Search Engine Optimization or Reader Optimization – which is more important?
Posted on | August 20, 2008 | No Comments
When it comes to optimizing your website which is more important? Optimization for search engine robots? Or optimizing for human readers?
Ideally you want to design websites around both human user optimization and search engine optimization principals. If you are focusing only on SEO web design, or only on user interface design, you’re missing key elements.
Why SEO Web Design Matters
A website’s position in search engine results directly relates to the amount of traffic the website receives. SEO web design is a crucial element in building a successful and profitable website because without designing so that the search engine robots and spiders can read and index your site for what the site is about you get no human readers from the search engines.
Don’t get so excited.
You’re doing it wrong
Ok, maybe not you. Maybe you are already the epitome of SEO Web Design success. But there are a lot of folks out there who are getting excited about the wrong things.
Your website, if it’s been around a while, and hasn’t been blacklisted – is probably already indexed and ranked for something. For some string of words your website will likely come up on the top three pages of results.
Here’s the kicker.
Chances are, if you’re like most website owners, you rank for a phrase that gets no search traffic, or very minimal search traffic. Ranking for a string of words that no person actually would type into the search box doesn’t benefit your business at all. And yet, so many people get excited when they’re #1 for a phrase like “poison grape giraffe” or something equally ludicrous. You may be indexed, my friend, but your website is not SEO’d. Unless you’re actually selling poisonous grape flavored giraffes. 
The other thing you need to watch out for when ranking high in search engine results pages is ranking high for something that has nothing to do with what you do! If you’re selling cleaning services, you want to SEO for “cleaning services” not show up in results pages for “cleaning supplies” – unless you sell cleaning supplies, too.
Sure ranking high for something other than what you’re selling may get you some traffic, if it is a phrase that people actually search for. But it wont get you conversions, or sales.
Stay tuned tomorrow for more free SEO web design tips – continuing with part two of this series. Focusing in on the importance of optimizing for human readership.
Tags: Design Success > Free SEO Web Design Tips > Human Readers > Optimizing Your Website > Profitable Website > Search Engine Optimization > Search Engine Results > Search Engine Robots > Search Engines > Search Robots > Search Traffic > Spiders > String Of Words > User Interface Design > Website Optimization
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