About Search Engine Optimization

If you’re setting up a new site, or updating an old one… search engine optimization (SEO) is going to come up. Who doesn’t want to be found and who doesn’t want to be found before any competitors?

Good SEO starts with a conversation with your web designer.

SEO has to be part of the design.  How things are positioned, how graphics are made, and how the structure of the website is created are all factors.  Your designer and programmer need to stay up to date on current technologies and how they can impact SEO.  Start talking about SEO right away.

Avoid Flash like the plauge…

A few years ago Flash animations were all the rage.  Many sites had some really cool animations going on.  Some websites built their site entirely in Flash… I’ve done it and they were super neat!  However search engines can’t read that content.  Just imagine having your great and awesome message, then wrapping it in a heavy blanket where no one can find it.  Flash is over, done, put a fork in it.  However, there is an alternative to having creative animations that can be read by search engines.  Ask me about Edge Animate!

Avoid Black Hat SEO!

Ok, what?  Black Hat SEO?  Sounds… seedy.  You’re right, it is!  These are practices that some people will use to “stuff the ballot box” so to speak to set your site up only to attract the search engines.  Often times this pollutes your message.  Keyword stuffing is by far the most common.  Imagine if you had to read a paragraph on a website that had your location or business name every other word.  It’s horrible!  You may get away with it and get higher rankings, but if the search engine police(yes they exist) find this practice, you will be de-listed from future search results.  You might as well become a troll under a bridge after that.  It’s not work the risk!

What is good SEO?

Good, strong, content.  Write your content carefully.  Have a clear message and don’t over write.  Aim for a 6th-7th grader reading level.  Find an SEO professional that can clearly explain the steps, identify your weaknesses and get you on the right path.  This page is a great example of how it’s done.  It’s clean, easy to read, and easy to scan through.