Utilising SEO in your Website Design

Chances are if you are reading this blog you are a small or medium business owner looking for search engine optimisation (SEO) advice. In this case this simple rule applies to you, if Google can read it, it can rank you for it, if it can’t, then it can’t. This simple concept has been a stumbling block for many a web design project.  The reason is that many people want to have flashy homepage designs with lots of images and very little content and yet rank for dozens of highly competitive keywords.  If you are one of these people then you unfortunately you are setting yourself up for failure.

Search Engine Optimisation & Prime Property on Your Website

The prominence of where your writing sits on each webpage weighs heavily on how important Google thinks it is. In short the more prominent it is on the page the more search engine optimisation weight it carries.  This is why the main heading on the page carries the most SEO weight in terms of your body content.  If you replace this main heading with a catchy sales line such as Australia’s Best SEO Company!  or even worse one with no keyword value Find out Why We are #1 then you have thrown away a great opportunity to place your targeted keywords in a prominent location.

Trying to Hide SEO Content

It’s almost 2012, which means the days of trying to hide SEO keyword content on your website ended 3 years ago.  The search engine robots are just too smart.  Also, if you are trying to hide SEO content it means that content is not relevant enough to that page to be in a prominent location.  This leaves us with the question of why you would be trying to target those keywords on that page in the first place?

SEO Keyword Selection & Allocation

If you conduct the right keyword research using the right software and tools and allocate them throughout your website using the proper site map and theming architecture than you should be able to easily utilise your keywords in prominent areas of your content.  This is easier said than done, that’s why I always suggest utilising the services of a SEO company in Sydney or wherever you live to get this done properly. 

Conclusions on Search Engine Optimisation

Search engine optimisation has progressed to the point that you need to utilise common sense more than any coding trickery.  You need to choose the right keywords, you need to use them in prominent locations on your webpages and then you need to do the proper offsite branding to get your name out there and the links coming back to you.  Unfortunately unless your company name is Apple or Microsoft you are going to have a hard time ranking for search terms that are nowhere to be seen on your website.

Revised: 12/06/2012