| From a search engine point of view, the perfect | | | | actually not SEO friendly. What ever technique you |
| webpage has no graphics, no scripting, no tables...etc | | | | are using to create the menus, make sure that the |
| but just alot of normal, plain readable text. You can | | | | "a href" tag is visible. You might also want to include |
| just take it that plain text is the food for search | | | | a variation of the keywords in the menus, links or |
| engine spiders. Therefore, the more text you have, | | | | text. Like the previous example, if your keyword is |
| the more you will keep the spiders happy. However, | | | | "Web Site Reviews", you might not want to use the |
| from the design point of view, such pages are very | | | | same word over and over again. You can vary it by |
| boring but the fact is that everyone is more | | | | using "Professional Web Reviews, Reviews of |
| interested in keeping the spiders rather than us | | | | Websites, Site Reviews...etc". Varying the keywords |
| happy. The argument is that if search engine spiders | | | | makes your content more interesting and is good for |
| cannot find your site, no one will. Based on this | | | | SEO as well.When writing the contents, try to put |
| philosophy, we witnessed the fall of flash and sites | | | | the keywords in different areas of the document. |
| with strong graphics over the years. Many sites that | | | | Use tags like "b" or "h2" to make the keywords |
| utilized heavy graphics where no longer found. Web | | | | stand out. Avoid urls that say "click here" or "view". |
| developers become happy because they have an | | | | Though often used, they are not advisable for SEO |
| excuse to create less impressive websites...The | | | | purposes.Text links are stonger than image links. It is |
| question is can we make both the saerch engine | | | | therefore not advisable to use images as the main |
| spiders and us happy? The answer is definitely a | | | | navigation menu throughout the website. If you |
| "Yes" provided that web designers can follow certain | | | | would like to incorporate images in the user |
| rules when designing web pages. They need to step | | | | navigation experience, you might want to consider |
| out of their comfort zone and learn abit more about | | | | separating the text from the images. This can be |
| new web technologies.Domain Name and URL Naming | | | | achieved easily using CSS or the background image |
| ConventionHaving a proper domain and url name is | | | | option in the table or td tag.ImagesUnlike many |
| quite often neglected. Many search engines actually | | | | Search Engine Experts, I strongly encourage the use |
| put some weightage in the way you name your | | | | of graphics because I am passion about Web Design |
| domain or url files. You will definitely want to include | | | | and is sad to see so many websites that are well |
| some juicy words in your naming convention. For | | | | optimized for search engines but look crap on screen. |
| example, if you site is about website critics and your | | | | You need to balance between the amount of |
| url is this will definitely be better than a domain like | | | | graphics used and downloading speed. Like I |
| The same principle goes for hyperlinks. If you have 2 | | | | mentioned before, if your header banner or |
| words as key words, you can use an underscore "_" | | | | important images contains text , you could split up |
| or dash "-" to separate them.TitleDo not fool around | | | | the text and use the images as a separate |
| when writing the title. From my experience, this is | | | | background or floating layer. That way, you can |
| the most important part of your webpage. Many | | | | make the image size smaller and also make the text |
| designers like to put special characters such as " * "," | | | | visible to the search engines. Transparent gifs are |
| | ", " : " or " [ ] " in the title to make it look unique. If | | | | very useful for laying over other content or images. |
| you really want to make your webpage special, I | | | | Appropriate use of jpegs and gifs can also cut down |
| advise you to do it else where such as in the body | | | | loading time by alot.CSS TechnologyCSS helps you to |
| of the HTML document. You should include your | | | | cut down your tag and gives more room for the |
| keywords in your title. Like the previous example, if | | | | spiders to read your content. The problem with CSS |
| your web site focuses on website reviews, make | | | | is that it is not as straight forward as tables. At the |
| sure you have the words "Website Reviews" | | | | moment, CSS is also inconsistent in different |
| somewhere in the title. Noticed that | | | | browsers, so before you publish your web page, you |
| "WebsiteReviews" is not the same as "Website | | | | need to check the layout in different browsers. I am |
| Reviews". Spacing is important.When writing the title, | | | | actually not against designers using tables especially if |
| try not to write more than 8 words. There are no | | | | they find the time spend in creating a full CSS site |
| hard and fast rules on that but the fact is that more | | | | not justifiable. The fact is that there are still cases |
| does not mean good. In fact, the more you write, | | | | when using CSS is not advisable. An example is when |
| the more your keyword density will be diminished. If | | | | displaying tabular data; Tables still excel in displaying |
| you keep repeating the same keyword in the title, | | | | tabular data at the moment. Unless you are using |
| search engines will see your site as spam and you will | | | | complex nested tables, the table, tr or td tags should |
| be dead in no time. For example, a title like "Sitecritic | | | | not pose too much of a problem for the search |
| Web Reviews" is much better than "Sitecritic Web | | | | engine spiders.ConclusionWeb pages should not be |
| Reviews, Internet Marketing, Web Design Ideas, | | | | boring and web designers should not bow down to |
| Internet Directories, Budget Web Hosting, Melbourne". | | | | the Google revolution. A well designed site combines |
| I will have to stress again, do not fool around with | | | | both form and function and yet, still able to be |
| your title.Meta-DescriptionAfter the title tag is the | | | | search engine friendly. I strongly believe that this can |
| meta description tag. Many people argued that meta | | | | be easily achieved if website designers are able to |
| description is no longer important. Based on my | | | | follow very basic rules in designing their web |
| experience, they are still relevant in SEO rankings | | | | sites.Bernard Peh is a great passioner of web |
| especially if your website is new. The principle in | | | | technologies and one of the co-founders of |
| writing the meta description tag is the same as the | | | | Sitecritic.net - Website Reviews and Design Ideas. |
| title. The only difference is that you want explain abit | | | | With more than 5 years of commercial experience in |
| more about the services that you provide in a | | | | the web industry, he leads a group of experienced |
| friendlier format. You will also want to include your | | | | web designers and developers to provide the web |
| keywords in the meta description.Menu, Content and | | | | community insights into creating effective websites. |
| LinksYou should not use any javascript menus that | | | | During his free time, he enjoys reviewing websites, |
| hid the urls. Many javascript menus are fancy but | | | | doing freelance SEO and PHP work. |