With Search Engine like Google being the "Windows" to the internet world, designing SEO friendly websites has been a core consideration for every designer.
So what do you look out for?
• For Meta Title, try to have keywords at 100% prominence or at least 75% • Use Keywords in your first 3 image alt text and maybe the last • Keep keyword density to between 3% -7% • Keep important pages at the top 2 directory levels • Submit Your Website to DMOZ & Yahoo Directory
Here some quick Tips
(1) Meta Title - 100% Prominence. Prominence refers to how close to the top & beginning of analyzed page area (e.g. page title,heading, visible text). Each area calculated separately. For the meta title area, try to have your keywords at 100% prominence
E.g. For Keyword "Hippopotamus Website Designers" 1. Furniture Market - Hippopotamus Website Designers at affordable prices (60% prominence) 2. Hippopotamus Website Designers at affordable prices - FurnitureMarket.com (100% prominence)
(2) Image Alt Tag, use Keywords in first 3 and maybe the last. Search Engines use the text in the alt tags to substitute the anchor link text if the image is a hyperlink.
E.g: img src="images/logo.gif" alt=" Hippopotamus Website Designers " width="350" height ="800" / Use ALT text as long as you are also describing the graphic). Google often picks up the first ALT text on the page & uses it in SERP. To avoid spamming, never remove the actual graphic description from the ALT attributes & do not plant your key phrase into more than the first 3 ALT image & then perhaps the last one as well.
(3) Keyword Density -In general the content of a page should include a minimum of 100 words, with keyword density around 3% to 7%
Keyword weight / density = (no. of words in key phrase X Frequency) / Total no. of word (including keyword)
(4) Files & Folders -This generally refers to how files & directories are organized on a server. Most search engines index sites to a depth of 2 levels. Google is able to index 4 levels from the page they start and perhaps even more. Content in the top 2 directory levels are generally regarded as the most important.
(5) Off-Page - DMOZ & Yahoo Directory - If you are considering directories in off-page optimization, just work on DMOZ and Yahoo Directory. The majority of directories out there have little link value. DMOZ & Yahoo often will only allow using the site's name as anchor text. . This is usually where a keyword-rich domain name really comes in handy. So Website Designers, do take note!
Conclusion While SEO optimization is known to most internet users as an expressway to attract productive web traffic, it is important that website designers do not neglect their human visitors. Create coherent content with human users in mind before optimizing your website with SEO goals in mind.
Website Designers should also note that in terms of link building, it is important to note that Google favors quality over quantity. Test out these simple tips today and see the impact on your ranking.
