Search Engines as Leeches on the Web

Search engines extract too much of the Web's value, leaving too little for the websites that actually create the content. Liberation from search dependency is a strategic imperative for both websites and software vendors.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2006). Articles>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

SEO and the Zen Factor

When practiced at the level of those of us who've been in the game for 5-10 years, SEO is in fact very Zen-like. We can look at a website and know exactly what needs to be done to make it the best it can be for the site visitors and the search engines. Often, it's easiest for us when we can just roll up our sleeves and do what we know needs to be done, rather than try to explain the whys and wherefores. Many times it's not even possible to explain exactly why we are doing a specific thing, because it simply comes from the gut.

Whalen, Jill. High Rankings Advisor (2005). Articles>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

SEO for Dummies (well, and Web Developers)

Sometime Search Engine Optimization (SEO) seems to have morphed into a mystical creature. Most people, even those who design and develop websites for a living, know they need it, but don’t know exactly what it is. They have been feed so much rheteric and sales speaches that they seem to have given up on SEO long ago.

Robbins, Kyle. ReEncoded (2008). Articles>Web Design>Search Engine Optimization

SEO Outbound Link Relevance

Outbound links' anchor text affects a page's search engine ranking in much the same way that inbound links' anchor text affects search engine ranking.

Walsh, Joel. stevenforsyth.com (2006). Articles>Web Design>Information Design>Search Engine Optimization

Six Powerful Ways to Find Link Targets

Building up links into your website is one of the most effective ways of achiveing a high search engine ranking - find out how to find the best websites from which to request links

McGaffin, Ken. Webcredible (2005). Design>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Social Media Marketing: A Guide

Marketing to social media websites such as Digg and del.icio.us has become an integral part of any SEO campiagn - find out what you need to do.

Eaves, David. Webcredible (2008). Design>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Strategies for Improving Enterprise Search

Acquiring and installing a search engine is just the beginning of creating an effective enterprise search system. John Ferrara walks us through strategies for addressing critical aspects of the user experience often overlooked or ignored.

Ferrara, John. Boxes and Arrows (2007). Articles>Web Design>Information Design>Search Engine Optimization

Submitting Your Site to the Open Directory

Getting your site an optimum listing in the Open Directory (DMOZ) is vitally important as far as search engine positioning is concerned as Google gives a lot of importance to sites being listed in the Open Directory.

Roy, Sumantra. 1stSearchRanking (2003). Design>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Ten Steps To Higher Search Engine Positioning

This article outlines ten steps to help you get better search engine positioning.

Davies, Dave. evolt (2005). Design>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Ten Tips to the Top of the Search Engines

Having a website that gets found in Google, Yahoo, and MSN, etc. isn't hard to do, but it can be difficult to know where to begin. Here are my latest and greatest tips to get you started.

Whalen, Jill. High Rankings Advisor (2005). Design>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Top of the Top of the Top of Search Results

Virtually every search engine and directory is now associated with some kind of paid solution, and it is tempting to see them as an easy way to get top ranking for your web site.

McAlpine, Rachel. Quality Web Content (2004). Articles>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

The Ultimate Guide to Directory Submissions

Submitting your website to directories is a great way to increase your search engine rankings - get the full lowdown on how to do this.

Eaves, David. Webcredible (2008). Design>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Usability ved Søgemaskine Optimering

Normalt ses søgemaskine optimering eller position boosting som et marketing redskab, hvis formål er at skabe så megen trafik på websites som muligt, men der er andre overvejelser at gøre sig når der søgemaskine optimeres. Handlingsorienteret usability handler også om søgemaskine optimering, blot indirekte.

Quark, The (2002). (Danish) Design>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Use PHP to Build a Search Engine Optimization Application

PHP, a dynamic Web-based programming language, takes a variety of input formats and uses a built-in SOAP client to obtain information from the Web. PHP, combined with applications using search engine optimization (SEO), is a powerful tool for obtaining information from major search engines, allowing this information to guide a webmaster's online marketing and SEO strategies.

