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What Is Good Seo (search Engine Optimization) - Anyway?
By James Doc Lewis, Fri Dec 23rd
/p> What Is Good (Search Engine Optimization) - Anyway? ByJames Doc Lewis
There's been much fuss lately as to the need for Search EngineOptimization of the right kind; some will tell you that to beeffective has to be "organic"; others will swear by thepower of using the right software, coincidentally, theirsoftware. Then there are those who say that if you find theright "niche market", the world will beat a path to your doorand leave their money when they get there. I even spoke with afellow yesterday who claimed that if you only launched new siteswhen the moon was full... well, that's a whole other story.
Where there is less conjecture is in the dire consequencespossible as a result of using the wrong kind of optimization.Horror stories abound of the million dollar investments thathave simply gone down the drain when Google and the rest decidedthat the optimizers had cheated in their enthusiastic rush forthe top. The early techniques of getting a website to the top ofthe search engine results (link farms, cross linking, doorwaypages, keyword stuffing, and all the rest) have slowly been madeineffectual by the steadily rising sophistication of the searchengine administrators,(and the algorithms they employ to keepthe race fair and assure relevant search results).
So what is good SEO? We could, perhaps, define by function; we could talk aboutthe actions which bring about the optimization. First there'sresearch, hour upon hour of research must be performed for eachaccount. With such items as industry research (what's thecompetition up to?), keyword research (how big is the market forthis product/service?), competition research (how many othersare already vying for this market?), marketing research (whoelse has already done this before and what did they discoverthat I better know about too?) Many hours, days, and sometimesweeks can be spent getting a clear visualization of a planbefore the actual project can ever begin.
To even start a website without the proper research is aguarantee that: 1. nobody will ever link to your site (World's Worst Web Sites,excluded); 2. nobody, except maybe your mother, will likely seeyour website; 3. your investment and business venture willfail-miserably; 4. you will never be found in the major searchengines; and 5. your results will match your research (0=0). We could approach the question of from the perspective ofform. Every site is constructed differently, designeddifferently, laid out differently, has a unique way with whichit interacts with visitors, and targets those visitorsdifferently. These are all factors that are considered duringthe research performed prior to laying out a raison d'être foroptimization. Architect Louis Sullivan, argued that a building'spurpose should determine its design, stating emphatically that"Form follows function." Shortly after, his student, Frank LloydWright argued, "Form and function should be one, joined in aspiritual union." Although Sullivan and Wright were speakingof architecture as it relates to concrete and steel buildings,there's an architecture which goes into the design of a websitethat, when done well, echoes Wright's observation very nicely.
Good SEO will see to the writing or rewriting of thecontent on each page to effectively work in all targeted keywordphrases. A professional web-copywriter will be able to take theSEO recommendations for keyword usage and incorporate them intoexisting content in a way that reads naturally (i.e. does notlook like you jammed keywords here and there) and has theability to convert your visitors into paying customers. This isno small order and if it is not performed well, the site willremain just another pretty page that nobody ever sees. Or, worseyet, your site will attract lots of visitors but they willbecome confused by the copy and fly off to the next site withoutever taking the desired actions (sign up, buy, make contact).
Another function of SEO, and one not often spoken of, iscleaning up all extraneous code on the pages. Code bloatremoval, as it's so poetically referred to, is an art form initself. It requires a thorough understanding of html along withall the rest of the coding and scripting languages which make upa modern web page, as well as the ability to move it to aseparate file and importing it, when feasible, or trimming it toit's bare essentials without changing the look and/or functionof the page itself. Eliminating page code bloat can be anincredibly arduous task. Moving styles and JavaScripts is onlypart of the puzzle. Many times, a page has to be almostcompletely rebuilt due to the excess amount of junk code thatgets added in with the use of popular "WYSIWYG" page editingsoftware.
To see what a search engine spider bot "sees" when it visits aweb page, go to the View button on your browser toolbar.Move your cursor down to Source (PageSource in MozillaFirefox), and left click. What you are looking at is whatBackrub (Google), Sidewinder (Infoseek), T-Rex (Lycos), Gulliver(Northern Lights), and all the others "look" at when they spidera site. They read it the same way you do, from top to bottom.Notice how much code and formatting are
at the top of the pageand scroll down to find the content (this article). Taking allof the code and paring it down to just what's needed and thenfinding ways to trim that is part of what good is about. Trythis on other sites you visit and you will soon understand thesituation.
