Web search engine optimization articles by UZilla.org

Search Engine Optimization factors – part two (27th July 2007)

This is the second part in our articles that describe the common website design features that will assist in search engine optimization.

We have tried to present these website seo characteristics in order of importance, to website ranking. What is more important, however, to a well optimized website is the whole picture. A balance should be achieved, in all the listed factors, rather than putting effort into any single factor. At UZilla.org we believe that more and more the web search engines will be concerned with the big picture or overall message that your website presents rather than examining single factors. As always we strongly recommend balancing usability with seo with the stronger emphasis given to ease of use for real users.

Keyword in H1, H2 and H3

This sign posting is a great search engine optimization boost but we would recommend targeting headings and paragraph sizes to real people rather than try to construct the webpage purely for seo. In this way the overall structure, including the H# headings should look appealing to the reader with the headings clearly sign posting the content. Balancing website usability with search engine optimization with a bias to usability will give you the seo benefits.

Keyword font size

Similar to keywords in headings, this should not be over done. The extra emphasis you place on a keyword should be acknowledged by the search engine. In this regard the following are all treated as indication of emphasis:-

Bold

Italic

Large text size font.

Also the earlier in the webpage the keywords occur, and preferably in an emphasized font, the better for search engine optimization.

Keyword in alt text for an image and keyword as part of the anchor text for a link.

Because the search engine cannot see the image it is important to describe the image. This can be done with the alt text but do not overdo this as it may look like spam. In general, for both usability and seo, all links should be anchored with keywords. Avoid using Click here for further information with the word here being the link anchor keyword. Much better to do something like the following sentence. It is important for search engine optimization to place context within the link anchor. For internal Webpages this has the extra benefit of making the link relevant to a given keyword and helping the ranking of the target webpage, for the given keyword.

Internal links

It is best not to overdo internal links as the value of a link (to the target page) is diminished with the more out going links from a given page.

If possible it is best to match the anchor text in the link with the file name, for example if the anchor text is Google page ranking then an appropriate file name would be google-page-ranking.html. Phrases that are close to the file name are also acceptable as the wording may become awkward to the reader if the exact filename does not match the context of the message.

All links, including internal links, should be valid. Use a link checker regularly, not only for the sake of your target audience but for seo. For the overall hierarchical structure of your website, we recommend that each webpage should be no more than 4 clicks away from the home page. The structure of the website is important for both usability and seo, so do not have important pages (with regard to the site's overall message) that are difficult to reach. That is avoid daisy chaining webpages but rather design a top down hierarchy that exposes more detail of the chosen subject matter to the user, and search engine, as the user drills down into a given subject thread.

No guarantee (or claim) is made regarding the accuracy of this information. Any questions or comments should be sent to:-