Designing for your least able user Michael Smethurst Information Architect BBC Audio and Music

The first rule of SEO

Never believe anyone who claims to know anything about SEO

Google is like Coca Cola

Only 2 people know how it's made...

...and they're not telling

Having said that…

Some things we know make no difference to your PageRank

Meta description element Meta keywords element (hidden data is too easy to spam)

Meta description element Meta keywords element (hidden data is too easy to spam)

Meta description element Meta keywords element (hidden data is too easy to spam)

Some caveats

If your local site search is a little behind the Google curve it may still use meta elements to index content Google doesn't index the description element BUT sometimes search engines do use this (along with the page title element) in the search results displayed to users. You still need to write good titles and descriptions

If your local site search is a little behind the Google curve it may still use meta elements to index content Google doesn't index the description element BUT sometimes search engines do use this (along with the page title element) in the search results displayed to users. You still need to write good titles and descriptions

One thing we know makes little difference

Keywords in URIs

Adding keywords to URIs is a common SEO recommendation Google say it makes no difference to their indexing It MAY have an effect on Yahoo but no-one seems sure We’ll come back to this!

Adding keywords to URIs is a common SEO recommendation Google say it makes no difference to their indexing It MAY have an effect on Yahoo but no-one seems sure We’ll come back to this!

Adding keywords to URIs is a common SEO recommendation Google say it makes no difference to their indexing It MAY have an effect on Yahoo but no-one seems sure We’ll come back to this!

Adding keywords to URIs is a common SEO recommendation Google say it makes no difference to their indexing It MAY have an effect on Yahoo but no-one seems sure We’ll come back to this!

Some things that do make a difference

Well structured semantic (x)HTML - h1s, h2s etc Search sitemaps

Well structured semantic (x)HTML - h1s, h2s etc Search sitemaps

One thing that makes lots of difference

Write in plain English Use words your users are likely to use and search for

Write in plain English Use words your users are likely to use and search for

But…

Don’t repeat yourself unnecessarily Write for people not for search bots If you saturate your content with repeated keywords it will be unpleasant to read and less useful If it’s less useful people won’t link to it…

Don’t repeat yourself unnecessarily Write for people not for search bots If you saturate your content with repeated keywords it will be unpleasant to read and less useful If it’s less useful people won’t link to it…

Don’t repeat yourself unnecessarily Write for people not for search bots If you saturate your content with repeated keywords it will be unpleasant to read and less useful If it’s less useful people won’t link to it…

Don’t repeat yourself unnecessarily Write for people not for search bots If you saturate your content with repeated keywords it will be unpleasant to read and less useful If it’s less useful people won’t link to it…

… and one thing that makes all the difference is…

links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links links

The more your page is linked to the higher your PageRank The higher the PageRank of pages that link to your page the higher your Page Rank

The more your page is linked to the higher your PageRank The higher the PageRank of pages that link to your page the higher your PageRank

In addition to the density of links the titles of those links are all important Don’t do this: To find out more about {important key word} click <a href=“..”>here</a> Do this: Find out more about <a href=“..”>{important key word}</a>

In addition to the density of links the titles of those links are all important Don’t do this: To find out more about {important key word} click <a href=“..”>here</a> Do this: Find out more about <a href=“..”>{important key word}</a>

In addition to the density of links the titles of those links are all important Don’t do this: To find out more about {important key word} click <a href=“..”>here</a> Do this: Find out more about <a href=“..”>{important key word}</a>

The importance of link titles is what leads to link spam (see ‘miserable failure’)

Remember!

You can’t make people link to you How well your site fares in search engines is at the discretion of the web The only things you can do are build links from aggregations and help to encourage linking

You can’t make people link to you How well your site fares in search engines is at the discretion of the web The only things you can do are build links from aggregations and help to encourage linking

You can’t make people link to you How well your site fares in search engines is at the discretion of the web The only things you can do are build links from aggregations and help to encourage linking

How to encourage linking

Make good content!!! Stuff that people want to pass on to friends, cite and bookmark Spend time getting your URI schema right Make every nugget of content addressable

Make good content!!! Stuff that people want to pass on to friends, cite and bookmark Spend time getting your URI schema right Make every nugget of content addressable

Make good content!!! Stuff that people want to pass on to friends, cite and bookmark Spend time getting your URI schema right Make every nugget of content addressable

Share the love

Links make the web a better place Don’t be a link sink If you like something link to it And go easy on the rel nofollows

Links make the web a better place Don’t be a link sink If you like something link to it And go easy on the rel nofollows

