript folders, css folders or private folders, you do not want to end up
in a search engine results should be disallowed.
For the proper
syntax of how to configure a Robots.txt file, check out:
Robotstxt.org.
Rule Thirteen: Design for Humans
Search engines
are designed to find what humans want. That means the best way to make your
site findable is to design it for humans. Your job as a designer is to solve a
problem, not make art, prove a point, serve your ego or break a boundry. In
this case, your problem is to provide your users with a site that is easy to
use and full of what they’re looking for. If you can do that, the search
engines will find you.
