Search Engine Optimization - An Overview for Design/Layout

1. Design the pages of site using straightforward HTML. If you decide to use frames, make sure you understand the consequences of this when you come to submit your site to search engines. When search engines index page, they have a very different view of site than any of the visitors will have.
2. Test your site with different browsers [IE 6.0 and higher, FF 1.0 and higher, Safari, Lynx] and at different resolutions [1024x786, 1280x600, 1280x720, 1260 x 800] to ensure compatibility.
   - Lynx is a Text Only browser. Use Lynx to examine the website, because most search engine spiders see your site much as Lynx would. If features such as JavaScript, cookies, session IDs, frames, DHTML, or Flash keep you from seeing all of site in a text browser, then search engine spiders may have trouble crawling the site.
   
3. Make a site with a clear hierarchy and text links. Every page should be reachable from at least one static text link.
4. Offer a site map to users with links that point to the important parts of your site. If the site map is larger than 100 or so links, break the site map into separate pages.
5. Create a useful, information-rich site, and write pages that clearly and accurately describe content.
6. Think about the words users would type to find pages, and make sure that site actually includes those words within it.
7. Don't go overboard with graphics - use them sparingly and optimize them to reduce user download times.
8. Try to use text instead of images to display important names, content, or links. The crawler doesn't recognize text contained in images.
9. Make sure that TITLE tags and ALT attributes are descriptive and accurate.
10. Check for broken links and correct HTML.
11. If you decide to use dynamic pages (i.e., the URL contains a "?" character), be aware that not every search engine spider crawls dynamic pages as well as static pages. It helps to keep the parameters short and the number of them few.
12. URL Rewriting — Make your URLs change from dynamic ones (e.g. www.your-website.com/index.php?p=courses) to static-looking ones (e.g., www.your-website.com/courses/). This is important for search engines, not only because static URLs are better than dynamic URLs, but because when someone links to your site with the URL as the link text those keywords are counted as link text.
13. Keep the links on a given page to a reasonable number (fewer than 100).
14. Keep the text that needs to be indexed outside of images. For example, if you want your company name or address to be indexed, make sure it is displayed on your page outside of a company logo.
15. Don't host site in a separate country from core target market.
    

Things to Avoid

• Overuse or repetition of keywords
• Use of keywords that do not relate to the content of the site
• Use of fast meta refresh
• Use of colored text on same-color background
• Duplication of pages with different URLs
• Use of different pages that bridge to the same URL
• Irrelevant words in an attempt to increase a page's keyword density. This includes stuffing ALT tags that users are unlikely to view.
• Using hidden text or links in the pages. You should use only text and links that are visible to users.