Before I was inundated with the responsibilities of running a company and managing a few hundred emails a day, I used to spend a lot of time testing theories about how the search engines handled certain elements on a site or page. I'd test the engines to find answers to questions like:
Does a keyword perform better or worse if it's higher up in the code of a page? (better)
What's better, bold or strong tags? (used to be strong, now they appear equal)
Does a link with exact anchor text for a query perform better than one that has other words in the anchor text? (exact appears to be better)
NOTE: My tests on these are more than a year old, so things may have changed.
Obviously, to test the answers to questions like these, you need a very tightly controlled environment, and even then, your tests might reveal answers, but not the relative levels of impact. Sure, having a keyword on a page in strong tags is better than not, but by how much? If one link from the crappiest PR1 page gives more of a boost, is it really worthwhile?
I've talked about this testing phenomenon in the past in a Sphinn thread, about whether nofollow sculpting has any impact (I've copied the relevant bit below):
Step 1: Register a new domain (preferably one with a domain name that has no results in Google - like yorkfabuzapeloh.com or such)
Step 2: Link to that domain's homepage from some social media profiles or pages you control (but make sure they're very obscure and hard to find so no one else discovers and links to it - this is pretty easy to do)
Step 3: Create 6 pages on the site, the homepage (A) with two links to pages (B) and (C), pages (D) and (E) - both linked to by page (B) - and page (F) linked to from page (C). It's important to make sure that (B) is the first link on the homepage (A) and (C) is the second link.
Step 4: Target a nonsense keyword on pages (D) and (F), which are linked to by pages (B) and (C) respectively.
Step 5: Wait until Google has indexed all the pages (usually only a couple days if you link to them from a few sources), then run a search for the nonsense keyword you targeted on (D) and (F). Page (F) will rank first, because there's more link juice pointing to it than to (D), as (D) is only getting half the link weight provided by page (B) while (D) is getting all of (C)'s link weight.
Step 6: Add a nofollow to the link from page (B) to page (E), which we haven't done anything with until now. Wait until Google respiders, then check the results again. (D) should now be ranking in front of (F), because it's receiving the same link weight as (F) but the original link from the homepage (A) to (B) is higher up on the page, which gives it a tiny bit more weight.
We've replicated this experiment as have several others, and certainly any global link weighting system similar to the original PageRank formula would lead you to this conclusion as well.
And I used another test we've performed internally at last week's SEMpdx conference, which created a bit of confusion, and is, ultimately, the reason for this blog post.
Directly following my keynote, a question was asked in which link placement on a page became relevant. I commented that it was important to note that only the first anchor text to a given target page would be counted by Google (we haven't yet tested Yahoo!/MSN), but there were a great number of audience members who came up to me during the day asking for clarification -- even Rebecca! And thus, even though we usually keep this kind of information internal (Jane's planning to release a PRO guide with lots of these tests later this year), I figured the beans had already been spilled, so it's my responsibility to clean up the mess.
Monday, April 7, 2008
SUO: Search and User Optimization
Being biased towards usability, I have to admit that I've always been a little skeptical about the world of search engine optimization (SEO). Of course, a lot of this skepticism goes back to having worked in the internet industry since the mid-90's. In the pre-Google days, SEO was little more than an arms race, a contest to see who could trick the search engines most effectively for the top spot. Claims of getting people to the top of search results for $19.95 were common, and many of these tricks, like keyword-loading a page, often led to lousy content and all but unusable sites.
Times have changed, though, and I've been rediscovering the world of search engine optimization and marketing over the past six months. It started when I attended the Search Engine Strategies Conference in Chicago last winter. In addition to being one of the most educational events I've been to in quite a while, SES really helped me to see that the search engines have matured. Search spiders are being built to mimic human link-following, and crude measures of importance, like how many times a keyword appears on a page, are being replaced by complex algorithms that attempt to measure popularity, usefulness and authority.
