Guest blog post by Alex Petrovic
Several years ago, website designers who focused on Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, splattered their keywords all over their site in hopes that search engines would get a clue as to what their site was about. That brought on an influx of keyword spammers, and the search engine companies decided it was time to change the way their spiders looked at websites.
It is still important to optimize for the search engines. They do need to know what a site is about, but they are looking for valuable information, not just a lot of repeated words to get visitors to a website. Therefore, if a site is about widgets and the designer injects the word “widgets” all over a page, the engines are likely to avoid the site in favor of one that is more helpful.
That helps a designer make a better site because rather than trying to fill every nook and cranny of a Web page with the keyword and related words, he can just provide the necessary content about the main keyword. It is not necessary to have it in every paragraph, thus the page can have better flow and readability.
The meta-description of the page can have the main keyword and a description of the content on the page. The title can contain the keyword in a natural way rather than come off as spam. The keyword and related words only need to be on the page a few times for the search engines to get the gist of the content. This frees up space for quality content.
White space is important, too. Eyes tire of looking at too many words jammed together. Leaving space on either side of the content, as well as above and below the content, makes a page more attractive and likely to hold a reader's attention. A small graphic can be helpful, and the HTML title of the image can hold the main keyword without cluttering up the page.
The main thing to keep in mind when designing a Web page is that less is often more. Just a few keywords and related words will get the idea across to the search engines and the readers. Keep the page uncluttered by using minimal links. Provide plenty of breathing space so the reader doesn't get overwhelmed. Take advantage of the HTML meta-description and HTML title to provide more information for SEO. To get further with your design while thinking of SEO be sure to implement these:
Keyword Friendly URL’s
Clear and Easy to Follow Navigation
Pay Attention to Inner Link and Deep Linking
XML and HTML Sitemap
Include ALT tags for images
Add Keywords to Titles and Headings
Add Social Media for Easy Sharing
If you implement these aspects into your web design with some eye catching template you will surely satisfy both user and the search engines.
Alex Petrovic, Advanced SEO strategist - Dejan SEO company
More information: SEO services
Personal twitter account: http://twitter.com/Alex_DejanSEO
Company twitter account: http://twitter.com/dejanseo