Recently I wrote an article that mentioned five key points to remember when optimizing a website for the search engines and for your visitors. I said that the components you want to address are accessibility; URLs, titles, and meta data; text; information architecture; and “canonical issues” surrounding duplicate content. In that earlier article, I address the first two components, namely accessibility and URLs, titles, and meta data. I promised I would address the other three in a future article; here it is.
By way of review, in my previous I explained that an accessible website is one that delivers its content successfully as often as possible. I discussed the main issues that would cause a website’s content to be inaccessible, either to visitors or to search engine spiders, and what can be done to solve these issues. Under the issue of URLs, titles, and meta data, I explained the benefits of a well-written URL, and the problems with dynamic URLs. I also explained how well-written titles and meta data can help you attract more visitors to your website.
The three components I will discuss in this article are text, information architecture, and the “canonical issues” surrounding duplicate content. Text, in this case, specifically means search engine friendly text. Text can be in certain formats which make it impossible for search engine spiders to read. If a spider can’t read it, the search engine can’t index it.
Your site’s information architecture – how content is organized – will affect its readability to human visitors. It may also have an effect on your standing in the search engine results pages (SERPs). Finally, the issue of duplicate content, if not properly addressed, can hurt the standing of some of your website’s pages in the SERPs.
Now that I’ve explained each of these points briefly, it’s time to give fuller descriptions, and explain how to tackle each in turn.
Search Optimization 
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