Web Usability & SEO Site Architecture

8/8/2019 Web Usability & SEO Site Architecture

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web architecture


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What Ill be covering

InformationArchitecture

Usability

Findability

URL Structures

Site Architecture

Thematic Siloing


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The Pareto Principle(the 80/20 rule)

A successful web

strategy is aboutPRIORITIZATION:

focus your time on

the 20% responsible

for bringing you the

80%


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Information Whut?

The structural design of shared information environments

The combination of organization, labeling, search and navigationsystems within websites and intranets

The art and science of organizing and labeling web sites, intranets,online communities, and software to support findability and

usability

An emerging community of practice focused on bringing principlesof design and architecture to the digital landscape


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Why is IA Important?

Many DifferentApplications of

Information Architecture

Touches on UserExperience, Design, SEO...

Can Strongly InfluencePage Spidering

Its kinda Complex and abit Technical!


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Users Content

Context

IA

business goals, funding, politics, culture,

technology, resources & constraints

audience, tasks, needs,

information seeking behavior, experience

document & data types, content objects,

volume, existing structures


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Noteworthy...

IA is an essential factorinfluencing search spidering and

page indexing

IA encompasses labeling andnavigation

IA is directly related to usabilityand conversion rate


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Pop Quizz

True or False? Information

Architecture (IA)

and Usability are

the same thing?


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FALSE!


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Dont Make me Think!

Usability?!?


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1. Where the hell am I?

2. Wheres the stuff Im looking for...

3. I cant find what Im looking for...

4. Whats next?

5. Where should I click?


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Navigation

BasicsGlobal Navigation Area

Local Navigation Area

Local Content Area


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A Balancing Act


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Site Logo

Home

PrimaryNavigation

Sub-Navigation

Breadcrumbs

Language

Typography

Copywriting Whitespace

Search Box &

Forms

Error Recovery

Progress

Indicators

Call-to-Actions


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Lets look under the hood...


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expected at top left of the page clickable back to home

perfect example


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is expected first item in the main navigation

home is first &

shows its selected


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is expected (horizontal) limit the number of items selected status

simple &

clearly selected


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is expected (vertically) close to main navigation selected status

close to main nav

clearly selected


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indicates travel path show site / content hierarchy alternative way back

shows traveled path

plain & simple


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expected near main nav ISO standards (EN / FR) indicate current languages

top right

clear option


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difference between titles &paragraphs

Links should look like links use colors and fonts to show

importance

titles in orange

links in blue

meta information

in grey


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use keywords fortitles

match navigationand page titles

avoid duplicatecontent

group yourcontent wisely

keywords as

navigation


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use whitespace to createstructure

more screensize doesntmean more content

whitespace is SEXY!

PERFECT!


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expected top right average search query is 35 characters

top right

as expected


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default OS design is expected different length for each

input format pre-format input fields / data

obvious CTA

clearly shows

required fields


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show what theuser did wrong

indicate how theycan fix mistakes

stop punishingusers

use inline errorswith care

inline errors


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show a progress indicator people love making progress group your information

(obvious vs personal)

4 clear stepscurrent step

clear CTA


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people should know how tojoin

people should know where tojoin

consistan style for your CTAs

good color usage


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GREAT Usability...WEAK Findability

www.useit.com - Dr. Jakon Nielsen - usability expert


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Findability

the ease with whichinformation contained on

a website can be found,

both from outside the

website and by usersalready on the website


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In English please?

A website that is easy to find in the searchengines

A website thats easy to navigate

A website that has content organizedintuitively

Puts the user in the mix

A better term than search engineoptimization (SEO) ;)


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Bots vs. Users

The user is often leftout in SEO

Findability is lessmyopic than SEO

Findability and IA are

crucial parts of webproduction


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Web Accessibility 101

Text Equivalent for everynon-text element

Organize documents so theymay be read without

stylesheets

Use clearest and simplestlanguage

Ensure that dynamic contentis accessible

Identify the target of eachlink


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How does a Search

Engine see your site?


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People Matter... A LOT!

Balancing the needs ofa spider with the needs

of a visitor is a key

feature behind any

successful web strategy

Who do we create

websites for?


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Get to know

your

audience


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The Problem Solver Way

Information Needsare common tasks

and topics

How do I solve%problem%?

Who are...

