Articles
Search engine optimisation
A question that is on the lips of all potential clients when they are first testing the waters of website design, is 'how can I get to the top of the search engines?'
Over the years, there have been various 'tricks' website designers have used to try to increase their performance in the search engine results race. Once the developers get wise to a system, the search engine algorithm developers refine it and guard against abuse. It stands to reason that the exact systems search engines adopt in order to compile website rankings, must remain secret. If revealed, this system would be open to abuse. We all use search engines and we all know how irritating it can be to get results that don't relate to our requests. It is therefore a relief that these 'spamming' activities are not tolerated and that these days, good design and construction, well thought-out content and a well-structured site are the fundamental elements required for good search engine rankings.
To simplify, the best technique we can recommend is to consider keywords carefully. The term 'keywords' relates to the words that are entered into a search engine such as Google in order to receive a resulting list of relevant web pages. Taking on the persona of your potential customer is a worthwhile exercise. How would someone searching the Internet happen across your site? What words would they need to submit in order to find your pages? For instance, 'web design' would feature very highly for the clear breeze | design site and very likely our physical location, 'Hook'. Ensuring these words appear high up the page amid the content somewhere would be advisable. You will note, however, that these keywords are not irrelevant to the content of the site. They have not been woven in randomly. It simply means that the content is considered in such a way that meaningful copy is integrated into headings, titles and links. In fact, search engine optimisation aside, this seems a sensible way of structuring a site for human interaction, never mind search engine bots!
Furthermore, constructing pages using CSS technologies can only aid search engine spidering. By removing layout code that clutters and obscures the content, we are deeming our websites more accessible to search engine bots. Accessible - there's that word again!
It stands to reason that the exact systems search engines adopt in order to compile website rankings, must remain secret.
...good design and construction, well thought-out content and a well-structured site are the fundamental elements required for good search engine rankings.
Taking on the persona of your potential customer is a worthwhile exercise.