Links make the web a better place Don’t be a link sink If you like something link to it And go easy on the rel nofollows

Links make the web a better place Don’t be a link sink If you like something link to it And go easy on the rel nofollows

Three rules for URI design

URIs should be: Human readable Hackable Persistent And the greatest of these is persistent

URIs should be: Human readable Hackable Persistent And the greatest of these is persistent

URIs should be: Human readable Hackable Persistent And the greatest of these is persistent

URIs should be: Human readable Hackable Persistent And the greatest of these is persistent

URIs should be: Human readable Hackable Persistent And the greatest of these is persistent

Before adding keywords to URIs think what happens when those keywords change - can you generate appropriate redirects? Don’t sacrifice persistence for the sake of readability / hackability Cool URIs don't change

Before adding keywords to URIs think what happens when those keywords change - can you generate appropriate redirects? Don’t sacrifice persistence for the sake of readability / hackability Cool URIs don't change

Before adding keywords to URIs think what happens when those keywords change - can you generate appropriate redirects? Don’t sacrifice persistence for the sake of readability / hackability Cool URIs don't change

Cool URIs

One URI per concept; one concept per URI Avoid semantic drift (this year’s Glastonbury was not last year’s Glastonbury) Minimise redirects - Google will only pass PageRank for one 301 Don't expose your technology stack (.shtml, /cgi-bin/, .php, /struts/, .jsp) Return an appropriate representation (one URI for desktop + mobile + API with conneg)

One URI per concept; one concept per URI Avoid semantic drift (this year’s Glastonbury was not last year’s Glastonbury) Minimise redirects - Google will only pass PageRank for one 301 Don't expose your technology stack (.shtml, /cgi-bin/, .php, /struts/, .jsp) Return an appropriate representation (one URI for desktop + mobile + API with conneg)

One URI per concept; one concept per URI Avoid semantic drift (this year’s Glastonbury was not last year’s Glastonbury) Minimise redirects - Google will only pass PageRank for one 301 Don't expose your technology stack (.shtml, /cgi-bin/, .php, /struts/, .jsp) Return an appropriate representation (one URI for desktop + mobile + API with conneg)

One URI per concept; one concept per URI Avoid semantic drift (this year’s Glastonbury was not last year’s Glastonbury) Minimise redirects - Google will only pass PageRank for one 301 Don't expose your technology stack (.shtml, /cgi-bin/, .php, /struts/, .jsp) Return an appropriate representation (one URI for desktop + mobile + API with conneg)

One URI per concept; one concept per URI Avoid semantic drift (this year’s Glastonbury was not last year’s Glastonbury) Minimise redirects - Google will only pass PageRank for one 301 Don't expose your technology stack (.shtml, /cgi-bin/, .php, /struts/, .jsp) Return an appropriate representation (one URI for desktop + mobile + API with conneg)

Finally

Google are cleverer than we are - you can't cheat em Google are only trying to reward good behaviour - play nicely Remember your pages are for humans first and search bots second. Don't wreck your UX by chasing the SEO money

Google are cleverer than we are - you can't cheat em Google are only trying to reward good behaviour - play nicely Remember your pages are for humans first and search bots second. Don't wreck your UX by chasing the SEO money

Google are cleverer than we are - you can't cheat em Google are only trying to reward good behaviour - play nicely Remember your pages are for humans first and search bots second. Don't wreck your UX by chasing the SEO money http://www.meangene.com/google/design_for_google.html

Think of search bots as your least able users If you stick to the common rules for accessibility, you won't go far wrong Don’t rely on Flash for navigation Degrade any JavaScript / AJAX gracefully If you must use forms provide other browsable / crawlable routes to content

Think of search bots as your least able users If you stick to the common rules for accessibility, you won't go far wrong Don’t rely on Flash for navigation Degrade any JavaScript / AJAX gracefully If you must use forms provide other browsable / crawlable routes to content

Think of search bots as your least able users If you stick to the common rules for accessibility, you won't go far wrong Don’t rely on Flash for navigation Degrade any JavaScript / AJAX gracefully If you must use forms provide other browsable / crawlable routes to content

Think of search bots as your least able users If you stick to the common rules for accessibility, you won't go far wrong Don’t rely on Flash for navigation Degrade any JavaScript / AJAX gracefully If you must use forms provide other browsable / crawlable routes to content

Think of search bots as your least able users If you stick to the common rules for accessibility, you won't go far wrong Don’t rely on Flash for navigation Degrade any JavaScript / AJAX gracefully If you must use forms provide other browsable / crawlable routes to content

Absolutely finally

Magazines are made of pages, websites are made of links...