SEO is massive and many businesses both old and new are using SEO services to boost the impact of their business. Whilst this does not directly relate to SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) it is clear that many new businesses cannot explore this type of marketing and promotion.
As a Web Designer this means that you need to keep up with the ever changing world of SEO. Like with many industries your competitors may already be ahead of the game but if you are a freelance worker or small company you should have the flexibility to catch up with them. By knowing more than the standard web design group with your SEO knowledge then you will be more appealing to potential clients.
By using some standard SEO techniques and tactics into your web design will also make your websites easier to find which is great for both you and your clients. Here are some simple things you can do to add a touch of SEO to your website designs:
- Make sure your code passes the W3C validation checks for both XHTML and CSS. This will help your website be crawled easily by search engines as well as having the site display correctly across most browsers. In addition to this it also opens up the opportunity to submit your website designs to some of the top CSS design galleries, which in turn will give your website more exposure.
- Speed has always been a very important factor when it comes to the usability of a website. On top of this the speed of a website has now become a ranking factor in Google. Using GZip to compress text, compressing images, combining CSS files and minifying JavaScript files are all going to help the speed of your site.
- Use Google’s keyword tool to determine the most common phrases that people use to search for your clients website. You can make your website easier to find by using some of these keywords in the titles of your web pages. On top of this it will be clear to both users and search engines what market you clients website is in.
