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SEO, The Art

SEO, The Art™ is the creative side of search engine optimization.

SEO on a website used to simply be a game of words, links and other subtle manipulation. The game has progressed and continues to progress to new levels. Therefore, 'SEO, The Art', covers the creative areas of website creation, and some areas of SEO which may not seem to have a direct impact on rankings, but have a direct impact on visitors, sales, and as search progresses, will become increasingly important to have refined.

Included are creativity of content and questions which should be asked prior to deciding to move forward with a website. There is theming and structuring information and there is also information on design and branding, which would not seem to be SEO, but since all three major search engines have filed for patents which are systems to adjusting rankings based in some part on visitor behavior, SEO has, and is continuing to migrate from a words and links based task to a 'website encompassing' solution.

As search progresses being able to use imagination and skill to create a unique, high quality website will become increasingly important and design, salesmanship, branding, usability and many other aspects of websites, which may have previously been overlooked or ignored from an SEO point of view, will become increasingly critical.

It has been understood for quite a period of time websites listed as top results in Yahoo! for highly searched on terms were 'hand seeded'. Google is now using human review for it's results, and has filed for a patent allowing for human influence on it's actual ranking mechanisms.

Previously you could build a website and not be overly concerned with what it looked like, because you knew no one from a search engine would ever see it. Times have changed, and whether 'look and feel' are part of any quality guidelines or not, they influence the perception of all visitors with regard to the quality and authority of the information presented, including those conducting reviews of websites for search engines, which means when a website is hand reviewed, if it does not look and feel 'trust worthy' and 'usable' to a reviewer it is likely to find much more scrutiny.

Design quality, actual usability, and other aspects directly relating to visitor experience, not mathematical equations, are becoming more important. With a 'hand review processes' in place for at least two of the major search engines the 'human use and perception elements' influencing website rankings and SEO will only increase in importance.

It stands to reason (at some point in time), when two websites present 'essentially the same' information, the one which is easiest to use, looks and feels the most 'trustable' will be tough to beat not only in sales, but also in rankings, because ultimately, search engines have to send their visitors to other websites, so the more professional and the higher the quality of the websites they send visitors to, the better search engines appear to be to their visitors. *

*The preceding could be accomplished directly during a 'hand review' process, but will very probably ultimately be accomplished by tracking visitor behavior through a set of results. By tracking visitor behavior, when there is a percertable difference in visitor behavior between two documents with only a slight algorithmically perceived difference in 'ranking' or 'quality' score, it is relatively easy to determine a 'human perception element', such as design or usability is causing 'real visitors' to select one document over another.

Part one of 'SEO, The Art', begins with creative thought from a 'What to Offer' point of view. Part two continues with 'Structure & Theming', and part three concludes with 'Design & Branding'; all of which are becoming increasingly important for SEO.

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SEO, The Art TM 2008 RankingLabs.Com
Please do not duplicate or reproduce this web page without the express written permission of RankingLabs.Com.
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Weblinks to other SEO Resources (including 'What's an SEO' and 'SEO Myths') at the conclusion of this web page.

What to Offer
(Setting Your Website Apart)

It is important to understand: Search engines use heuristics, not algorithms, so they are looking for multiple possible answers, rather than the 'right' answer.

The reason for the important distinction is if you build the same website as others already have, present the same information wrapped in a new template, or do not otherwise 'stand out' to a mathematical equation it is likely you will get missed or find limited success.

For this reason, SEO, The Art begins with questions to find the answer to:

• Who are your competitors?
• What do they offer?
• What information or resources can you offer they do not?
• Can you include more information, create more specific information, or present more resources?
• What can you do to offer something unique to visitors those you will be competing against do not?
• If there were no search engines, what could you offer to set your website apart from the rest and attract visitors?

The answer to the preceding questions is not 'look better' design is part of the Art, but it comes later. The first foundation to solidify when building a new website is finding a way to set your website apart from the rest, to discover information, uncover resources, or offer products others have overlooked.

As the web becomes more crowded finding new or different information continues to increase in difficulty, but as search engines progress these areas will become more critical.

Remember, the visitors search engines send you are their visitors. They have to keep them coming back and searching again to remain viable, so if the visitors search engines send to your website do not exhibit 'your website is the answer' through their behavior it will become increasingly difficult to make your website rank.

