1. Search Engine Optimization
Using Web Design to Help SEO

2. Page Elements to Consider
Text (or page copy) – one of the most important elements
Having your most important keywords in that actual page text is very important for improving search engine listings.
The copy on your page is also very important in order to achieve better search engine listings. By 'copy' we mean the actual text that a visitor to your site would read.
Did you know that just like a visitor to your site would read the copy on your page to figure out what you have to offer, the search engines do too? And what do you think the search engines are looking for when they 'read' your page copy? Keyword phrases, of course!
Good marketing copy should sound great, stress the benefits o the user and utilize keyword phrases.

3. Page Content
Select no more than 3 keywords/phrases to include in the content on any one page
Effectiveness of keywords reduced by the number of different ones used – this deals with keyword density (the number of times a keyword is used on a page)
Google looks for keyword density of 5 – 7%
Yahoo! And MSN about 5%
You don’t want to be delisted for being guilty of keyword stuffing

4. Page Content Freshness and focus of your content is important
One reason many companies use blogs on their site is because they are updated frequently and are highly focused on a specific topic – provides new, relevant content to crawl
This strategy could include news links, regularly changing articles, or other types of changing content on your home page
Search crawlers also love interactive forums, comment sections, etc.

5. Page Elements to Consider
Meta Tags
Keyword Tag – this is where you list the keywords for your site – it looks something like: <meta name="keywords" content="keywords phrase 1, keyword phrase 2, keyword phrase 3, etc.">
Description Tag – provides a short description of your page – it looks something like: <meta name="description" content="This would be your description of what is on your page. Your most important keyword phrases should appear in this description.">
Tag limits:
Keywords Meta should not exceed 1024 characters including spaces.
Description Meta tag should not exceed 250 characters including spaces.
Meta Tag Generator

6. Adding Tags in FrontPage
Open the page on which you want to place tags in FrontPage.
In the Normal page view, right click and select Page Properties.
Click on the General tab.
In the Page Description field, type your description tag.
In the Keywords field, type your Keywords tag. Your keywords (each keyword/keyword phrase) should be separated by comma).
Press OK.

7. Page Elements to Consider
HTML Tags
Title Tag – this is what shows up in your browser
Include 1-2 of your most important keyword phrases in the title tag, BUT be careful not to just list keywords AND do not repeat keywords.
If you just list keywords you risk being viewed as a spamming the engines which can ultimately lead to you being blacklisted by the search engines.
Your title tag should include your keyword phrases while remaining as close to a readable sentence as possible to avoid any problems.
Make your title enticing! Don't forget that even if you get that #1 listing in the search engines your listing still needs to say something that makes the surfer want to clickthrough and visit your site.
Since the length of your title tag could be a little long for some engines place the keywords at the beginning of the tag when possible so that you do not risk having them cut off.
Each page of your site should have it's own title tag with it's own keywords that related to the page that it appears on.

8. Optimizing the Title Tag
Without question the title tag of your page is the single most important factor to consider when optimizing your web page for the search engines. This is because most engines & directories place a high level of importance on keywords that are found in your title tag. The title tag is also what the search engines usually use for the title of your listing in the search results.
What it looks like:
Here's the title tag of this page: <TITLE>Your Title Tag - learn to optimize your title tag</TITLE>
Where it belongs:
The correct placement for the title tag is between the <HEAD> and </HEAD> tags within the HTML the makes up your page.
Tag limits:
Your title tag should be no more than 64 characters long - including spaces! However, keep in mind that if your title tag is more than characters could result in your page title being cut off in some browsers

9. Page Elements to Consider
HTML Tags
High Level Heading Tags
HTML high level heading tags can help improve your listings in the search engines too. Since it is a "heading" the search engines figure that they are very closely related to the content of the page that they appear on. So, just like with all of your other optimization efforts you should include your most important keyword phrases in heading tags on your page if you can.
What they look like:
<h1>Heading Size 1</h1>
Some people also use lower level headings such as: <h2>Heading Size 2</h2> <h3>Heading Size 3 </h3> <h4>Heading Size 4</h4>
Where they belong:
Headings can go anywhere within the HTML of your page.

10. Page Elements to Consider
HTML Tags
Anchor Tags – used to create links to other pages – can point users to another web site, a file on the web, or even an image or sound file
They look like: <a href:” University</a\>
Text-based hyperlinks can help improve your listing in the search engines
The search engines basically figure that if you are linking to something from your page whatever it is you are linking to is likely to be closely related to the content of your page.
For that reason some of the engines actually look for keywords in the hyperlinks and any text immediately surrounding the hyperlinks.
What this means to you is that if you can you should include your most important keyword phrases in the link itself and possibly the surrounding text.

