Search Engine Optimization Academy

A number of popular ideas about what makes a successful Web site have been bandied around, and all were wrong to some degree. Here are some of those secrets to successful Web sites:

Content is a special case. The Web’s search engines are biased toward ranking content-heavy Web sites well for a couple of reasons:

Most multimedia used on the Web is pointless because it rarely serves a useful purpose to the visitor. It’s there because Web designers enjoy working with it and because many people are still stuck in the old “you’ve got to be cool” mindset.

A surprising number of Web sites use graphics to place text onto pages.Web designers often employ this technique so that all browsers can view their carefully chosen fonts.

When you place images in a Web page, it’s a good idea to include ALT attribute text. The ALT attribute in an IMG tag was originally intended to provide a description of an image for people using text-based browsers, or browsers that are capable of displaying images but have the image display turned off.

For several years, I’ve been advising people to stay one step behind in Web technology and try not to be too clever. From a usability standpoint, the problem is that not all browser types work the same; they have different bugs and handle technical tricks differently. If you’re always working with the very latest Web-development technology, more of your visitors are likely to run into problems.

Framed Web sites were very popular a few years ago; fortunately, they’ve fallen out of favor to a great degree. From a usability standpoint, there’s nothing wrong with frames. But here are a few reasons why they’re less prevalent today:

Web design is constantly getting better, but it still surprises me that designers sometimes make it difficult for visitors to move around a Web site. Think carefully about how your site is structured:

People think differently, so you need to provide them with numerous avenues for finding their way around your site. And by doing so, you’re also giving more information to search engines and ensuring that search engines can navigate your site easily.

It’s a proven fact that Web users like long link text — links that are more than just a single word, but that actually describe where the link takes you if you click on it. Usability testing shows that long link text makes it much easier for visitors to find their way around a site. It’s not surprising if you think about it; a long link provides more information to visitors about where a link will take them.

Try to fix your site design before you get too far into the process. Sites that are constantly being restructured have numerous problems, including the following:

Check your pages for spilling and editng errors. Not only do error-free pages make your site appear more professional to visitors, they also ensure that your valuable keywords are not wasted.