Search Engine Optimization

Any design, layout or effect used on a site only works if it presents content properly.

If design/layout inhibits the access to content, then it is wrong.

A site cannot be SEO friendly, only content can be SEO friendly

SEO starts with clean markup. Clean markup means clear content ordered logically with appropriate HTML markup.

Content is not SEO friendly if:

• there is repetitive content. (words overused, exactly duplicate content to another site)
• the content is not hierarchical
• if alternate/accessibility or meta content is missing
• if markup is used inappropriately

A good test

Turn off stylesheets and browse a site in plain text. If the site is note easy to consume, understand and navigate in a plain text state, then it is not SEO friendly.

Sites doing it right:

• amazon
• apple
• nike
• nytimes
• panic
• wikipedia

From the mouth of Google

Here are the words of the exact company we mean when we say “search engine.” These are their words on how they are crawling your site.

• Google Basics
• SEO Starter Guide
• SEO
• Webmaster Guidelines
• Image best practices
• Hidden Text

Important notes from the links above

No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google.

translation : most SEO/Social Media people are lying to you

… we(google) cannot process the content of some rich media files or dynamic pages.

translation : we cannot read your flash file or any other content not in a standard web format

Make a site with a clear hierarchy and text links.

tranlation : a site is made of files and folders named and organized in a clear consistent manner, keep it that way

Think about the words users would type to find your pages, and make sure that your site actually includes those words within it.

translation : I want to google “best hot dog vendor in Kentucky” and see my site. Then the words “best hot dog vendor in Kentucky” should be on your site with content backing those words up

Use a text browser such as Lynx to examine your site, because most search engine spiders see your site much as Lynx would. If fancy features such as JavaScript, cookies, session IDs, frames, DHTML, or Flash keep you from seeing all of your site in a text browser, then search engine spiders may have trouble crawling your site.

translation : See ”A Good Test” section above. Or put simply a plain text version of your site should be as functional as the finished layout.