SEO Web Development Best Practices

<h1>SEO Web Development Best Practices</h1><strong>Author: <a title="Harvey McEwan" href="http://www.articlesbase.com/authors/harvey-mcewan/93356.htm">Harvey McEwan</a></strong><br /><p>As a search engine optimisation specialist, you are more often than not tasked with improving the rankings of an existing website - essentially working with what you have been given. But implementing SEO web development from the very beginning of a site build will ensure it launches with many of the necessary elements in place.</p> <p>It is your chance to have some influence from the ground up, and help fully integrate SEO web development best practices - but this doesn't have to mean sacrificing a nice design. Web developers and SEO consultants can work together to deliver a website that fires on all cylinders.</p> <h2>Guidelines For Effective SEO Web Development</h2> <p>Essentially, good SEO web development involves carefully considering the information architecture and the overall design, to assist the build of a site that looks good, but is easily found by the search engines. The best practice rules of good <a href="http://queryclick.com/">search engine optimisation</a> do change, but the following few guidelines are a good place to start.</p> <p>Create clean, valid code - search engines appear to prefer code that is simpler and more semantically defined and in accordance with W3C standards.</p> <p>Avoid duplicating content - you should not have duplicate content on multiple domains, or within the same website. If you have different versions of a URL to incorporate different global markets, they should re-direct to a main domain.</p> <p>Avoid splash pages like the plague - yes they look great (sometimes) but they effectively block search engine spiders and are not good SEO practice. If a web developer or client is keen to put one in place, you should strongly recommend they don't and that they exercise their creative muscles elsewhere on the site.</p> <p>Don't be lazy about alt tags for images - if images are described well, it tells the search engine more about the content of the website and all images should have alt tags, including logos. It's also accessibility best practice, as it's not great if site readers can only state 'image 1' 'image 2' and so on.</p> <p>Header tags are a vital part of <a href="http://uk.queryclick.com/seo-web-development/">SEO web development</a>, and should be used appropriately on each page of the site - the most important keywords should be used in a 'h1' tag. However, the titles should not be stuffed with keywords as this is considered bad practice - they should be clear, well written and precise.</p> <h3>Building A Search Engine Friendly Site</h3> <p>The importance of building a search engine friendly site is clear, as many web users fail to look past even the first page of results - we live in an impatient world. An SEO professional can 'fix' a site that isn't achieving great rankings in the search engines, but a far better option is to get involved at the grass roots level of a development and really have an influence.</p><strong>About the Author:</strong><br /><p>Harvey is passionate about getting you the best <a href="http://queryclick.com">search enginge optimisation</a> advice possible.</p><p>Article Source: <a href="http://www.articlesbase.com/">ArticlesBase.com</a> - <a href="http://www.articlesbase.com/seo-articles/seo-web-development-best-practices-1065571.html" title="SEO Web Development Best Practices">SEO Web Development Best Practices</a></p>

As a search engine optimisation specialist, you are more often than not tasked with improving the rankings of an existing website - essentially working with what you have been given. But implementing SEO web development from the very beginning of a site build will ensure it launches with many of the necessary elements in place.

It is your chance to have some influence from the ground up, and help fully integrate SEO web development best practices - but this doesn't have to mean sacrificing a nice design. Web developers and SEO consultants can work together to deliver a website that fires on all cylinders.

Guidelines For Effective SEO Web Development

Essentially, good SEO web development involves carefully considering the information architecture and the overall design, to assist the build of a site that looks good, but is easily found by the search engines. The best practice rules of good search engine optimisation do change, but the following few guidelines are a good place to start.

Create clean, valid code - search engines appear to prefer code that is simpler and more semantically defined and in accordance with W3C standards.

Avoid duplicating content - you should not have duplicate content on multiple domains, or within the same website. If you have different versions of a URL to incorporate different global markets, they should re-direct to a main domain.

Avoid splash pages like the plague - yes they look great (sometimes) but they effectively block search engine spiders and are not good SEO practice. If a web developer or client is keen to put one in place, you should strongly recommend they don't and that they exercise their creative muscles elsewhere on the site.

Don't be lazy about alt tags for images - if images are described well, it tells the search engine more about the content of the website and all images should have alt tags, including logos. It's also accessibility best practice, as it's not great if site readers can only state 'image 1' 'image 2' and so on.

Header tags are a vital part of SEO web development, and should be used appropriately on each page of the site - the most important keywords should be used in a 'h1' tag. However, the titles should not be stuffed with keywords as this is considered bad practice - they should be clear, well written and precise.

Building A Search Engine Friendly Site

The importance of building a search engine friendly site is clear, as many web users fail to look past even the first page of results - we live in an impatient world. An SEO professional can 'fix' a site that isn't achieving great rankings in the search engines, but a far better option is to get involved at the grass roots level of a development and really have an influence.

Harvey is passionate about getting you the best search enginge optimisation advice possible.

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