Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Designing for Search Engines

Your website is your medium to reach your potential customers. But, search engines work for your website, to make you visible and to give you a global presence. Hence before designing your website, make sure you obey few rules that can keep you in the good books of the major search engines.

Make structure clear

Be very clear while making your web layout. Keep in mind you are not only designing this website for your target audience but also for a variety of visitors who will get you through the search engine. Be well organized so that the search engine can recognize where the navigation, content and headings are. Use heading tags for headings and subheadings and as a rule put navigation first. Be specific in coding. Use appropriate codes for programming.

RealPlayer

RealPlayer is the widely used player. It can be used for both audio and video over the web. You can find this in mobile devices, computers and other music players. It uses a buffer which can play the music before it is being fully downloaded. Though RealPlayer has a good sound quality but the videos are not that satisfactory. RealPlayer is omnipresent now; you can find it in every mobile phone, and PCs.

Keep keywords consistent

Don't underestimate search engines and neither try to be over smart while using keywords? If you'll deliberately gorge your content with keywords then search engines are wise enough to interpret this tactic. But do make sure you include all your relevant keywords in your content. Concentrate on your content then your keywords will be automatically covered.

HTML and JavaScript

Keep in mind, search engines can read HTML, but they don't read JavaScript. So, restrict yourself from using JavaScript for inserting text. If you want to be identified by search engines then insert all your text in HTML. You can have other parts in JavaScript except your content. This can make your website more focused and organized.

Use Meta tags

Be focused while using Meta tags. Though Meta tags are almost out of fashion and search engines don't bother about Meta tags for ranking, but your visitors can get info about your site through these Meta tags. Always write relevant Meta tags. Visitors will click only when they find your site relevant and for that your site should have pertinent Meta tags.

Avoid Splash Pages

Resist your temptation to have a splash page displaying full-page version of your logo. Search engines won't recognize splash pages. This might rank you lower than what you usually could be. So, avoid using splash pages.

Include Alt Tags

If key words are for your content then alt tag is for your images and graphics. Every time you use a graphic, include all text for it. Search engines recognize your alt tags for your graphics. Keep changing your alt tag every time you change the graphics.

Write good content

Remember content is the king, this is certainly true for websites to get a good ranking. If you have relevant information and content then other website will easily exchange their links with your URL. Have a useful content so that it can be used in blogs and other forums. To get a good ranking design a stand out content for your website.