Checklist for building a search friendly website
- 1. Building a search friendly website No Item Description 1. Thematic structure • A site with focused offerings is always ranked higher by search engines 2. Navigation • Links arranged horizontally is preferred over vertical arrangement 3. Javascript & CSS • Javascript and CSS code should be externalized to other files whenever possible. This reduces the load for search engines 4. Frames • Search engines cannot index frames, hence frames should be avoided 5. Flash • Flash pages are not indexed by search engines. Use flash only for illustrations, not for the entire page or for links 6. Ajax • The content in Ajax can not be indexed in the search engines. If there is content that should be indexed, place a copy in non-Ajax pages or build pages with degradable Ajax (see http://www.softwaredeveloper.com/features/google-ajaxplay-nice-061907/ ) 7. Redirects & Meta • Do not use 302 redirects or meta refresh tags. Search engines are wary of these refresh tags because spammers usually use them. 8. UVP • Write a UVP for the project and have as many variations of it as possible in the content of the site 9. Relevant Content • Have 250-500 words of relevant static content for each page. This content should be on the key pages that you would like to have feature in the search results • Content should be informative in terms of news, reviews, comparison, etc. • With Google Universal showing rich content like books, images, videos, etc., in the search result, put as much rich content as possible in the pages you would like to feature in the search results 10. Keywords • Generate a list of keywords that you feel are most relevant • Use your UVP in the keywords and create a sales pitch • Use as many variations of your target keywords as possible • Make sure keywords are present as many times as possible in the page content 11. URL • Put the keyword and/or the name of the category in the URL 12. Title Tag • Put your sales pitch / UVP and main keywords in the title tag (This can be up to 75 characters long, including spaces) 13. Description • This is what search engines display. Put your sales pitch in the description tag and use as many keywords as possible. (Up to 250 characters long, including spaces) 14. Meta Keywords • Put keywords, relevant to the content of the page, in the meta-keyword tag. 15. File names • Use keywords based on the page’s content for your file names. 16. Logo file name • Use the keyword in the logo image’s file name. 17. ALT Tags • Put keywords in the alt tags of graphics / photographs / logo 18. Headings • Use the <H1> heading tag for headings. You can use CSS to modify the style of the header. Use the main keywords at the start of the headings 19. Body Text • Put the main keywords at the start of the body text. Repeat the keywords within the first 25 words. Use complete sentences. Use bullets. Include the sales pitch and put as many keywords as possible, in bold or italics 20. FAQs • Use the FAQs and other similar pages to have as much relevant informative content as possible. Use your UVP and keywords in the links and content of these pages 21. STRONG • Instead of the <b> tag, use the <STRONG> tag for text that is to appear in bold 22. Links • Put keywords in links wherever possible 23. Sitemap • Create both HTML and XML sitemaps that lists all of the web pages. Create separate sitemaps for each category (Silo) 24. Submit to • Submit your site and the sales pitch to Yahoo! And DMOZ directories directories 25. Inward links • Send a summary of your site to other relevant websites towards building links that point to your site. 26. Outward links • Create a resources page and put links to sites you would like to be associated with on this page. 27. Other Tools • If relevant, use blogs, Google local, Google Catalogs, etc. 28. Validate the Code • Use validation tools to check the HTML code and links POSITION2 / CHECKLIST FOR BUILDING A SEARCH FRIENDLY WEBSITE PAGE 1 OF 1