SEO-Friendly Web Design – What To Do?
Internet web design
Getting a website online is not just a set and forget job. Indeed, after you have used a website design company to develop and finish your online representation and got a deal with a web hosting provider you are now exposed on the Internet, in front of thousands of potential customers, but is this really enough?
Even before getting your website created, you should definitely consult with your web designer and try to find out if he will take care of all aspects, included those from an SEO perspective. As you probably know by now, once your website is up and running you must continue promoting it with a search engine optimisation strategy in mind, however this is just not enough. If your website is not SEO-friendly right from the start chances are that you will need a re-design in the future and moreover, if you will not do it in a proper way optimising it for search engines will be a difficult task.
What should you be aware of when building your site and what should your designers always do in the following lines:
1. Page URLs
Each and every URL should be designed with SEO-friendly keywords in mind. Say you are selling blue widget, than your URL should be something like blue_widgets.html. Once you have this setup, make sure the content of your page matches the URL, title and description.
2. Flash is a no-no
Although many folks opt for Flash when having their website’s designed, this is not a wise choice in terms of search engine optimisation.
3. 982412.jpg or blue-widgets.jpg?
As almost all websites, yours as well will be built with content and images. If for the content things are clear, when it comes to images always use keywords as image name and do not forget to use the ALT attribute as well.
4. Sitemap for visitors and sitemap for Google
Ask your web designers to place a .xml sitemap for submitting it to Google and one for your visitors. Sitemaps are one of the most important parts of search engine optimisation.