Optimizing content for search engines or SEO is a popular way to get more readers. When you set up the content so that search engines can easily see what is important and what isn't, then the pages will rank better in search engine results and so you'll get more readers. But SEO is not something everyone thinks about, and it's not vital for every page. For instance, some of my personal pages don't need to be optimized because the only people who need or want to see them are people who have gotten the URL directly from me. Sure, these pages have been indexed by search engines, but I don't care where they rank.
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Absolutely! All of the content I develop for websites is most definitely search engine optimized! I don’t even begin writing until keyword research is performed. Plus, I have to pay careful attention to the headers and sub-headers I write, which should both contain keywords.
Part of SEO writing is using bold and italics or making keywords anchor links. I have to be careful where I place keywords within the paragraph. I try to evenly spread the keywords throughout the page so it looks good. No body wants to ready a page where the entire left side is bold. They have to be carefully placed, which shapes the content within the paragraph.
OK, now I got what you meant
I offer SEO as a part of my design services, but I would also do it on a client’s finished design. But indeed, sometimes it’s not such an important task.
I enjoyed reading your tips and articles on promoting websites through search engine optimisation. My company offers SEO as a standard part of the web design and hosting package at 1and1websolutions.co.uk. But I think clients have to understand that it takes time for their website to gain attention and climb the search rankings.
Funny timing of this article, I’ve actually just taken on my first independent project that is strictly SEO. A good thing for me is that this site had no meta tags or any kind of semantic markup so just about anything i do will be a dramatic improvement.
I find that optimizing pages for search engines is becoming less about keyword density, layering and thematic highlighting.
It is becoming more and more about high-quality, well written content that uses contextual relevance internally as well as externally. I find that I’m enjoying this change as it becomes more about the quality and relevance of content that it does about ugly emphasis type work that ruins the user experience.
I consider SEO an important part of every project.
Sure there are all kinds of on-page and off-page SEO one can focus on, but the the more stuff you write and publish on your website or blog, the more likely you are to generate more “organic” search traffic.
Here’s why (short version): the more stuff you publish simply increases the number of keyword phrases a potential visitor can hit on when doing a web search. Plus, more comprehensive sites generally generate (+10 pts for alliteration) more quality backlinks, as well as providing more content for search engines to crawl, which is always good (as long as the content is unique).
Generating organic website traffic and organic backlinks, through content building, are really the two biggest things to focus on SEO-wise. (currently, anyway)
I do optimize, but….I do try to write good compelling prose that makes sense.
I never do that. I spend more time in improving quality of the content because I am a firm believer in the saying “content is king”.
Google still sends an appreciable amount of audience everyday.
Definitely! By all means i Agree with Salman content is supposed to be for humans not crawlers, but you also have to definitely pay attention to those keywords so you get better ranking. There is always a balance between over optimizing your content, and writing smart content that will benefit both your readers and search engines.
Find that perfect balance and you will be in the path of success for great content and high rankings.
Well, may be you are right about the balance. I gave it a thought and decided to do a little bit of SEO of my existing content. Nothing fancy… just some common sense tricks such as using the bold tags and headings appropriately. Surprisingly, it took me just 20 minutes. I’ll have to wait for a long time to see the results though!
There is a fine balance, but it’s important to have your copy written SE friendly from the start. SEO copywriters eventually find a writing style that incorporates key phrases semantically correct and it still reads as proper English. The days of painstakingly analysing keyword frequency etc is numbered in my opinion, but on the other hand, if all else equal what would give you the edge? Search Engine Friendly design is something that should come naturally to web design companies and it should form part of their standard offering without even calling it that.
Agree with much of the above .. SEO friendly design has to be the starting point for any webste. Effective anchor text internal linking is an essential consideration when on site copy is written.