OK, time out! I tried not to mention specific software inthis article but, hey! Have you ever wondered why Microsoftdoesn't use FrontPage to create pages on Microsoft.com -- eventhe pages that deal with the FrontPage software? Perhaps,they're trying to tell us something. I've spent literally monthsof my life removing and rewriting the loopy code andnonessential tags that have been produced by FrontPage editors.From an optimization standpoint using FrontPage to produce awebsite is akin to shooting yourself in both feet before youstart to run a marathon. If Microsoft doesn't use it, why shouldyou?
Now that that's out of the way . . . After the codebloat removal process, good SEO will address getting allpages on the site to validate to the professional standards setby the W3C. Validation is simply a process of ensuring that theright coding elements are used and used correctly. This isn't agood guy - bad guy question or even a matter of not breaking therules, it's about being accessible to everyone who uses the web.There is a growing number of the blind and visually impaired whouse Voice Readers or text-to-speech software which "speak" thetext on the web page. Many of the old tricks and shortcuts thatweb designers used in the past don't work with these or any ofthe growing number of other software designed to make a levelplaying field of the Internet. While many validation issues arenot a big problem in and of themselves, if you find it on onepage, it will likely run all through the site (and can take manyhours of head scratching and work to clean up affectively).
META what? Everyone has heard about meta tags, altand title tags, and making them all search engine-friendly, butthere are few sites that actually use them to full advantage.There's so much already written that I hate to add to theplethora of information, (real and misinformation) on thesubject, but I will say that the purpose of the "alt" tag is toprovide an "alternative" to a graphic and not, as widelybelieved, to go on and on about what a superior product you haveor how wonderful your business is. ![picture of DoDobird]() Nuff said!
Title Tags What You Do - Where You Do It -Who You Are There are varying opinions about what should and shouldn't beincluded in a title tag. What is agreed upon is that all of themajor search engines give the content of the title tagsignificant weight in determining what the page is all about.It's my practice to only write a title after everything else onthe page has been written, and then with an eye to using atleast two (better 3) of the keyword phrases that apply to thepage. Unless you're "GE" or "Maxwell House," or intend to spendthe kind of money they spent getting to be a well known brand,there is simply no reason to place your company name in thetitle tag. Save it for the terms that people will use to findyour services/products. I know, you wanted mama to see yourcompany name right up there in the Title Bar. It's ok with me,but it will cost you.
We Don't Need No Stinking Map Site maps help both search engines and visitors quickly andeasily get to the information that is important. It's amazinghow simple a matter the design and implementation of a usablesite map is, and how many websites either don't have one, orhave an incomplete or obscure site map - an even worse scenario.If you're not sure you need one, build one anyway. Trust me onthis one. If I come to your site and can't find what I'm lookingfor, I'll look for a site map. If I can't find a site map, I'lllook somewhere else. Oh yeah, that's how 95% of website visitorsare. Get a site map.
The robots.txt file is useful to communicate with the searchengine spiders about content they should or should not index.This allows the "bot" to focus its time on the good stuff andnot the irrelevant portions of your site.
Good SEO is all of these things and more. Your site willbe off to a great start by following the suggestions mentionedhere. And hopefully, this article will get you thinking thatjust maybe those "seo firms" which offer "Complete $100." or"Get Your Site To #1 In Google" $295, aren't talking about thesame things that we've been discussing here. After years in thebusiness, I've yet to give even a "ballpark" figure for anoptimization campaign without thoroughly researching the needsof the client, the structure of the site, and the competitionfor the target keywords. Every situation is different. Be waryof anyone offering a la carte SEO; without research, anindividualized plan of attack, and careful implementation, youmight as well wait for the next full moon.
About the author: James (Doc to his friends) Lewis spends much of his professionaltime as for the Internet consulting firm of Emerald CoastEntrepreneur, www.EmeraldCoastEntrepreneur.com/. Doc startedpracticing his magic long before the term was coined andcontinues to study and perfect the art & science of speakingenticingly to both human and robot visitors.
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