I've also been surprised to discover how helpful the SEO community has become, with more and more people taking a holistic approach to web design and willing to share information with other professionals. Armed with some of my newfound search knowledge, I set to work using it on a major client redesign, and quickly discovered something that will change the way I approach website development: search engine optimization best practices have come to share a lot in common with usability best practices.
At the end of the day, both search engines and users want sites that are well-organized, rich in content, and easy to navigate. These days, both processes also tend to be evolutionary. The old worlds of SEO and usability often meant arriving at the end of the development process and making a laundry list of flaws. By it's very definition, though, "optimization" refers to a process of taking something that may or may not already be good and constantly working to make it better.
So, in that spirit, I propose a new term: SUO, Search & User Optimization. Designing sites for search engines and users is a process that needs to happen early and often, constantly optimizing websites to reach the right people and deliver what they want. In many ways, too, search is the begining of any site's user experience, and understanding how your site is represented on search engines and reaches search users is an integral part of good usability.
Times have changed, though, and I've been rediscovering the world of search engine optimization and marketing over the past six months. It started when I attended the Search Engine Strategies Conference in Chicago last winter. In addition to being one of the most educational events I've been to in quite a while, SES really helped me to see that the search engines have matured. Search spiders are being built to mimic human link-following, and crude measures of importance, like how many times a keyword appears on a page, are being replaced by complex algorithms that attempt to measure popularity, usefulness and authority.
I've also been surprised to discover how helpful the SEO community has become, with more and more people taking a holistic approach to web design and willing to share information with other professionals. Armed with some of my newfound search knowledge, I set to work using it on a major client redesign, and quickly discovered something that will change the way I approach website development: search engine optimization best practices have come to share a lot in common with usability best practices.
At the end of the day, both search engines and users want sites that are well-organized, rich in content, and easy to navigate. These days, both processes also tend to be evolutionary. The old worlds of SEO and usability often meant arriving at the end of the development process and making a laundry list of flaws. By it's very definition, though, "optimization" refers to a process of taking something that may or may not already be good and constantly working to make it better.
So, in that spirit, I propose a new term: SUO, Search & User Optimization. Designing sites for search engines and users is a process that needs to happen early and often, constantly optimizing websites to reach the right people and deliver what they want. In many ways, too, search is the begining of any site's user experience, and understanding how your site is represented on search engines and reaches search users is an integral part of good usability.
Usability and SEO. Which comes First?
There is an incredibly strong link between Usability and SEO. First, you have to start with the knowledge that the business of the search engines is enhanced by having the most relevant results in their index (the ones that do in fact answer the user's question quickly), and this means that usability matters to them. Therefore it is in their strategic interest to develop an understanding of a site's usability.
There are many ways that the search engines can collect basic usability data. For example, do users bookmark your site at major sites such as del.icio.us? Do you have a high bounce rate (people who view only one page, or who don't stay long on the site)? These are just a couple of basic things that a search engine can look at to measure usability.
Second, usabilty is a key factor in driving the acquisition of high value links. Trying to get a major university or a government site to link to yours? What do they see when they come to the page you are trying to get them to link to? Do they understand it right away? Or does it confuse them?
At an architectural level, having a clean site hierarchy and an easily understood navigation structure also benefits both usability and SEO. This means things like a logically thought through hierarchy that matches up with the nature of the content you are providing in an easy to understand way. It means having a consistent global navigation structure, and a breadcrumb bar.
There are many great resources on usability. For example, there is Jakob Nielsen's usetit.com and Kim Krause Berg's Cre8PC that delve into the specifics of good usability then I will attempt to do here.
What I want to emphasize here is one key point: Usability comes first, and SEO comes second. Don't get me wrong, I am not short selling SEO here. I think it's incredibly important (well, OK, it's a key part of how I make my living). But when you are looking at a new site design, or are re-evaluating an existing site, you need to start with some basic questions. Here are some examples:
What is the purpose of the site? There are many good answers to this, such as generate leads, sell products, reduce support costs, or sell advertising. Understanding the answer to this question is where it all starts. Fulfilling this purpose can be thought of as a conversion.
