Web Design, SEO and Smartphone Optimized Websites

Web Design and SEO have interdependent responsibilities. With the smartphone market growing very rapidly, and web designers building more and more smartphone optimized websites, Google too launched a Googlebot mobile to be able to crawl, track and read this data. Well, looks like Web Design can make things easier for both SEO’s and Google. Here are a few ways to design your website so that you need not have two separate codes for mobile and desktop viewers.

* Responsive Web Design: In this method, a web designer can serve the users of any device with the same set of URLs and there is no need to create a separate one for mobile devices. This technique uses separate CSS to detect the device and the screen size and then adjust the web page to display on the screen. The method commonly used is a CSS3 media query. This has two specific advantages. Desktop and mobile content is the same, enabling easy user interaction, and Google would not have to use a separate Googlebot for mobile devices!

* Using different HTML code to serve different devices. This also means that there is a separate CSS too. The URL however remains the same. Google however recommends using the Vary HTML header, this helps caching servers and Googlebots to understand that content may change with the browsing device changes.

Web Design can definitely help to optimize a website for smartphones and desktops and your website has a greater chance at performing well with Google!

On Page SEO Factors

When exactly do you start with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) of your website? After design? After Development? Well, the right answer is SEO runs in parallel with design and development. There are some factors that need to be tweaked right from the design and development phase of a website. This will avoid re-doing some of the code and you will save time switching tasks between the design, development and marketing teams. So, develop your website with all the design and development factors in mind.

On Page SEO refers to all the changes that need to be made on a code level to help search crawlers to read and understand what’s on your website in a language that they understand. These On page changes can be effectively made while the site is being built rather than at a later stage when you actually start marketing it. A search engine spider is looking for the HTML code on your website as soon as it lands on your web page. So, make sure your HTML code has all the correct pointers and lead the spiders to understand what your page is all about.

Whether you hire a SEO service provider or do it yourself, there are some factors in your code that you would require to tweak.

Recipe For SEO Success

Getting straight to the point – Google isn’t out to get you! So stop chasing the algorithm. Every time there is a change, there is no need to tweak your website. Instead of concentrating on tricks and tips, learn the fundamentals. Direct all your SEO efforts in making your website perfect in terms of user experience and usability. Get rid of all the unnecessary parts of your website that provide little or no value addition for your customers or visitors.

Learn the basics right. Get your site structure and development code perfect. Fix all the URLs and ensure that there are no broken links. There must be absolutely no spelling and grammar mistakes in content. Well, recheck all your links incoming and outgoing. Ensure that there are no spammy one’s there. Channelize your SEO efforts using social media. An astute SEO implementer will never get into black hat SEO Service. Will never buy links, content or avail any services that sound too good to be true. Well, create a site that cannot be denied a ranking – and you will never have to spend valuable time on looking for tricks and work arounds! There is no recipe for SEO. It should be integrated in your website proactively. Not reactively – i.e. after Google (or any search engine) announces changes!