Design + Interactive
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Overview
Overview
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can be a complex process. Many medium and large digital agencies and software companies will have dedicated staff to develop and oversee this design and writing strategy. This guide will cover some of the basics of integrating SEO into your web page design strategy.
Content
- Create a list of Key Words that your user demographic might use to search for your content. Then, write copy around those keywords in a way that would seem natural to the reader.
- Utilize image alt. tags. These tags help Search engines index your site and add weight to your SEO.
- Include easy social sharing links.
- Include external links to relevant sites.
- Design-in link sharing opportunities. Ask other relevant sites to link to yours in exchange for a link to them. These links can show up on the is in as "Resources", "More Info", "sponsored Links", etc.
- Design-in content modules that will be updated frequently (news, blogs, new products, etc.)
Structure
- Create a responsive design that works on all devices, operating systems and browsers (desktops, tablets, phones).
- Avoid single page sites. Search engines generally cannot figure out how to land users on the long scrolling page at the correct viewport point (without the inclusion of a lot of extra, complex code). It also makes it impossible to give a link to someone that takes them to a specific section (without the inclusion of a lot of extra, complex code), which can be handy if you want to share a link that takes users directly to specific content. Break the site into individual pages that make the most sense for the objectives set forth for the user experience.
- Add Meta keywords in the <head> section. Search engines look for this before anything else.
- Use Headline tags: These are used to create a hierarchy within your page copy. For example, use the <h1> tag for all main top-level headlines. Use<h2> for sub headlines, and so on. Search engines look at the content associated with each of these tags and assume that their level of importance corresponds to their h1-h6 tagging.
Guide written by KCAD Faculty Bill Fischer
Google Sites
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