What types of visitors do you want to attract to the site? Who are the people you can bring to your site that might convert, either in the short term or the long term? For many sites, there are many distinct groups of visitors. They can be divided into groups such as repeat visitors and first time visitors, visitors from different geographies, shoppers and researchers, etc.
For each group of visitors, think about the types of information and products and services they want to see on your site. What would make it useful to them? What are their goals, and how can you help them meet them?
For each group of visitors, now that you know what they are looking for, what will their experience be like when they arrive at your site? Will they know where to find what they are looking for? Or will it they arrive at your site, be one click away from converting, and simply leave because they don't see what they are looking for?
These are some of the most basic questions that every site owner needs to consider. Advanced companies do usability design and analysis, including live usablity testing with real users on their sites. Some companies get more sophisticated still, and incorporate the use of eye tracking gear, to really get down to the nitty gritty details of how people see their web pages.
While you may not be in a position to take your pursuit of usability quite that far (although you should if you can), you need to be thinking about it. Getting tons of search engine visitors and a low rate of conversion will not help you much. In addition, if the search engines have their way, a low rate of conversions (then sites in comparable markets) will also lead them to lower the amount of traffic they send you.
There are many ways that the search engines can collect basic usability data. For example, do users bookmark your site at major sites such as del.icio.us? Do you have a high bounce rate (people who view only one page, or who don't stay long on the site)? These are just a couple of basic things that a search engine can look at to measure usability.
Second, usabilty is a key factor in driving the acquisition of high value links. Trying to get a major university or a government site to link to yours? What do they see when they come to the page you are trying to get them to link to? Do they understand it right away? Or does it confuse them?
At an architectural level, having a clean site hierarchy and an easily understood navigation structure also benefits both usability and SEO. This means things like a logically thought through hierarchy that matches up with the nature of the content you are providing in an easy to understand way. It means having a consistent global navigation structure, and a breadcrumb bar.
There are many great resources on usability. For example, there is Jakob Nielsen's usetit.com and Kim Krause Berg's Cre8PC that delve into the specifics of good usability then I will attempt to do here.
What I want to emphasize here is one key point: Usability comes first, and SEO comes second. Don't get me wrong, I am not short selling SEO here. I think it's incredibly important (well, OK, it's a key part of how I make my living). But when you are looking at a new site design, or are re-evaluating an existing site, you need to start with some basic questions. Here are some examples:
What is the purpose of the site? There are many good answers to this, such as generate leads, sell products, reduce support costs, or sell advertising. Understanding the answer to this question is where it all starts. Fulfilling this purpose can be thought of as a conversion.
What types of visitors do you want to attract to the site? Who are the people you can bring to your site that might convert, either in the short term or the long term? For many sites, there are many distinct groups of visitors. They can be divided into groups such as repeat visitors and first time visitors, visitors from different geographies, shoppers and researchers, etc.
For each group of visitors, think about the types of information and products and services they want to see on your site. What would make it useful to them? What are their goals, and how can you help them meet them?
For each group of visitors, now that you know what they are looking for, what will their experience be like when they arrive at your site? Will they know where to find what they are looking for? Or will it they arrive at your site, be one click away from converting, and simply leave because they don't see what they are looking for?
These are some of the most basic questions that every site owner needs to consider. Advanced companies do usability design and analysis, including live usablity testing with real users on their sites. Some companies get more sophisticated still, and incorporate the use of eye tracking gear, to really get down to the nitty gritty details of how people see their web pages.
While you may not be in a position to take your pursuit of usability quite that far (although you should if you can), you need to be thinking about it. Getting tons of search engine visitors and a low rate of conversion will not help you much. In addition, if the search engines have their way, a low rate of conversions (then sites in comparable markets) will also lead them to lower the amount of traffic they send you.
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