Web Designers and Search Engines

No matter how good your web design is, it is useless if no one can find it on the Web. We present a special series of articles to help web designers optimize websites for search engines. This is the first article in this series.

Sitemaps are Excellent Fodder for Search Engines
(thanks to webmama.com for this article)

In mid-August I spoke at the Search Engine Strategies conference in San Francisco (http://seminars.internet.com/sew/sf01/index.html). I was lucky enough to be a panelist on the Site Review and Page Design panels and got to fill in for respected link-popularity expert Eric Ward (http://www.ericward.com) in the Linking Session. True to form, I was trying to give away as much practical information as the audience could take, on how to optimize your website for better positioning in search engine results. I made particular mention of the value of sitemaps to improve your results. The suggestion was so well received that I felt I should share the key points with my WebMama Journal's readers.

To use these tips you need to build your sitemap with an optimal mix of content, optimized source code and technology. Sitemaps are pages that summarize the content of your site, usually in a list of categories much like a traditional table of contents, but hyper-linked. Search engine spiders follow links through your website looking for pages to index in their database. If your sitemap is designed and programmed using WebMama's SEO tactics, and then submitted to the search engines (I suggest paying to submit to altavista and inktomi) you will find it well represented in search engine results and, hopefully, pages deeper within your site spidered and indexed.

Here is your checklist of SEO reminders to review before you submit your sitemap URL to the search engines.

  • include links to all the important content pages on your site that are not password controlled;

  • make sure some message or content about your company or service is included on the page since this page may be the first page visitors see of your site;

  • use text rather than image for links and for the message;

  • ensure the message or content and links contains all of your important keyphrases;

  • check that the sitemap resides at the root level of your website file structure;

  • put your standard brand and navigation bars on the page.

TIPS AND TRICKS:

Building an email database with opt-in mailings...

Search Engines and site maps...

Speak your clients language...

How to sell a web design...

A great free web statistic service...

For a Free No Obligation Consultation on your best web design ever... Click here...

Contact Information:

Telephone:
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(585) 3887290  
ask for Scott Gallmeyer
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Scott Gallmeyer
ESG Associates Corp.   18 Bramblewood Lane   Penfield, NY  14526
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