Seo Best Practices for Web Design

Editor's Notes

• #6: Content is king
• #10: Consistency is key.Choose one URL format and stick with it.Include “www” for all URLs or exclude for all URLs.Include /index, /default, etc, in all cases or exclude in all cases.Use absolute links throughout the site.This supports the above points.Include keywords in the URLs strategicallyYour site’s SEO should help with this.No keyword stuffingThink about the WHOLE URL for each landing page, not just the domain name. If the domain name has keywords, don’t overstuff every folder / file name with the same keywords. The site’s SEO will likely made recommendations for this.
• #11: Don’t include extraneous folders where not necessary.CMS tools will sometimes do this automatically.
• #12: Example of good site structuring:Fits keywords in, short, uses hyphens, lowercase, keywords don’t appear more than 2 times
• #13: Example of bad site structuring: No keywords, cms naming
• #14: Example of bad site structuring: Long dynamic url with no keywords
• #15: Age matters.Renew the domain for the longest period possible.Use old / existing domains where possible (as long as the domain’s topic has always been the same).A basic indicator for the domain’s value can be the PageRank (install Google Toolbar)Target the site to the geographic markets.For Canadian exclusive sites, use a .ca domain.For global targets, use .com.For educational, use .edu, .org, etc.HostingUse a host that is in the targeted geographic market. For Canadian targeted, place the site with a Canadian host, etc.Make sure the site isn’t being hosted on a server shared with “spam” type sites.
• #16: When to use them?Blogs, secure / password protected areas of the site, etc.Areas of content that are separate from the core domain BUT not an entirely different topicHow to make sure they are indexedSeparate robots.txt, sitemap.xml, etc filesHow to integrate with AnalyticsTalk to the site’s SEO regarding this as subdomains create tracking issues.
• #17: Example of a blog as a subdomain
• #18: Example of ecommerce/shopping as a subdomain
• #19: Example of location as a subdomain
• #20: Should it be a part of the site’s navigation or separate?Ads / promos might have custom landing pages located outside of the site’s navigation and / or inaccessible to search engines.Landing pages that are part of the navigation (matched to organic keywords, ongoing promos, etc).How do different types of landing pages affect SEO?Potential duplicate content issuesOrphaned landing pages that visitors land on and can’t access the rest of the siteOutdated landing pages that still exist on the server
• #21: Custom landing page for an ad
• #22: Custom landing page for an ad
• #23: User ExperienceFlash is pretty – users like it and it supports usability. Helps improve bounce rates, conversions, etc.Can include SWF objects to help search engines see some of the Flash content.How This Fits with SEOFlash is ok as long as it is only used minimally on the page.Flash elements should be compressed / minimized to load as fast as possible.Treat Flash as supporting graphic material for the page, not the basis of the page content.
• #24: Can’t view Flash elements on most mobile devices.Assess how much of the site’s audience is going to be accessing the site via mobile device (check in analytics, industry, type of site, etc).Users need to keep Flash up-to-date for it work properlyUsers without upgraded Flash will likely have high abandonment ratesThis affects all sites with Flash, even small elements
• #25: Need strong supporting arguments to include any type of Flash on a site.Cool isn’t good enough
• #26: HTML5, other scripting options.VideoNot just good as a Flash alternative, but opens lots of opportunities for more advanced optimization.Social Media feedsStill update the page dynamically and make it look fresh but don’t use FlashFacebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc
• #27: Good use of Flash:Small Flash element at bottom right of page
• #28: Bad use of Flash:Majority of homepage content is FlashPriority over text
• #29: Ugly use of Flash:Entire Flash homepage
• #32: Don’t assume that visitors will enter the site from the homepage.Key messaging, branding, CTAs, etc need to be consistent throughout the site.Include a link to the homepage on every page (in the logo, footer, utilities… wherever)Include the phone number / address on every page if applicable.Breadcrumbs are great for this as well as for internal linking throughout the site for SEO. If you’ve structured the site properly with keywords, etc as mentioned earlier this should partially take care of itself.
• #33: Define what the conversion points will be on the site.Often hear “branding”, “increased traffic”, etc as goals for a site. Identify specific measureable goals and conversion points for the site BEFORE you starting building it.Setup measurable goals for these conversions on the site if possible.Use a contact form rather than email (trackable in Analytics and avoids spam).Ensure that the CTAs for these conversions are prominent on every page of the site.
• #34: Example of a good CTA:Large “request a quote” CTA in the same location on every page
• #35: Example of a bad CTA:Likely a landing page due to the keywords but CTA is very small on left side under navigation links
• #37: Navigation Use text for navigation, not imagesHeadersOften clashes with custom fonts from the designerUse CSS to swap an image in over the text so text stays in the HTML code but an image shows up on the page
• #39: Always use the most up-to-date web standards Same principles for quality, clean coding in development apply to SEOKeep all formatting, scripting, etc code out of the pageDesign in CSS, no tables, etc….Use W3C tools and information regularly
• #40: Keep text content to the topContent is what spiders are looking for to index the URL… so keep the text content as close to the top of the code as possible.Keep title and meta tags to the topThe title tag should be right at the start of the <head> tag. No exceptions.Meta tags should follow directly after the title tag.Move scripts to the bottomWherever possible, move scripts below the text content of the site so the text content loads before trying to run scriptsUse CSS to bridge the gapUse CSS to organize the code for SEO (with the text at the top) while meeting the visual requirements of the pageAlways keep text content at the top of the code even if the text should be placed below images, flash, etc, on the actual user-end.
• #41: Every page should load as fast as possibleSame as clean code… what’s good for the user is good for SEOSite organization mentioned earlier also helps with creating fast loading pagesUse the Google Page Speed tool - http://pagespeed.googlelabs.com/Test URLs for page speedGet specific recommendations for improving site speedCan use online or download the Chrome extensionSample items to improve site speed:Specific image dimensions, character set, cache validator, etcServe scaled imagesMinify JavaScript, CSS, HTML, etcLeverage browser cachingMany more
• #42: Must be a 301 redirectNot mirroring, not using any other 3xx redirect status codeRedirects should be implemented when:Changing domain name or merging domainsKeep the old domain hosted for a while (approx. 4 months) until all of the redirects have been indexed by search engines.Changing URL namesFolder names, file names, etc.Implement the 301 redirects with the .htacess fileThe site’s SEO should provide destination URLs for the URLs being redirected