Search Engine Promotion
& Website Navigation
When it comes to search engine optimization and promotion, clear web site navigation is important for both your target audience and the search engines.
Search Engine Promotion, Website Navigation & Your Target Audience
Have you ever become lost in a web site? You can’t find the home page or there is no logical hierarchy as to where the other pages could be within that site. Many people become frustrated and leave the site immediately to look for one that is easier to get around. It’s a shame because that poorly constructed web site might have held some valuable information.
People have different levels of comfort when it comes to the computer. Some are technically savvy, and some have a repetitive set of tasks that they perform and don’t like to venture away from, like checking their email and doing a little browsing on the internet. Your target market can comprise these two types of computer users and everyone in between.
Now think of your web site as a store. Your web site is a visual representation of your business. How are you going to present yourself? Neat and organized, or sloppy and in disarray? If your business is open to the public in a physical location, such as a store, is it easy for the customer to find what he or she is looking for? Are your items categorized into sections that make sense to your customers? Are your aisles open and neat? Is your store clean? Or is it dirty with burnt out light bulbs and dust on the shelves.
What type of experience is your customer going to have when they enter your business? Will they want to return?
Once you have identified your target audience and the appropriate keyword search phrases to describe what they are looking for in your web site, good navigation is the next step in optimizing your site for increased traffic.
If your target audience can’t find what they are looking for because it isn’t properly categorized and marked, then you have lost traffic, and possibly a sale.
Using the Pet Bakery keyword research example, once you have determined that your target audience is comprised of dog owners who are interested in the health and well being of their pets and would like to bake some of their own treats, you have a place to start when it comes to categorizing your web site. For example, your site can have a section that sells bakery items, a health resource section and a recipe section. Each of these categories can be further subdivided.
No matter where you are in a website, it should be obvious how to get from one section to the other, as well as back to the home page.
Site Navigation and Search Engines
A website that has navigation that is simple and obvious enables the search engines to find their way around and optimize that site for promotion.
When a search engine spider or robot crawls through your site, like your target audience, it needs to be able to easily locate all of the links that point to the various pages.
Like most people, the search engines start at the home page taking in all of the content that is on that page; keyword phrases, text, links, etc., They use the home page as an entry point to crawl through the rest of your website. When they come to an html link tag, they are alerted that there is another page to crawl through. Once the search engine has identified that there is a link to another page, if it is a text or graphic link or image map, its directions are clearly mapped.
It is a good idea to have links to your other pages clearly marked on your home page. However, sometimes, when a site is extensive, and there are many subsections that might be to numerous to list on the home page, a site map is the solution.
A site map is like an index of a book. It is a web page that lists all of the links to all of the pages of the web site. Site maps make it very easy for a robot or spider to crawl through and index a web site, so that no page is missed by the search engines.
Putting it all Together: Links, Keyword Phrases & Promotion
Search engine optimization and promotion is about using your chosen keyword search phrases throughout your website, in your navigation links, tags and content. The purpose is to show your target audience and the search engines that your web site is relevant to the topic you are describing with these keywords.
Maximizing Links for Promotion through the Search Engines
Links play another role in web site optimization. In addition to providing a pointer to the various pages on your web site, they are one of the ways in which you can emphasize your keywords and lend relevancy to the content of your website.
For example, you have a page on your site that focuses on the nutritional content of your dog treats. "Nutritious dog treats" is a keyword search phrase that you could use on this page. When you link to this page from another place in your web site, instead of putting a non descriptive message, such as click here, a phrase like, nutritious dog treats is more effective in optimizing your site.
Links that Impede Search Engine Optimization & Promotion
There are some types of links that can confuse the search engine robots and spiders. These are javascripts, Flash pages, iFrames, Frames, and dynamic web pages used in creating the web design for your site. It’s not that you can’t use these links, but to be aware that sometimes a work around or alternate web site programming strategy is required.
