SEO

SEO is a common phrase being tossed about these days but what does it mean?

Search Engine Optimization basically is a manner on which how your website appears to search engines like Google, BING, Yahoo etc..

Throughout the relative short history of the internet, people's desire to be found easily and appear on the first landing page has taken many twists and turns, and given headaches to marketing specialists and website designers worldwide.

In the past websites relied on gadgets and whirly gigs to attract attention to their site with little attention paid to the structure of search engines.  After all, the old adage of build and they will come was still in the forefront of everyone's minds. Now, with over a million sites being added to the internet daily it takes a lot more to be noticed, and SEO is no longer an option it is imperative.

As a designer,  we want our sites not only to contain information but to be visually appealing as well.  As the internet servers became faster we include more and more pictures, and we relied on meta keyword stuffing to increase the chances of being found. Only that did not work.

Search Engines changed their algorithms (and continue to do so) to avoid that from happening.  (read more about keywords).  As well, designers and programmers gave little thought to the actual structure of their site as long as it looked good, (and to be honest so did I), and once you stripped away the visual aspect of a website you were left with a jumble of code with no references to the visual appeal of the site.  As search engines improve so must website and its coding.

SEO is a time consuming job, and results do not happen overnight. It is an on-going affair that must be tweaked, reworked, and sometimes completely overhauled part way through a campaign. Those who want to take short cuts, or feel it is not worth the time and money will be left behind, find that they are not receiving a click through rate that bring actual customers and will lose to a competitor who takes it seriously.

Smiling Dog Designs can help you make your site SEO friendly even with pictures.