The Various Search Engines: Their Whims and Wishes - Site Design Considerations for All Search Engines
(Page 3 of 4 )
Regardless of search engine, there are many similarities in their requirements that must be considered when you design your website. These are concepts of search engine optimization that are common to all search engine algorithms in varying degrees. By utilizing them in your site design from the beginning, your website can get a head start in the search engine placements race.
Make certain that your newly designed site includes a good site map. By creating an easily navigable site map, that links your pages together for ease of use by your visitors, you help create a user friendly site that will enhance your business. At the same time, a site map gives you double service, as it helps the various search engine spiders to crawl and index all of your web pages much more efficiently.
Be sure that the links to the various pages include the keywords for that specific page. Try to avoid general and vague terms like “home,” “about us,” and the like. Use keywords that highlight the subject matter of the page. It not only helps the search engine spiders, but also assists your visitors.
Place a unique title on each page of your site. Use the main keywords for that page within the title tags. All of the search engine spiders can use that information, to help rank your page higher, in the search engine results pages (SERPs). Don’t try to cram all of your content into one page. Use a different page for each important keyword. You get the added benefit of having more pages indexed by the search engines, meaning more entry points to your site. It is also generally thought that larger sites with more pages do better in the SERPs than smaller sites.
Place your keywords higher on the page when you create your content. Some search engines apparently prefer that the keywords to appear sooner, emphasising their importance. Make certain that the keywords appear, throughout the written copy, to give all of the search engine spiders something tasty to nibble.
Since there are some differences in the spiders’ crawling preferences, you cover all the bases by sprinkling your keywords high, middle, and late in your copy. Be careful about what appears at the top of your page. Make certain that they are
your site menu and navigation architecture. Be careful of keyword density. While Yahoo might like heavier keyword use, Google has upper limits on the number of keywords on a page. Be careful to use your keywords in the most appropriate locations, where they naturally flow in your copy, and you should experience no problems. Solid placement of keywords is a good idea. Overuse could be considered spamming.
While the addition of meta tags to your site may not carry any noticeable weight in the Google algorithm, such is not the case for the other search engines. There is some evidence that Yahoo and MSN Search consider meta tags in their search calculations. The use of meta tags was certainly a strong consideration in the Inktomi algorithm.
When you create a list of meta tags, be sure to only use the keywords that actually appear on that page. Don’t use any keywords that are not included in that web page’s content. Over use of keywords, especially if they’re unrelated to the on page content, could be viewed as spam by the search engines. Keep your meta tags precise and targeted for that page alone.
Next: Adding a User Search Interface to Your Website >>
More Search Optimization Articles
More By Wayne Hurlbert
/ 18 
