Search Engine Optimization is always a topic of conversation when I meet a new client.

Eventually, all conversations turn to...SEO or Search Engine Optimization. Really, we usually start off with a great discussion about all of the great features the customer wants in their new site. But what good are all of those features without an ample supply of visitors to use them? The question often comes in the form of, "How do I get my site to the top of Google?"

The short answer is, "have great content, update often, get lots of people talking about your site on other sites, and get links back to you." But, as with all things artistic (you didn't know the is an art?), it is a little more complicated then that.

The first thing you will need is a well formed, ACCESSIBLE Web site that has been Search Engine Optimized.

Well, how do I optimize my site?

Optimizing a site is a multi-step process that starts at the head of each page. If you right click an open area of your site, you may notice the tag. If not, we have other problems. Inside the Head tag, there are tags and various META tags. The Title, Keywords and Description tags should be logical and relevant to the content of your page. The ROBOTS NETA tag gives specific instructions to the search engines spiders specific instructions about how to crawl (index) your site/page. There are other META tags that provide additional information about the site.

Content, Content, Content

Of course, the most valuable thing your Web site offers your visitors and the search engines is your content. For your visitors, as well as the search engines, is valuable, accessible content. But what does accessible mean? For starters, it means that your visitors should be able to consume your content even if they visually impaired and use a screen reader or accessibility settings on their computer. For example: try going to your Control Panel, selecting Accessibility Options, click Display and select High Contrast. This drastically changes the way Web sites are displayed. So, Web sites must not discriminate against handicapped, which in some industries, this not just "best practices" but the LAW!

This leads us to the next topic, semantic code. According to Wikipedia, semantics is the study of communications. Screen reader cannot tell on their own how you have organized your content on the page. They don't know to skip to different areas of a page or that you have assigned special meanings to a styled element unless clues are provided. Just because a sentence is bold and centered, a screen reader does not know this sentence is a heading. There are appropriate and semantically correct tag for headings,

,

, and so on. Styling can be applied these elements for the visual effect desired. The converse is also true, Heading tags are inappropriate when the same sentence does not apply to a heading. For instance, if you merely want to emphasize a particular sentence. Creating semantic code also has the added benefit of helping search engines understand your content, they don't see the formatting of your page. In fact,your Web site should have equal impact with or without any styling or images at all!

So, if my visitors can't see the Web page, what about all of those great pictures?

This leads us to the next important part, accessibility:

Many visitors still use older computers and Internet browsers on the Internet. They may not be able to navigate Web sites that use fancy new JavaScript features. In fact, many people with newer computers choose to disable JavaScript altogether for security reasons. You will want to ensure your Web sites work equally well without JavaScript enabled.

To find out more about SEO, send us an email, Scott Sawyer Consulting.