Search engine friendly design

[real_estate]

What are the top five concerns when designing a search engine friendly site?

[c_n_m]

It is difficult to make a top5, but here are several things you should take account:

1) website internal linking structure:
- do not use javascript or flash links
- use appropriate text-anchors for your links
- you may use "nofollow" tag to your non-relevant pages if you want to concentrate PR to the interesting parts of your website

2) use different page titles and descriptions for your site pages ( do not use the same title and description for all pages )

3) use search engine friendly urls ( yoursite.com?state=florida&property_type=houses will become yoursite.com/florida/houses ) - this could be done using .htaccess

4) use h1, h2 and h3, also use strong, bold and italic tags appropriately

5) use a good density for your keywords / phrases into pages

6) be careful with your outgoing links ( links from your website to other websites )

7) obtain valuable ( in terms of PR and / or trust ) inbound links ( links from other website to your website )

8) do not practice seo spam!

[OHMwebmaster]

A good list.

I'd add constantly updated content as well. Google especially loves it when you consistently add new pages and ping them.

Essentially, you can train Google to come back every day and index your new content.

[CodeGuy]

I think flash links are perfectly fine as long as you use something like swfobject and render alternate text links as well for the spiders and whatnot

1 main think I think that helps the most since the nature if idx websites is that they are dynamic is that you have seo friendly urls, good 404 fall back with redirection and a good dynamic sitemap to go hand in hand with your listings

I'd say 90% of all realty search sites I've been reviewing fail to follow any kind of structured flow they all seem half baked and rushed with a design flair that trends toward gaudy at best

[Markz]

Could you explain how this is done if you dont mind?

Thks.

A good list.

I'd add constantly updated content as well. Google especially loves it when you consistently add new pages and ping them.

Essentially, you can train Google to come back every day and index your new content.

[CodeGuy]

it's called a verified sitemap that you update when ever your site changes

[kelsheikh]

I would also make your URLs search engine friendly if they are not already.

[Philman]

Here's a tip:

Install the Google Toolbar, visit your page and in the Toolbar, click 'Cached Snapshot of Page'. Doing this will give you a Google bot's point of view on how it reads your website. If it reads a lot of garbled code, then you might want to think about changing some things around.

[Rajendra]

c_n_m is right! those are very helpful, you have a very creative thinking.

[jihni]

Great tips and advice! Thanks.