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Put Search Engine Marketing in Your Web Design

Web Ignite Corporation
June 10, 2002

Most designers and webmasters know the importance of building a site that will attract search-engine traffic. However, some designers rely on heavy graphics, frames, or Flash, which result in sites that are difficult to index with the robot software used by search engines.

Some designers use dynamic databases (.asp, .cfm, .cgi, .jsp) or other codes that are not HTML based. Such sites may not get indexed properly by the major search engines unless they're designed to incorporate specific search engine marketing (SEM) techniques. By consulting with SEM specialists early on, you can avoid expensive re-design costs to improve search engine visibility.

SEM Best Practices

There are a number of techniques that can be used to ensure your site is indexed and well positioned in the major search engines. While SEM techniques change constantly, the following are currently important for good positioning.

Domain Name Selection

Your domain name (URL) can be a key factor in both search engine and directory positioning. Domain name research is important, and it's wise to get professional help in making this decision.

Web Site Copywriting

Web page copy is of major importance for search engines, directories, and customers. Search robots need machine-readable content (text) in your pages and HTML tags to index your site. Directory editors decide whether or not to list your site based on unique and relevant content. Customers make buying decisions based savvy marketing copy.

Text near the top of the page is important to search spiders, as are keywords at the beginning of paragraphs and in headings. Write your text first, then create meta tags relevant to specific page content. Write for people first and search engines second. It's not easy to write compelling marketing copy that skillfully integrates your keywords, so it's a plus to have your content written by a pro copywriter.

Meta Tags

Despite less reliance on meta tags, it pays to provide title, description, keywords, heading, and alternate tags in the head section of all your indexable pages. All your meta tags should be unique and apply to a specific page.

Basic Links, Hypertext Links and Site Map

You must ensure that search spiders have plenty of basic links to follow. Search engine spiders will index the text on your homepage, then attempt to follow links from there to other pages in your site.

Hypertext Links — Ideally, your links should have a keyword in the link text or in an .alt description of the image or area tag.

Site Map — Makes it easier for search spiders to find all your pages. Also useful for site visitors. This tool includes a categorized list of all the pages on your site. You must provide one or more links to the site map from the home page.

Directory and File Names

Because many engines and directories index file names and even directory names, it pays to create these using keywords whenever possible. Use at least one keyword phrase in your file/directory names, preferably at the beginning. Don't stuff keywords and keep the names relevant. Use hyphens or underscores to separate the words in your file and directory names.

Spider Analysis

Spider Analysis can provide a record of activity telling you what happens when search spiders enter your site to index pages. It shows whether or not your site has been spidered, by which search engine(s), on which pages, and on what dates. Spider Analysis reveals which pages are considered more relevant and which should be re-optimized and re-submitted. It also can identify and eliminate harmful spiders like email-harvesting robots. Many SEM firms offer spider analysis services.

Robots Exclusion File

It's important to have a robots.txt file present in your root directory because some search spiders will not crawl a site if they don't find the robots.txt file.

Link Popularity

Most search engine algorithms now include link popularity, which started with Google's PageRank. This technology works by first identifying the link structure of the entire Web, then ranking individual pages based on the number and importance of pages linked to them. Identifying your inbound links and increasing the number of important, relevant inbound links is an essential part of your SEM strategy.

Don't Forget to Budget for SEM

It's essential for Web designers and their clients to budget for SEM in the design process. It's a marketing strategy that gives you highly targeted visitors, good conversion rates, and a good return on investment. Incorporating the above strategies into your Web design process can help you avoid costly mistakes.