The move to 'pattern based' results, and 'visitor specific customization' of those results, means the 'right' answer is not always the 'best' answer. The difference is partially determined by what gets clicked and visited the most. If there are 10 possible answers, and you write the 'perfect dictionary definition' matching exactly what the search terms should mean, but visitors consistently visit the number 10 answer, which is incorrect from a technical point of view, the 'right' answer is not the 'best' answer. The 'best' (and 'right') answer in 'search engine terms' is the one people visit and use the most.

For the above reason, the ability to write a title to contain key phrases, and attract clicks is critical. SEO, The Science points out titles of web pages should be titled as if they were for a book. In SEO, The Art, the fundamental idea should remain the same, but with a degree of creativity. Even if a title is descriptive, short and concise, if it is not interesting, does not 'fill the need', or does not attract attention in a set of results it will not attract clicks, and web pages which do not attract clicks will not remain near the top of the of the search results for long.

Devising a way to set your website apart from the rest, from the foundation up should always be considered.

Structure & Theming
(Don't Out Think the Search Engines)

After deciding on how to set your website apart, planning the structure is crucial.

One key to structuring and theming a site correctly is to not over do it. Do not try to 'out think' the search engines. When you start asking yourself how you can 'do more' or 'go a little farther' to rank a little better you are right on the edge of going to far. Website architecture should be well thought through from the top down, beginning with the URLs (outlined in SEO, The Science), but should not be over done.

The general structure of a website should be based on the selected URLs, with navigation to 'prominent pages', or to the 'introductory pages' of each individual document (section) of a website. Thinking about what you would expect, or would like to see on a website is usually helpful in determining the top-level link structure.

Using an 'Engine' website as an example, if the website presented information on 'search engines', 'combustion engines' and 'steam engines'. It might make sense for the main navigation to include links to the main web page of each individual document (section) of the website, but these links are not actually necessary, and it would probably not make any sense to link to 'deep' or 'lower level' web pages of each document (section) in the main navigation.

If the person viewing the current document regarding 'search engines' really wanted information about 'steam engines' they would be reading the 'steam engine' document instead, because except for the use of the word 'engine' they are unrelated. For this reason, the documents should be kept, linked and treated as unique documents, not 'run together' through interlinking as a single document in an attempt to 'offer more'. If your actual desire is to offer more, include more information on each document (topic, section), and if you are having issues getting a document (web page, section) indexed by search engines, it might be a good idea to add more intralinking (link within the same document) to the document (web pages, section).

When structuring it does make sense for the 'home page' or 'index' to contain brief information about each type of engine and link to two or three 'key' or highlighted pages within each document (section). When 'cross-linking' (linking from one document page to another) keeping 'themes' or 'documents' (sections) together is necessary, which can easily be undone by interlinking (link between different) documents (sections) too often.

One issue often reported with regard to website rankings is the incorrect web page being displayed in the results. For example when a search engine visitor conducts a search for 'Steam Engine' and receives a 'Search Engine' web page even though the website contains a document (section) on 'Steam Engines', and the web page returned in the results only contains a single reference to the 'Steam Engine' document.

The first place to look in an attempt to resolve the 'result error' is at the interlinking of the documents within the website. It is very likely when cross-linking a number of the 'Steam Engine' web pages were interlinked to the 'Search Engine' document in an attempt to 'pass weight' to the 'Search Engine' section of the website, and has caused search engines to interpret the two unrelated documents as a single document, which causes them to send visitors to what should be considered the most important (or 'start') page of the document, especially if the search is general.

The problem is not caused by search engines, but rather by webmasters and SEOs alike attempting to 'out think' the algorithms and 'over interlinking' distinct documents (sections) in an attempt to increase the 'weight' or 'perceived importance' of one document over another on a single website. (There are ways to accomplish the desired result of passing weight, without having the undesired effect, but they usually do not consist of interlinking without specific parameters in place.)

Keep documents and topics separate, except for possibly main navigation to the 'start page' of each document (section), so visitors can find individual documents easily, but do not overly interlink individual documents especially if your they are not actually closely related. The further apart documents are in topicality, the less interlinking is recommended, both for visitors and search engines alike.

