www.BrandLessBox.com White Paper

1. Aaron
Abbott—www.BrandLessBox.com
1
Running
Head:
WEBSITE
ARCHITECTURE
Website
Architecture:
Important?
Aaron
Michael
Abbott
www.BrandLessBox.com
1

2. Aaron
Abbott—www.BrandLessBox.com
2
As
the
Internet
and
its
tools
evolve,
designers,
developers,
and
Web
site
owners
mature.
It
took
time
to
get
use
to
all
that
we
could
do,
in
order
to
be
able
to
focus
on
what
we
need
to
do—for
our
conversion
goals,
and
for
our
user’s
goals.
Google’s
Webmaster
guidelines
points
out
many
tips
that
“will
help
Google
find,
index,
and
rank
your
site”
(Google.com,
n.d.).
While
Google
is
the
biggest
tree
in
the
“search-­‐forest”,
it
is
safe
to
assume
the
other’s
apples
taste
the
same.
The
rule
of
thumb
is
to
feed
the
search
engine
text
links
that
can
be
followed;
without
speed
bumps
(like
301
and
404
redirects),
the
detours
of
Flash,
and
the
little
things
that
create
havoc
for
search
engine
spiders.
What
matters
most
is
SEO
and
user-­‐
experience
facilitation—each
depending
on
the
architecture
of
your
site.
“SEO
friendly
Web
site
design
can
double
or
triple
the
visitors
to
your
site,”
(CodeJam.com,
n.d.).
Why
would
you
ever
ignore
the
standards
and
build
a
site
loaded
with
special
effects
just
because
you
thought
it
would
look
cool?
This
is
not
Hollywood!
This
is
the
Internet.
The
simple
things
matter
most.
Check
your
links
and
indexing
frequently.
Redirect
dynamic
content
to
static
files,
minimize
duplicate
content,
and
use
canonicalized
redirects
(Spencer,
2006).
Give
the
search
engines
what
they
need,
and
do
not
allow
errors
to
hinder
their
path.
Then
give
the
people
the
content
they
need
in
as
few,
easy-­‐to-­‐follow
steps
as
possible.
By
implementing
tools
into
your
browser,
like
Mozilla’s
“Live
HTTP
Headers”
you
can
keep
a
good
eye
on
any
possible
issues.
Save
the
interactivity
that
Flash
and
JavaScript
provide
for
the
times
when
they
are
appropriate
and/or
needed.
Focus
on
user-­‐friendly
architecture
that
allows
your
site
to
be
crawled
and
facilitated
by
2

3. Aaron
Abbott—www.BrandLessBox.com
3
search
engines,
as
well
as
architecture
that
directs
users
to
digest
your
content
easily.
3

4. Aaron
Abbott—www.BrandLessBox.com
4
References
CodeJam.com.
(n.d.).
SEO
friendly
website
design.
Retrieved
February
20,
2010
from
http://www.codejam.org/seo-­‐friendly-­‐website-­‐design.html
Google.com.
(n.d.).
Webmaster
Guidelines.
Retrieved
February
20,
2010
from
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answ
er=35769#1
Spencer, T. (June 7, 2006). .htaccess, 301 redirects & SEO: guest post by NotSleepy.
SEOBook.com. Retrieved February 20, 2010 from http://www.seobook.co
m/archives/001714.shtml
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