Search engine giants like Google, Yahoo and MSN account for more than 70-80% of your web site traffic. Some minor search engines like Ask Jeeves, Teoma, Hotbot, Altavista and others account for the rest 20-30% of your web site traffic.
Hence, your web site and web pages needs to be optimised as per guidelines set by the search engines.
All search engines uses different methods for indexing and searching your pages, hence to optimise differently for all of them forms to be a great challenge.
The search engines change their algorithm frequently, hence to accommodate your site to suit these changes also presents a great challenge.
Webdesignstrategy.com researching and working with search engines and optimisation issues has found that optimising web pages for different search engines is not perhaps the best method for optimisation.
We hence suggest and work on an user centric optimisation approach instead of search engine specific optimisation. Users rule the market and whatever is good for the user is bound to be good for the search engines. Search engines too thrive on the users.
So web sites and pages are optimised with the common guidelines of keywords, titles, meta tags, navigation which help your site for all search engines. Rest of the optimisation for your site is done based on users and usability guidelines.
General Search Engine Optimisation
General optimisation makes your web site and pages optimised for the search engines. The standards and conventions for general search engine optimisation includes keyword rich sensible title tags, use of meta description and keywords tags, use of search engine freindly urls for your site, use of header tags for page headings and subheadings, sitemap of your site, proper navigation, use of title tags for links, developing keyword rich pages and web content management.
Usability and User Centric Search Engine Optimisation
Your web site content should target the explicit needs and benefits of your target or niche market. Speak directly to them.
Web users are used to standard web elements and conventions followed on the web sites and expect the same at your web site. Absence of such standard elements in your web site and pages can confuse users and turn them away. For them these standards are how things work and they expect the same to be the case for all sites.
The Need for Web Design Standards by Jacob Nielsen
"Users expect 77% of the simpler Web design elements to behave in a certain way. Unfortunately, confusion reigns for many higher-level design issues."
Top Ten Web Design Mistakes of 2003 by Jacob Nielsen
"Sites are getting better at using minimalist design, maintaining archives, and offering comprehensive services. However, these advances entail their own usability problems, as several prominent mistakes from 2003 show."
Ten Good Deeds in Web Design by Jacob Nielsen
"When analyzing Web design, it is easy to identify a large number of mistakes that reduce usability."
The simple rule is conform to the web design standards and conventions of the users, the more effective and better your site becomes. The difference should be in your services, content and products.
Remember if the your site is better for the user, it is best for the search engines too. With this you can do away with complying with the ever changing search engine scenario.
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