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Leading_Your_Web_Designer_to_SEO
| Leading Your Web Designer to SEO
Many SEO projects involve taking a site that has already been
built and changing or adding optimization elements to help the
site rank well in the search engines. For a site that has
already been built, the web designer is usually not involved in
the process.
However, there are two situations where the designer should be
very much involved in the SEO process: when a new site is
constructed, or when an old site is being redesigned.
When building a new site, the SEO consultant should be involved
as the site concept is being developed. The perspective of the
SEO consultant is much different from that of the design team
and the site owner. The SEO understands that a balance of
keyword phrases and well-written marketing copy is what helps
the site attract traffic and convert visitors into buyers. The
SEO can also provide advice on the best way to add new content.
For example, a site that is about food will draw many visitors
if it has a section that offers recipes, and a site about music
will see many more visitors if it also offers MP3 music files.
More importantly, the SEO can provide advice on how to best
construct the site. SEO consultants understand that sites which
have 100% of the content in Flash, or which use frames will pose
problems during the optimization process. The consultant will
also understand how to overcome some of the SEO limitations that
dynamic sites pose.
When the design team is aware and involved in the optimization
process from the beginning, a site can be optimized “from the
ground up” as it is being built, which will involve less time
spent by the SEO consultant later. This can also provide a level
of optimization that is often not practical after a site has
already been constructed.
When keyword research is completed before the site construction
has started, designers can use them when they create new pages
and graphics files in order to derive the benefit of
keyword-rich file names. e.g., Instead of using words like
“logo” and “header,” the designer can choose keywords that are
more descriptive. The SEO can also provide a basic Meta tag set
which can be used for the site. By including the Meta tags in
the site templates, the work of editing each page later can
often be avoided.
What about redesigns?
The first and foremost role the SEO has when a site is being
redesigned is to ensure that the web designer doesn't change all
the page names when performing a site update. Otherwise, when
the new site is launched, the traffic to the site may
substantially drop off when people click on search engine
listings that no longer exist.
To combat this phenomenon, the consultant will advise the
designer to re-use the old page names as much as possible. If
that's not possible, there are two ways to deal with this
problem:
1)A custom 404-error page can be installed to inform the visitor
that the page(s) no longer exist and present them with several
options to continue into the site. 2)Redirection pages can be
set up which use the old page name and an informative message
for the visitor. The pages should offer one or more clickable
links, and might include a timed-redirect that should be at
least 30 seconds before taking the visitor to the page with the
new name.
The second option is more desirable, since it allows the search
engine to note the change, follow the link to the new page and
add it to its index at some later point. And of course, if new
pages are added, or the filenames have to change, it provides a
chance to use filenames that can be optimized with keyword
phrases.
Just as you are unlikely to turn an SEO consultant into a web
designer, you can't turn a web designer into an SEO. However,
SEO consultants and designers should work together to bring all
of their skill sets to the table. The SEO needs to understand
that graphic images can be very important in the visual appeal
of a well-designed web site, just as the designer needs to
understand the benefit of having a home page title that says
more than just “Home.”
About the author:
Christian Nielsen is the owner of Nielsen Technical Services
, which provides Internet
consulting and SEO services, including the optimization of
dynamic database-driven sites, and Blog optimization. The
company maintains a policy of answering questions from clients
and potential clients, even if they are just "tire kickers", and
has a Blog that can be seen at NielsenTech.Blogger.com which
deals with (mostly) search engine related-issues.
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