Communicating SEO with Your Web Developer
Included in this arsenal of information will be some convincing and teaching on your part. You need to let your web developer know the following:
1) Statistics show that at least 86% of all web visitors use the search engine to find what they are looking for. Your web developer usually likes statistics. If your site isn’t SEO relevant, it is a waste of both time and money. In fact, you could remind your web developer about all the hours he or she took to develop such a beautiful looking site. Isn’t there a bonus available for a web developer who comes up with a site that increases visitor traffic? Don’t they want that raise for having developed an efficient, and pleasant looking, site? Of course, they do.
2) SEO (search engine optimization) is not a passing trend. It is here to stay. Content on a website needs to be relevant to the search engines and people. Your website needs to be picked up by the search engines in order to be worthwhile. Search engines feed on SEO.
a. Bring in documents containing charts, studies, and interviews with top officials regarding the SEO world. These will be used to provide references for your knowledge. Hopefully, they will lead to discussion.
3) Keyword placement and frequency help determine popularity with SEO. Use examples of keyword search tools to help show this point. Overture works well here. In fact, let your web developer know that keyword search tools have increased in popularity simply due to the necessity of knowing SEO. Your web developer loves keeping up to date on the industry trends, right?
The importance of keywords needs to be mentioned here. Let your web developer know that It is easier to create keyword-dense content when each page contains no more than three keywords. It’s also better to target keyword phrases rather than individual keywords. Most people don’t search on a single keyword. Using phrases narrows search rank competition and improves the likelihood that your content will meet the searcher’s expectations. For example, if your web page is about “doggie dental care”, “dog teeth” or “dog dental” makes a better keyword than the more generic “dog.”
4) Search engine spiders do not like images. If small images are used, be sure to use the alt tag. This tag lets the spiders know what the image is about.
5) The website needs to have a keyword-rich title tag. This helps out with SEO. The title tag must not be vague and should use the keywords you want your page to target. If a site does not have a title tag, the search engine spiders won’t pick up the site. Also, if the same title tag is used on each page, it can be considered spamming.
6) The website needs to have Meta keyword and description tags. Technically, Meta consists of title, description, and keywords. Keywords must be relevant to your site. Description tag information influences how search engines perceive our site. Use your most relevant keywords early in your meta keyword list and meta description. Use them carefully. Too many keywords crammed into a tag can be viewed as spamming. This would not be good.
7) The website must be easy to navigate around in. Of course, your web developer probably already knows this. Visitors, both search engines and people, like to enjoy their visit. Make it enjoyable, not frustrating.
In closing, after you have communicated effectively about SEO with your web developer, smile, then humbly state, “You probably knew all this stuff anyways.” This could be the beginning of a wonderful relationship.
Keep up the good work!