Ask People who know the answers...

people that are facing the problems


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How is your website holding

together?


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URL Structures

Keep URLs as short aspossible

Keep session IDs in URL to aminimum (max 2)

Never use spaces, quotes,ampersands or other bad

ascii characters

Use hyphens to separatefields

URLs are the foundation forcrawling and indexing


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URL Characteristics

http://www.phpnuke.com/modules.php?name=PHP-nume_HOWTO&page=php-nuke-vs-xoops.html

http://www.joomla.org/content/view/2446/1/

http://drupal.org/node/65059

http://www.cmsmatrix.org/matrix/cms-matrix?

func=viewDetail;listingId=1050

http://www.wordpress.org/?p=2
http://www.phpnuke.com/modules.php?name=PHP-nume_HOWTO#http://www.phpnuke.com/modules.php?name=PHP-nume_HOWTO#http://www.phpnuke.com/modules.php?name=PHP-nume_HOWTO#http://www.phpnuke.com/modules.php?name=PHP-nume_HOWTO#http://www.phpnuke.com/modules.php?name=PHP-nume_HOWTO#http://www.phpnuke.com/modules.php?name=PHP-nume_HOWTO#http://www.phpnuke.com/modules.php?name=PHP-nume_HOWTO#http://www.phpnuke.com/modules.php?name=PHP-nume_HOWTO#http://www.phpnuke.com/modules.php?name=PHP-nume_HOWTO#http://www.phpnuke.com/modules.php?name=PHP-nume_HOWTO#http://www.phpnuke.com/modules.php?name=PHP-nume_HOWTO#http://www.phpnuke.com/modules.php?name=PHP-nume_HOWTO#http://www.phpnuke.com/modules.php?name=PHP-nume_HOWTO#http://www.phpnuke.com/modules.php?name=PHP-nume_HOWTO#http://www.phpnuke.com/modules.php?name=PHP-nume_HOWTO#http://www.phpnuke.com/modules.php?name=PHP-nume_HOWTO#http://www.phpnuke.com/modules.php?name=PHP-nume_HOWTO#http://www.phpnuke.com/modules.php?name=PHP-nume_HOWTO#http://www.phpnuke.com/modules.php?name=PHP-nume_HOWTO#http://www.phpnuke.com/modules.php?name=PHP-nume_HOWTO#http://www.phpnuke.com/modules.php?name=PHP-nume_HOWTO#


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Benefits of Clean URLs

Its logical for users

Each link contains a keyword

Becomes an automatic keyword rich link

http://www.domain.com/topic-keyword/supporting-longtail-keyword
http://www.domain.com/topic-keyword/supporting-longtail-keywordhttp://www.domain.com/topic-keyword/supporting-longtail-keywordhttp://www.domain.com/topic-keyword/supporting-longtail-keyword


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about

history

Homepage

management

awards

products

product 1

product 2

product 3

services

service 1

service 2

service 3

contact

Traditional Structure


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about

history

Homepage

management

awards

products

product 1

product 2

product 3

services

service 1

service 2

service 3

contact

inbound linking campaign


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stop confusing users


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thematic site siloing


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siloing and theming

Look at the site as a whole and to

compartmentalize it into... SILOS!

Start broad and work your way down

Link to the topics above and below,never across


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SEO Friendly Architecture?

narrow websitecontent into a singletheme

establish your themeand maintain focus

site

theme

content topic silos

related topic articles / content

each content topic silo supports the

site theme with related topics articles


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Lets examine the keyword hierarchy...

Market

Market Category

Market Segment

Theme

Niche

Micro-Niche Phrase


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red

keyword1

widgets theme

keyword2

keyword3

green yellow

Quality Incoming Links

Subject Matter Expert

Authority Site Quality Content

keyword1

keyword2

keyword3

keyword1

keyword2

keyword3


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siloingis an inbound

linking campaign

on your own site


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Take Aways

Follow the best practices of usability

Use keyword rich navigation structure

Build your site with a clear hierarchy

Use keyword rich clean URLs

Create an information-rich website

Implement thematic siloing

Offer a site map that is grouped into themes


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Now, about thosequestions...


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my 411...

Charles Edmunds

@edmundsflywww.edmundsfly.com

nerdec web consulting

www.nerdec.com
http://www.edmundsfly.com/http://www.edmundsfly.com/http://www.edmundsfly.com/

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