PBA Front-End Programming Search Engine Optimisation

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) – Making your website visible to search engines (Google) – Get your website to the top of the result list!

Search Engine Optimisation

SEO is an obvious way to make users aware of your website – Technical aspect: Making sure the proper words can be found on your website by search robots – Marketing aspect: Making sure your website contains the words a typical user will use when searching for a website in your category. Getting other sites to link to your site.

Search Engine Optimisation How is a page found by a Search Engine? Web Crawlers follow links – so make sure there are links to all your pages How is a page ranked by a Search Engine? Secret…!

Search Engine Optimisation Page rankings – Internal factors – title, headings, body text, alter- native text, keyword distribution, domain name – External factors – links from other pages. The higher ranked the linking page is, the more the link will count. How often users click on the page in a search result list

Search Engine Optimisation How can I know which keywords a typical user will use when searching for a similar website? Ask them! A job for the Usability Lead Google Adwords – suggestions for keywords

Search Engine Optimisation A Search Engine cannot see text in – Graphics (logos, banners, etc.) – Flash animations – Video – Audio (oh, really…) – Graphic links – Links depending on dynamic code

Search Engine Optimisation A Search Engine may bypass a page if it – Has a very complex structure – Is heavily dynamic (CSS, JavaScript) – Contains many broken links – Contains complex/auto-generated links – Is flooded with keyword repetitions – Is created server-side – Loads very slowly

Search Engine Optimisation So, I’m about to write material for my website… …what should I actually do…?

Search Engine Optimisation Avoid writing consciously for SEO Write for the readers, not for the engines External factors are given more importance than internal by modern search engines (Google)… …so the material must be interesting and relevant for actual human readers!

Search Engine Optimisation Still, you can often hit two birds with one stone Review titles, headers, page bodies, etc – do they actually contain relevant words Take the user’s point-of-view – what would the typical user be looking for?

Search Engine Optimisation The Global Catastrophe Bla bla bla bla bla…

Search Engine Optimisation World War II : The Global Catastrophe Bla bla bla bla bla…

Search Engine Optimisation Where to put keyword/phrases: – Page titles – Major headings – First content paragraphs – Text for links to other pages – Alternative text for images – HTML file names and directory names

Search Engine Optimisation Grammatical form matters (Tiger <> Tigers) Case does not matter (Tiger == tiger) Context does not come automatically! A Tiger is also a – Carnivore – Large cat – Panthera – Threatened species

Search Engine Optimisation Enough is enough! Delicate balance between plentiful mentioning of keywords and ”keyword spamming” Exact limit unknown… Rule of thumb, at most 5-8 % of total word count

Search Engine Optimisation We can also ”optimise” the use of keywords with regards to humans Users do not divide their attention uniformly over a web page (eye-tracking studies) – Golden triangle – F pattern Cat

Search Engine Optimisation

Most important in page rankings – other pages that link to your page! How to achieve that…?

Search Engine Optimisation If the site is part of a large company – Request that main (often visited) company pages link to your pages – Get included in site maps, etc. – Get featured in a ”what’s new” section on the company home page

Search Engine Optimisation If the site is a stand-alone site – Find link partners: You link to the partner, the partner links to you (link building) – Potential link partner could be a ”complemen- tary” company, not a competitor – Example: you sell swimsuits, the partner sells sunglasses – Should be worthwhile for both sides

Search Engine Optimisation Create links from other websites yourself – Find popular (and preferably relevant…) blogs, forums, etc, and leave comments including links to your own website – Sign up your website to link catalogs A delicate balance…

Search Engine Optimisation