It is critical for us and our clients to budget for SEO in the design process. It is an essential marketing strategy that yields highly targeted visitors, good conversion rates, and a good return on investment (ROI) for our clients.

Sites designed with heavy graphics, frames, Flash, dynamic databases, or other embeds that are not HTML based require specific optimization techniques for proper indexing by major search engines. Though we consult with external resources for specialized SEO expertise, we follow the below established best practices internally as we develop our clients’ web sites.

There are a number of techniques in our toolkit to ensure our clients’ web sites are fully indexed and well positioned in major search engines. While SEO techniques change constantly, the following are essential today for superior positioning.

• Domain Name Selection
• Web Site Copywriting
• Meta Tags (Title, Description, Keywords, Heading, Alt Tags)
• Hypertext Links and Site Map
• Directory and File Name Structures
• Spider Analysis
• Robots Exclusion File
• Content Tagging & Categorization

Domain Name Selection

Domain name (URL) can be a key factor in both search engine and directory positioning. StudioNorth conducts research on networksolutions.com to assure URL availability when requested. We also consult the uspto.gov TESS trademark availability web site for potential trademark conflict with URL selection.

Web Site Copywriting

Web page copy is of major importance for search engines, directories, and customers. Search robots require machine-readable content (plain text) in web pages and HTML tags to index the site. Directory editors decide whether or not to list a site based on unique and relevant content. Since consumers make buying decisions primarily based on savvy marketing copy, brand, and look and feel, a skilled balance of human allure and bot-baited style is required. Our priorities are: we write for people first and search engines a close second.

We analyze recent keyword traffic on major search engines to determine a starting point for integrating key words in copy. Our copywriters then keep an eye toward liberal use of these keywords in their writing. Text near the top of the page is important to search spiders, as are keywords at the beginning of paragraphs and in headings. We write text first then create meta tags relevant to specific page content.

Meta Tags

Though we place less emphasis on meta tags due to their abuse and subsequent irrelevance, as a minimum practice we include title, description, keywords, heading, and alternate tags in the head section of all indexable pages. All meta tags should be unique and apply to a specific page. The following best practices apply to StudioNorth meta tag techniques:

• Title Tag — Use 5-10 words to write a keyword-rich title that’s relevant to the page. Begin with keywords, using sentence case. Most search engines use this copy as the link to pages in search results.
• Description Tag — Very important because these are often used by search engines as a web site description in search results. Use 15-20 words (170 characters), starting with several strategic keywords. Make it compelling and relevant to receive qualified traffic.
• Meta Keywords Tag –List strategic keyword phrases up to a maximum of 744 characters. Use keywords that are relevant to the page, with or without commas.
• Heading Tags — Place these tags at the top of pages, using strategic keywords relevant to the page.
• Alt Tags — Also called image tags as they contain the text that appears in roll-over of an image. Use keywords to describe the image appropriately.

Links and Site Map

We always ensure that search spiders have plenty of basic links to follow. Search engine spiders will index the text on your homepage, then attempt to follow links from there to other pages in the site.

• Most search engines can’t follow dynamic links (question mark in URL), so basic links or image maps must be provided.
• The text in links is important and should include keywords related to the page it’s linking to.
• A site map is an excellent way to provide links for search spiders.

Ideally, hypertext links should have a keyword in the link text or in an .alt description of the image or area tag.

A well-structured site map makes it easier for search spiders to find all web pages in the site. The site map is also very useful for site visitors to navigate against their immediate needs. Be sure to provide one or more links to the site map from the home page.

• Place a text link to the site map at the bottom of the page titled “Site Map”
• Include strategic keywords in the link text link.
• Create a static list of links to all your pages, with a link to this page from your homepage or site map.

Directory and File Name Structure

Because many engines and directories index file names and even directory names, it pays to create these using keywords whenever possible. Use at least one keyword phrase in the file/directory names, preferably at the beginning. Don’t stuff keywords and keep the names relevant. Use hyphens or underscores to separate the words in the file and directory names.

Spider Analysis

Spider Analysis can provide a record of spider activity in its effort to index pages upon entering the site. It shows whether or not the site has been crawled, by which search engine(s), on which pages, and on what dates. Spider Analysis reveals which pages are considered more relevant and which should be re-optimized and re-submitted. It also can identify and eliminate harmful spiders like email-harvesting robots. We rely on our SEO consultant partners to offer spider analysis services.

Robots Exclusion File

It’s important to have a robots.txt file present in the root directory because some search spiders will not crawl a site if they don’t find this file.

-Greg French

Greg has logged more than 27 years as a practitioner and published author in marketing, branding, and communications. His primary mission is to help StudioNorth clients make their marketing programs more effective by identifying and addressing value gaps. With this perspective, Greg helps our clients synthesize new brand marketing solutions to fill these value gaps and deliver real, measurable business results. Greg’s credits include award-winning white papers entitled, “The Role of Electronic Publishing Technology in Business-to-Business Marketing Communications” (McGraw-Hill), and “Wi-Fi for All” (International Engineering Consortium’s Annual Review of Communications). He was also a finalist in the Silver Microphone awards for creative direction on an Ameritech Mobile radio spot series.