What is SEO friendly web design?

Assembling an SEO friendly website design is not rocket science, but there is a methodical way to go about doing it.

We've compiled a list of the most important things that a SEO friendly website design needs in order to have a solid foundation for it's search engine optimisation campaign.

Whether you're an amateur web designer attempting to integrate SEO into your website or a professional web designer looking to refine your approach to creating SEO friendly website design, this guide has something for everyone.

The process of creating a successful search engine optimization campaign can be compared to the construction of a new building - without a solid foundation (SEO friendly website design), the building (your website) won't be sturdy or safe to occupy. Ultimately, the risk of the building collapsing (your website SEO campaign failing) significantly increases because of a poorly constructed foundation.

 

The SEO Friendly Website Design Check List

The following list, organised by importance - from most important to least important (but still important), covers all of the basic and some of the more advanced methods to effectively and efficiently optimise your website design:

• Don't create a site using all or mainly Flash - Search Engines can not yet read any of the content within the flash. Having a flash banner will not do much damage.


• Don't use frames - There really aren't many valid reasons to use frames any more. There are many ways to achieve better results using css or php. Search engines struggle crawling framed pages and individual frames can be indexed.


• The foundation of the foundation: keyword research - This can't be stressed enough. If you optimise for the wrong keywords you are doomed from the start. Don't make the mistake of guessing your keywords.


• Researched keywords in the title tag - Optimised title tags contain the keywords that the particular page is optimised for. Vary title tags on each page.


• Researched keywords in URL - If possible, especially on new websites, keyword rich domain and file names can give you a little boost.


• CSS drop down navigation (no Javascript or Flash); CSS style sheets - Drop down and pop out menus can be coded completely in CSS. This way all of your menu items are visible to the search engine bots.


• Density of researched keywords in document text; don't hide text - Make sure your keywords are sprinkled throughout your content. Don't over do it, make sure your copy still makes sense and reads easily.


• Researched keywords in anchor text - You control the anchor text of your internal links. Use it wisely - use your keywords in your internal linking.


• Keywords in headings tags - Use headings with your keywords. Headings actually make your copy easier to read by breaking up big chunks of text. <h1></h1> gives the most benefit but you may need to modify your CSS so that the text does not appear too large.


• Include researched keywords in 'alt' tags, no text in images - Image alt tags are used to describe the image, use your keywords were applicable.

Depending on the coding and components of your website there may be more or less that can be done to make your site design search engine friendly.

 

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