Have you ever wondered why some websites or blogs are in search engine favorites list while others are not able to grab their attention? The answer to that is simple – an SEO-friendly website takes precedence over the other websites and is easily indexed by it. However, it is surprising that a sizeable group of people are unaware of the importance of SEO and its role in online marketing. In this article, I pointed out certain tips that web designers should keep in mind when designing an SEO-friendly website.
target keywords
Online businesses, especially those with large e-commerce websites, should conduct detailed research and analysis of their goals before even planning a website layout. Not only that, they should also consider the customer group that needs to be targeted through their website as this content will be part of important keywords that will help search engines to track the pages conveniently. If wrong keywords are used, search engines will never find us.
keyword placement
Aside from researching keywords for good website design, one should always remember to place them in the right place on a webpage. These places can be title tags, meta descriptions, site slogans, bullet points, footer links, URLs, etc.
Analyze website navigation system
Website navigation should be search engine friendly. This means that the buttons and links should be text-based whenever possible. The use of Flash elements should be avoided as some applications do not support them. This can also affect the loading time of the website. Instead, CSS query is a good option. In this analysis, the internal link structure should also be checked.
Consider social networks
Social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook are important factors to consider when designing a website. Online businesses can benefit as they generate free web traffic and rank high. The companies can demonstrate the products they have to offer and target potential customers not only locally but globally.
Use sitemaps
Sitemaps are the maps about the content present on our websites that help search engines in the web crawling process. If the sitemaps are omitted, there is a chance that the search engines may not recognize all of the pages on our site. This reduces the visibility of the company. These maps can be in the form of XML files, RSS feeds, HTML, or URL lists. Therefore, it is highly recommended for online businesses, especially those who constantly make changes to their websites or have a large number of images.
Friendly URLs and image filenames
When designing an SEO-friendly website, emphasis should be placed on using meaningful URLs with keywords. This helps search engines fetch the webpage quickly. In addition, the name of image files should also match the search criteria. For example, if a person is looking for images related to baby clothes, having images named “bib.jpg” or “diapers.jpg” is definitely a better idea than simply using “img1.jpg”.
In summary, Search Engine Optimization is an important tool to increase the visibility of a business and must be considered when creating a website design.
