Writing for Search Engines

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Counterproductive Strategies

Google, Yahoo, etc. don’t publish how their relevance–ranking algorithms work because of their competition with other search engines and unethical strategies used by some website developers.

One unethical strategy can be the use of keywords that have nothing to do with the website but are frequently used keywords across the Internet. For example: keywords such as sex, popular music or movie stars used as keywords on a site that sells toys.

Some search engine strategies to avoid can be:

• Repeated keywords (using the same keyword 5 or more times on a page)
• Keywords that do not fit the web page or site
• Trademarks owned by other sites
• Colored text that is the same color as the background (this would hide the text and allow for placing keywords that have nothing to do with the web page or site)
• Repeated URL submission to search engines
• Use of search engine optimization (SEO) sites
• Fake pages for search engines (web pages that contain information not related to the site but created to increase keyword indexing)

Website design choices to keep away from or avoid:

• Web pages that load slowly because they have too much content or have images that are not compressed correctly
• Use of frames in the design of the site (this used to be a popular web page design choice, especially with MS Frontpage)
• Pages with the same title
• Pages with the same content but different titles (urls)
• A <meta> refresh tag that keeps reloading the page
• Use of Javascript for all navigation (javascript is used for pop–up menus) If you do then make sure there are ‘hard links’ elsewhere on the page[1]

Writing Style

Users of web sites want web pages to be fast, easy to understand, easy to find navigation points, and easy to skim. As Steve Krug wrote in Don’t Make Me Think, “We don’t read pages. We scan them.”[2] Will they find a lot of text on your web page(s) that is more self–promoting than giving them what they really want? And they are gone, not to return.....

Some guidelines to follow when writing text for a web page:

• Create a concise and descriptive headline telling the visitor what to expect in the text. A sentence fragment of ten words or less.
• It contains keywords indicating action (look at newspaper/magazine headlines)
• Confirms the information in the following text
• Is a lead into the following text/story and doesn’t tell everything
• Clean, simple, and specific to what you want the viewer to take away immediately
• Not boring, such as “Dining at our ....” when it could be “Experience elegant dining at our ....”

The descriptive keywords used in can be put into both the title of the web page and the headline. This makes it more relevant for the search engine’s spider and for when the user bookmarks the web page.

• Continue the most important keywords or descriptions in the sub–heading and then lead. A lead being the first paragraph or two. This repeats what is important and unique about the content of the web page. This up–front value proposition provides confirmation to the viewer that they have reached the “right” website.
• Text on computer monitor is harder to read than on paper, so Use Less Text. Studies show that viewers on the web read less online meaning that online articles need to be more concise and to the point than if written for print.
• Write short sentences in a straightforward manner, avoiding complex sentences. Short blocks of text are easier to read than long blocks making it easier to skim. Always check the text for misspellings and grammar.
• Do not underestimate your viewers with self–promoting hype. Avoid Hype.
• Use bullets and number lists to draw attention to the more important information. This will also make it easier for the viewer to skim the page and find what they are looking for. Use numbered lists if the order of the items is important. Too many bullets can dilute the information being presented.
• Use embedded links to more information about a topic(s) on another page. This would increase the ability to catch the viewers eye when they skim the page. The viewer can choose whether they want more information by clicking on that text link.

Always remember that text should be in a well designed page. That means that there is enough space around the text to make it easier to read. The viewers eye doesn’t run into “design roadblocks.”

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White space and web design:

A short description with linked article on white space (negative space) can be found at:

http://webdesign.about.com/b/2008/08/04/whitespace-is-an-important-design-element.htm

A longer article, with examples, can be found at:

http://www.alistapart.com/articles/whitespace

Some more Do’s an Don’ts from Web Marketing for Small Businesses by Stephanie Diamond

Do’s: put the most important information first, use bulleted lists, use descriptive words for links whenever possible instead of just “click here” clearly state what you solve with your products/services for the viewer, make sure to break up long paragraphs with subheads and keep margins wide.

Don’ts: make your type too small for some to read, use different colors of text on the page, change the typeface more than once or twice on a page, forget to use lots of white space to ease scanning for the viewer, eliminate important information. If you have a lot of information to communicate write it in bite–sized pieces so the reader is not overwhelmed.