Search Engine Optimisation by PJW Design

We look to optimise the site during construction, this is normally included in the price.

The art of 'Search Engine Optimisation' is a sometimes portrayed as a dark art by SEO professionals , but there are some basics that should be in place that will increase your chances of success. For me the following are the top 5, if you have a site, check you have at least these in place.

1 - The domain name could contain a keyword (this is not always practical ... if not see below)

2 - Put pages in folders with relevant key words eg www.domain.com/keyword/keyword.html. The page itself is named with a keyword or phrase.

3 - Title tag of page, perhaps the most crucial - this is hidden in the code, (although you will see it in the top left of your browser) should be unique for each page and must contain a key phrase.

4 - Title of page (visible) should be at top of page within <h1> tags (see code) again should contain a keyphrase.

5 - A site map linked from homepage.

Some more criteria....

Copy should be dense with keyword rich text, and you should have at least five pages of copy on the site.

Some of the site should be static and not have dynamically delivered content that the engines can't read.

Put some text that is keyword rich in Header tags; use at least 2 - 3 header tags.

Use style sheets - linked externally away from the actual page.

Add ALT tags to images – using the keywords assigned to that page.

Avoid an overuse of Flash and graphics. They pose a problem for the engines.

Avoid the use of frames – they often cannot be read by the spiders.

Interlink the pages within the site – via a keyword within the text and turn it into a hyperlink that leads to another page on the site. The page should be relevant to the words chosen, with the name of the page and title containing the same key phrase.

For pages that have no keyword rich text at the top, and/or bottom, you can add a simple one liner of text using the keywords. Keywords at the start and end of the page are important.

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) should not be defined on page. It should be called from a file in the root directory.

Java script should not be on page, it should be linked to an external .js file in the root directory.

Images should be named with keywords.

Pages should be named with keywords.