“SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION” And What Designers Should Know
Design and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) largely impact content visibility on the web. SEO experts and designers need to work closely together to make sure that a well-designed website does not rank poorly with popular search engines. Below find some tips that will help web designers.
What Is SEO
SEO is the process of getting traffic to a website from search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo and more. Search Engine Optimization does not involve paying Google, Bing, or yahoo, that would be paid search ads or PPC. Major search engines display web pages and other searchable content like videos based on what the search engine considers relevant to its users. When a web user searches Google’s toolbar for a local plumber near me, the user expects to see results that reflect that search. This is where SEO comes into play.
What Designers Need To Know
Design mobile first for Google. This means make elements fit on various screens. Keep in mind that users expect a high-quality experience across multiple devices. This includes making sure that images and video maintain portions when switching to different devices. You also don’t want to loose features and have buttons that don’t work on smaller screens. Structure content for organic visibility, in other words, organize your content that it is easy to follow and geared towards common user queries. It’s crucial that you focus on user intent and not keywords. Search engines, specifically Google, try to figure out the intent behind a query and not just look for the keywords. Make your content as relevant as possible. Every business is different that’s why it is important to describe the business and explain to users why and how it can solve their problem. Internal linking provides users with more ways to interact with your website. So an internal link from your homepage, which tends to be the most “authoritative” page on a website, to another page on your site could give you an SEO boost. Some SEO experts suggest putting links up higher on your page could help with your SEO score. When it comes to images SEO experts have a few guidelines you should flollow. They say JPEG’s are best for photographs or designs that show people, places or things. If your image has a transparent background use PNG’s and finally GIF’s should be used for animated images. Most users hate pop-up and as it turns out so do search engines. You will loose points if you have pop-ups cover important content on a mobile screen. To avoid penalties do not use slide ins or other so-called “interstitial” that cover more than 20% of a mobile screen.
Planetguide: Ask The Experts
If you need help developing content, designing a website, or even SEOing your website, call Planetguide at 504-888-5384. We offer a variety of affordable packages that can help to get you seen on the search engines. Call Us Today!
