How to Make your Blog Design Optimized for Search Engines

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There are so many different blogsites out there talking about so many different topics and wanting to rank in the big three search engines. Search engine traffic is one of the best ones in any website / blogsite. Design is one of the places to start with your SEO’s On Site optimization. Right now, you might not know it, but your design has a big impact on your website’s SEO effectivity.

So here’s the list provided by Cyrus Shepard from SEOmoz and his wife Dawn Shepard (she designed this beautiful infographic) as they describe how your blog design should be like when you want it optimized for search engine friendliness.

Note: This post is reblogged by my brother Kevin Si who is the chief designer of SEO Hacker. You can follow his rants and tweets here.

1. First Impression is Important

No matter how good your content in the site is, its design will always be the first thing the user sees. When your website looks crumpled and cheap, no matter how hard work and furnished your article is, your credibility loses by a huge amount which might increase your visitor bounce rate instead of getting quality hits to your website.

Today, there are lots of web design services around the block that can give you a good design at a very low price or, if you are using pre-made systems like WordPress, there are lots of beautiful themes that you can use on the internet that can boost up your website’s beauty and credibility – which can attract more readers.

2. Seek and you will find

Don’t rely much on Google to find your articles for you. Your website itself should be self-sustaining in making your readers look through more into your pages. A search feature on your website not only helps your users find things that are more relevant to their interest but also helps you in gaining more traffic for your site. Remember User experience is very important in having a good relationship with your readers.

Another good feature of a search in the website is that you can find which keywords are effective and are being searched for in your website. This might give you ideas on what articles you can write and/or tidbits you can improve on. I believe this is called keyword discovery and user behavior as stated by SEOmoz

3. RSS

RSS is something that has been always overlooked by most blog type website. Not only does this feature help you to earn you avid readers but it also helps the reader themselves get updated as they have found your website to be informative. Tick this feature on, the little effort you give can go a long way.

4. Crumbs, crumbs

It may sound as a little insignificant but breadcrumbs hold a good part in making your website have a better experience rank both to your readers and to Google’s search algorithm. Not only does it help your readers know where they are in your vast internet space, it also helps any search engine to sort your pages in the right category.

via seo-hacker.com

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