The
saying
"Everything in moderation, even moderation" is a good principle to
keep in mind when you tweak your web site to achieve
SEO.
The
moderation slogan has been aptly applied to many human activities, from
the
sexual to the gustatory and beyond. It fits very
well
with
SEO.
For
example, you want a nice density of keywords in your pages, but you
don't want
so many keywords that the content of your pages is
diminished
from the viewpoint of visitors. Search engines look for keywords, but
they take
away points for excessive and inappropriate
keyword "stuffing."
Put
Meta Tags in an Include
If
your
site is large, with many pages, and has several distinct areas of
content, you
can create a separate file, each
consisting
only of meta description and tags, for each content area.
You
can
always customize the meta information for a specific page by discarding
the
reference to them eta include file and
adding
page-specific meta information. Alternatively, you can create a
page-specific
meta include, keeping track of your meta
includes
by
placing them all in one directory and devising a sensible naming
convention.
It's
a
really good idea to have default meta information for a site that can
easily be
tweaked.
Site
Design Principles
Here
are some
design and information architecture guidelines you should apply to your
site to
optimize it for search engines:
Eschew fancy graphics
For
most
sites, the fancy graphics do not matter. If you are looking for search
engine
placement, it is the words that count
Use text wherever possible
Always provide alt attributes
for images
Make
sure
you provide accurate alt attribute text for any images that are on your
pages.
Navigability
Pages
within your site should be structured with a clear hierarchy. Several
alternative site-navigation mechanisms should be
supplied,
including at least one that is text-only.
Provide text links
Make a site map available to
your users
The
major
parts of your site should be easy to access using a site map
If
your
site map has more than about 100 links , you should divide the site map
into
separate pages.