Design & Branding
(After You Get the Click, It's Your Job to Keep It)

Controlling visitor behavior and exhibiting 'usefulness' or 'expertise' through design is becoming an increasingly critical aspect of SEO… After your title attracts a visitor from a search engine, it's your job to keep them.

The first thing a visitor will see is what the search engines do not: the design.

When designing a website there are some important points to think about:

• What sets your design apart or makes it unique?
• Does it load fast enough for people to see it before they decide to click back?
• What order do your graphics load in? Is your website designed so the bottom of the page visitors cannot see loads first, or do you give people something to look at even if there is hesitation while graphics load?
• Do you present the answer to the question or 'fill the need' at the top of the page, or do visitors have to scroll or look to find what they were searching for?
• What type of people visit your website (demographic)?
  • If they are mainly men, is the design 'strong'?
  • if they are mainly artist, is it 'highly creative'?
  • If they are mainly women, is it 'soft, warm, inviting'?
  • If they are mainly elderly, is it 'quite and toned down'?
  • If they are mainly young, is it 'flashy with lots of action'?
  • If they are generally well educated, is it 'intellectual'?
• Can you add to, or use a combination of the above with other factors to make your website more diversely appealing?
• What do your competitors websites look like?
  • What images, and type(s) of images do they use?
  • What fonts do they use?
  • What colors do they use?
  • What is their overall message?
  • What can you do better?
  • What type of visitor do they target and market to?

One of the most important things to remember when finalizing a design is your visitors are not you. Not everyone has the same tastes, likes or dislikes, so your design needs to 'be inclusive' for your target audience, rather than fitting your personal tastes.

Some people think 'great design' is about what they like, the 'loudest action statements', or the 'best tag lines', but these are not always the winners, and the right answer really depends on your specific situation. On some websites action statements are the answer, on others, it is more important to instill trust, and on some, expertise should be displayed.

The difference is in the visitor base, the product, the competing products and fundamental philosophy. Knowing the type of person you are targeting is the key to deciding which type of design to incorporate, because design, look and feel ultimately influence your 'sales pitch' and the overall effectiveness of your website.

If your product is a higher price than competitors, it is better to 'create a need' only your product or service can fill, or 'sell' the quality and trust you offer, than it is to try to generate an immediate action or 'flash a price', because your customers are not 'price' buyers they are 'quality' buyers. If they buy based on price, you have already lost.

The same philosophy works in reverse. If you have the lowest price, show it to your visitors first and let them know how 'cheap & easy' it is to buy from you. If you sell products readily available encourage immediate action and motivate visitors to complete a transaction as quickly as possible. There is not a 'set answer' because the answer is dependent on your customers, products and relative price point.

To use RankingLabs.Com as an example, there are not many 'action statements', because it is not a 'discount retailer' selling SEO services based on 'hype and exaggerations', or cleverly worded 'guarantees'. The RankingLabs.Com website is designed to exhibit expertise by providing information for visitors, so they understand when they contract with RankingLabs.Com they will receive high quality work with long term results, rather being duped by 'guaranteed number one rankings for as low as $499.95 per month', only to find out later the 'number one guarantee' applies to a six word phrase no one ever searches for, does not generate any sales leads, and they could rank number one for the phrase simply by including a well written web page about the subject on their website.

If RankingLabs.Com sold 'spam services', or was a 'volume based' business there would be 'buy now buttons' and 'click here for your limited time discount offer' links every other paragraph complete with redundant 'feature / benefit lists' and solidified by scrolls of 'testimonials', but those are not the correct tactics, because RankingLabs.Com is dedicated to quality over quantity, knowing those who would like high quality, effective SEO will click the 'web contact' link or find the SEO Services web page.

Each model is effective in the correct situation, and deciding on your's prior to building a website is important, because it will have a direct impact on design choice, visitor behavior, the types of leads generated, sales, and to an increasing extent on search engine rankings. If your visitors immediately click back to search again, search engines will determine you do not have the best answer for them to display, and you will begin to drop in the rankings.

Read SEO, The Science™ on RankingLabs.Com, where the 'technical side' of SEO is outlined.

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