SEO vs. Design - Have your cake and eat it, too?
Ever since search engines came into existence there has been a debate over whether it’s better to have a nicely designed site or to optimize for the search engines. Some see this problem as a “chicken or the egg” issue. Your site needs to look nice for your visitors, but how will your visitors find you if you don’t optimize for the search engines? Both of these factors need to be taken into consideration before starting a Web site design. Great design doesn’t mean you have to make a site completely out of Flash, and optimizing doesn’t mean keyword stuffing. Finding common ground between the two is essential at the beginning of any Web site design project. A site can look nice and professional while still giving the search engines the information they need.
The use of CSS to arrange elements on a page and to style those elements gives designers much more freedom than in the past. Text, for example, is important to the search engines. But it doesn’t have to be boring. You can play with the size, color, font, or add a background image, and search engines will still read it. If there’s a font you absolutely must use that isn’t available on the Web, then use it in an image occasionally.
One technique to work around this problem is the Phark Method. It has been debated by SEOs as to whether or not it’s ethical. Basically, you push the text off the edge of the page so that humans can see the picture and not the text. About a week ago I came across an article that discusses the search engine’s stance on this method. This technique could be used for good or evil. If you are using it to display text for screen readers that can not read text in images, and are only displaying the same text that is in the image, then you shouldn’t be penalized in any way. This could also be used to spam the site for search engine purposes, which I would definitely not recommend. Google and the other search engines are normally smart enough to know what’s spam and what isn’t.
Using all images on your site (with no text) is also not good for both your visitors or search engines. It’s okay to use some pictures, and include ALT text with them, but search engines can’t see what’s in pictures, they have to rely on your ALT text. People also need text on a page. What if someone wants to copy/paste your address or phone number but you just have it in an image? Or what if some one is browsing your site with a screen reader? Some may say, “Why not use the Phark Method for the whole site?” 1) It’s more work for you, and 2) You may be flagged by a search engine for appearing to be spam.
Flash is another common tool used by designers that causes problems for search engines. Most people love the design freedom created by using Flash. Creating your page entirely in Flash means you technically only have a one page Web site. So you will only have one page cached in the search engines, and users on your site can not bookmark or email an individual page - a product page, for example. I was formally trained in Graphic Design, not SEO, so I understand how great Flash is. But there is a right and wrong way to use it. Incorporating elements created in Flash into the individual pages on your site is a good way to add some of the cool design elements without compromising SEO.
Creating a Web site that your client and their site visitors like, while making it SEO friendly, can sometimes be difficult. Making compromises and learning ways to make both work will allow you to have your cake and eat it, too.