Anderson, Tyler. IBM (2006). Articles>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Users Can Bask in the Benefits of Google Analytics

Google has earned its giant position in search engine marketplace through real innovative solutions, and of course, strategic moves all aimed at users ultimate convenience. It has been almost customary for Google to bring in some exciting features initially for a price then slashing the rate drastically to making it FREE for all. This sort of repeated move could be seen as first serving the target market with its innovative solutions, and later making it free to give many a business in similar or remotely similar categories a run for their money. Critics claims have to stand the test of contemporary business realities.

Azam, Rahbre. Amateur Writerz (2008). Articles>Web Design>Server Side Includes>Search Engine Optimization

Using XHTML/CSS for an Effective SEO Campaign

Improve your search engine ranking by harnessing the benefits of well-authored XHTML and using CSS to boost your code-to-content ratio.

Olejniczak, Brandon. List Apart, A (2003). Articles>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Website Content: Getting It Right for Search Engines

The content on your website is key for your search engine ranking - find out why this is.

James, Nick. Webcredible (2008). Design>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

What Search Engines Need to See to Rank Your Site Well (Part 1)

A substantial number of people use search engines to find goods and services that interest them. Incredibly, though, many web designers don't pay much attention to designing sites to rank well in searches. This means that in order to protect your investment in your website, you need to know what has to be done to get good rankings, and how to make sure that your designer has done it.

Bennaco (2004). Articles>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

What Search Engines Need to See to Rank Your Site Well (Part 2)

A substantial number of people use search engines to find goods and services that interest them. This second half of a two-part article explains how to make sure that your web designer has set up your site so search engines will like what they see and rank you high.

Bennaco (2004). Articles>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

What to Consider When Using a Service or a Contractor to Register and Optimize Your Web Site with the Search Engines

According to Forrester Research, almost 80% of all searches conducted online are done with search engines. Marketing your Web site through the various search engines is still considered to be the most effective way to drive traffic to your Web site. But how will potential visitors find you?

Berg, Debbie. WebDeb (2001). Design>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Which Keywords Should You Optimize Your Site For?

In this article, we focus on the correct way of finding out the keywords for which you should optimize your site for the search engines. This article will give you the formula for the Keyword Effectiveness Index (KEI) - a mathematical formula which I have developed to help you determine which keywords you should be optimizing your site for.

Roy, Sumantra. 1stSearchRanking (2002). Design>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Why SEO Matters

A developer friend of mine, before he knew I worked for an SEO firm, told me he thought of SEO as 'snake oil,' not an uncommon view among many Web professionals.

Wilkie, David. Search-This (2004). Articles>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

The Write to Link Popularity

Writing articles is one of the best way to improve the link popularity of your website - find out why.

Dixon, Nicholas. Webcredible (2005). Design>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Semantic HTML and Search Engine Optimization

So what is POSH? No, it's not just some new clothing fashion hype amongst web designers - POSH is the acronym for Plain Old Semantic HTML. The term Semantic HTML is used for a variety of things, but it has it's origin in one objective: creating (X)HTML documents using semantic elements and attributes, as opposed to using presentational HTML.

De Valk, Joost. Opera (2008). Articles>Web Design>Standards>Search Engine Optimization

Intelligent Site Structure for Better SEO!

Search engines are one of the most important traffic drivers to sites these days, which is why Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is becoming more and more important. SEO is often thought to be just a set of some technical tricks, and as a professional SEO, I confess to spending a lot of time with clients fixing technical issues. A site's structure though, is just as important. Your site's structure determines whether a search engine understands what your site is about, and how easily it will find and index content relevant to your site's purpose and intent. By creating a good structure, you can use the content you've written that has attracted links from others, and use your site's structure to spread some of that "linkjuice" to the other pages on your site.

De Valk, Joost. Opera (2008). Articles>Web Design>Information Design>Search Engine Optimization