11. Page Elements to Consider
HTML Tags
Image Alt Tags – including a keyword phrase or two that relates to your image
This text will also show up & help those that may have their images turned off when visiting your site.
What it looks like:
<IMG SRC="ema.gif" width="158" height="47" alt=“eMA – Electronic Marketing Association">
Where it belongs:
You can add the "alt" attribute to any image on your page.
Tag limits:
It is not recommended to use more than a brief sentence to describe an image.

12. How to Add Image Alt tags in Front Page
In Front Page, open up a .html file that has a .gif or .jpg image on it.
In the Normal page view, select an image with your cursor.
Right-click the image, and then click Picture Properties on the shortcut menu.
Click the General tab.
Under Alternative representations, put your cursor in the Text box.
Type the information you want to appear as the ALT tag for your image. Hit OK.

13. Example Code of a Site Using Frames
Site Design Problem
Frames – search engines do not index frames well
A frame is an HTML page that “frames” other HTML pages.
When a site uses frames, the home page typically has no real content that search engines can pick up on.
The best solution is to eliminate frames from your site design.
If this can’t be done, use the <noframes> tag within your frameset to add content to help your page get listed
Example Code of a Site Using Frames
<HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Example Framed Site</TITLE> </HEAD> <FRAMESET cols="150,*"> <FRAME name="contents" target="main"> <FRAME name="main"> </FRAMESET> </HTML>

14. Example Code of a Site Using Frames with <NOFRAMES> Tag
<HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Example Framed Site</TITLE> </HEAD> <FRAMESET cols="150,*"> <FRAME name="contents" target="main"> <FRAME name="main"> <NOFRAMES> Optimized page content goes here for best results. </NOFRAMES> </FRAMESET> </HTML>

15. Site Design Problem Dynamic URLS
Most search engines cannot or will not list any dynamic URLs. Dynamic URLs are most commonly used on database driven sites, or sites that are running scripts. They commonly look something like this one from MSN Search:
If your URL contains any of the following elements it is considered a Dynamic URL as far as the search engines are concerned:
? & % + = $ cgi-bin .cgi
If your URL contains any of the above elements it is very unlikely that it will get listed at any of the major search engines.
Create descriptive file names and make sure any directories/folders used also have descriptive names

16. Site Design Problem Sites that Use Flash
Flash itself is not the problem. The problem is how it is used. The 2 largest problems with how Flash is used are:
Flash is often used on home pages as a "splash" page. The problem with these splash pages is that they are typically made entirely from Flash, which the search engines can't index. That means your splash page will not get listed. Your best bet search engine wise is to avoid submitting any page that is made mostly of Flash. If you must submit a page that is mostly Flash you can improve your chances of getting listed by to adding as much page copy to the page that you can. You should also make sure you have good meta tags and title tag.
Hyperlinks made with Flash can't be spidered by the search engines. Normally, when you submit a page to a search engine you can expect the search engine to follow the links on the page you submitted and spider the rest of your site, which is a good thing. Unfortunately, unless you have (or add) standard HTML hyperlinks to the other pages of your site none of your other pages will be able to get spidered by the search engines, which is a bad thing. An easy way fix this problem is to create a site map page uses standard HTML links to link to every page on your site. Then add a standard HTML link on each page of your site that links to the site map.
A better way to incorporate Flash, if you must have it, is to first create an HTML site, and then use Flash movies in place of images, buttons, and banners. These areas are usually of little importance to a search engine anyway, so it seems fine to do it this way. In which case, optimizing this type of site is no different than optimizing a plain ole HTML site.

17. Site Design Problems Javascript for Navigation
Search engines can't follow links that are within Javascript, so your site will not get spidered unless you also have some form standard HTML hyperlinks that they can follow.
You should add some form standard HTML hyperlinks to all of your pages on each of your pages so that your site will be spidered properly.
An easy way to do this is to create a site map page uses standard HTML links to link to every page on your site. Then add a standard HTML link on each page of your site that links to the site map.

18. Site Design Problems PHP
PHP naturally stops or slows search engine crawlers
When using PHP, make sure to design the code to look like HTML – this requires expertise but once the code has been disguised, the PHP can be crawled and indexed

19. Site Design Problems Hidden Text
Do not submit a page that has any text on it that is the same color as the background since most search engines will view this as Spam and potentially block you from getting listed.