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The Secret Benefit Of Search Engine Optimisation Increased Usability
higher search ranking is Wordtracker
what many website owners (http://www.wordtracker.com), you
dream of. What they don't can discover which keywords are
realise is that by optimising searched for the most frequently
their site for the search and then specifically target
engines, if done correctly, they those phrases.
can also optimise it for their
site visitors. Doing keyword research is also
crucial for your site's
Ultimately this means more people usability. By using the same
finding your website and keywords in your website that web
increased sales and lead users are searching for in search
generation. But are search engine engines, you'll literally be
optimisation and usability speaking the same language as
compatible? Aren't there your site visitors.
trade-offs that need to be made
between giving search engines For example, you might decide to
what they want and giving people target the phrase, "sell toys",
what they want? Read on and find as your website does in fact sell
out (although I'm sure you can toys. Keyword research would
guess the answer!)... undoubtedly show you that web
users are actually searching for,
1. Keyword research carried out "buy toys" (think about it - have
you ever searched using the word,
Before you even begin building "sell", when you want to buy
your website, you should carry something?). By placing the
out keyword research to identify phrase, "buy toys" on to the
which keyword phrases your site pages on your website, you'll be
should target. Using publicly using the same words as your site
available tools such as visitors and they'll be able to
find what they're looking for mechanisms to aid scanning (such
more easily. as employing sub-headings - see
point 6 below) it shouldn't be
2. 200 word minimum per page too difficult for site visitors
to locate the information that
Quite simply, search engines love they're after.
content - the more content there
is on a page the easier it is for 3. 100kb maximum HMTL size
search engines to work out what
the page is actually about. If 200 words is the minimum page
Search engines may struggle to content size, then 100kb is the
work out the point of a web page maximum, at least in terms of
with less than 200 words, HMTL file size. Anything more
ultimately penalising that page than this and search engines may
in the search rankings. give up on the page as it's
simply too big for them.
In terms of usability, it's also
good to avoid pages with very A 100kb HMTL file will take 20
little content. A page with less seconds to download on a 56k dial
than 200 words is unlikely to up modem, used by three in four
contain a large amount of UK web users as of March 2004
information, so site visitors (source:
will undoubtedly need to click http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfd
elsewhere to find more detailed ir/intc0504.pdf). Add on the time
information. Don't be afraid to it takes for all the other parts
put a reasonably large amount of of the page to download, such as
information on to a page. Web images and JavaScript files, and
users generally don't mind you're looking at a highly
scrolling down anymore, and un-user-friendly download time!
provided the page provides
4. CSS used for layout If you know anything about search
engine optimisation you'll know
The website of Juicy Studios that search engines place more
(http://www.juicystudio.com) saw importance on the page title than
a six-fold increase in site any other attribute on the page.
visitors after switching from a If the title adequately describes
table-based layout to a CSS the content of that page then
layout. Search prefer CSS-based search engines will be able to
sites and are likely to score more accurately guess what that
them higher in the search page is about.
rankings because:
A meaningful page title also
- The code is cleaner and helps site visitors work out
therefore more accessible to where they are, both within the
search engines site and the web as a whole. The
page title is the first thing
- Important content can be placed that loads up, often quite a few
at the top of the HTML document seconds before the content, so a
descriptive, keyword-rich page
- There is a greater density of title can be a real aid to help
content compared to coding users orientate themselves.
Using CSS for layout is also 6. Headings and sub-headings used
highly advantageous for
usability, as it leads to Search engines assume that the
significantly faster download text contained in heading tags is
times. more important than the rest of
the document text, as headings
5. Meaningful page title (in theory at least) summarise
the content immediately below
them. content of the rest of the page
(or the site if it's the
Headings are also incredibly homepage), you should be able to
useful for your human site include your important keyword
visitors, as they greatly aid phrases in this crucial area.
scanning. Generally speaking, we
don't read on the web, we scan, As web users, whenever we arrive
looking for the information that at a web page the first thing we
we're after. By breaking up page need to know is whether this page
sections with sub-headings that has the information that we're
effectively describe the content after. A great way to find this
beneath them, scanning becomes out is to scan through the first
significantly easier. paragraph, which, if it
sufficiently describes the page
Do be sure not to abuse heading content, should help us out.
tags though. The more text you
have contained in heading tags 8. Descriptive link text
within the page, the less
importance search engines assign Search engines place a lot of
to them. importance on link text. They
assume that link text will be
7. Opening paragraph describes descriptive of its destination
page content and as such examine link text for
all links pointing to any page.
We've already established that If all the links pointing to a
search engines love content, but page about widgets say 'click
they especially love the first 25 here', search engines can't gain
words or so on each page. By any information about that page
providing an opening paragraph without visiting it. If on the
that adequately describes the other hand, all the links say,
'widgets' then search engines can
easily guess what that page is Frames are quite an old-school
about. technique, and although aren't as
commonplace as they once were, do
One of the best examples of this still rear up their ugly head
in action is for the search term, from time to time. Using frames
'miserable failure'. So many is one of the worst possible
people have linked to George things you could do for your
Bush's bio using this phrase as search engine ranking, as most
the link text, that now when search engines can't follow links
miserable failure is searched for between frames.
in Google, George Bush's bio
appears top of the search Even if a search engine does
rankings! index your pages and web users
find you through a search engine,
As web users, we don't generally they'll be taken to one of the
read web pages word-for-word - we pages within the frame. This page
scan them looking for the will probably be a content page
information that we're after. with no navigation (navigation is
When you scan through text you normally contained in a separate
can't take any meaning from the frame) and therefore no way to
word 'click here'. Link text that navigate to any other page on the
effectively describes its site!
destination is far easier to scan
and you can understand the Frames are also disadvantageous
destination of the link without for usability as they can cause
having to read its surrounding problems with the back button,
words. printing, history and
bookmarking. Put simply, say no
9. Frames avoided to frames!
link to you as doing so will add
10. Quality content provided value to their site visitors. You
will also be adding value to your
This may seem like a strange site visitors.
characteristic of a search engine
optimised website, but it's Conclusion
actually crucial. Search engines,
in addition to looking at page Optimising your website for both
content, look at the number of search engines and people needn't
links pointing in to web pages. be a trade-off. With this much
The more inbound links a website overlap between the two areas,
has, all other things being you should easily be able to have
equal, the higher in the search a website that web users can find
rankings it will appear. in the search engines, and when
they do find it, they can find
By providing creative, unique and what they're looking for quickly
regularly updated content on your and efficiently.
website, webmasters will want to
About the Author:
This article was written by Trenton Moss. He's crazy about web usability and accessibility - so crazy that he went and started his own web usability and accessibility consultancy ( Webcredible - http://www.webcredible.co.uk ) to help make the Internet a better place for everyone.
Read more articles by: Trenton Moss
Article Source: www.iSnare.com
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