It happened lately a few times that I asked customers to make changes on their website and got the answer “the company that built our website said that it is impossible”.
I heard it even on simple requests like removing the company name from the pages <TITLE>. Not mentioning META tags, ALT tags, nofollow links, 301 redirects, and many others requests that were simply rejected.
So I made this list.
This is what I want from web development companies that are going to work with my customers.
1. Configurable <TITLE> tags: I would like to set the title of every page myself. I don’t want the company name added to the title automatically and I don’t want the title to be the anchor text of the link from the main menu (I may want that, but let me choose). I need full control on title with no exceptions.
2. Configurable Meta <Description> tags: Most companies will let you do that through their CMS, but some that I have seen never heard of it.
3. mod_rewrite: Let me decide how I want the URLS on site to look like. In some cases, instead of having this URL http://www.example.com/product.php?action=7&id=8 I may want this one: http://www.example.com/blue-car-with-sun-roof
4. Nofollow links: I need the option to set links on site to nofollow. This may include links on the main menu or links that appear on every page on site.
5. ALT Attributes: It should be possible to set ALT Attributes to every image on site.
6. H1 H2 H3: Let me add any HTML tag I want on my page. Especially Heading tags.
7. Crawlability: site must be fully crawlable, with no javascript links that block the flow.
8. Javascript: In some cases I will still need the ability to add javascript code. Whether it is Google Analytics, or other e-commerce tracking codes, many CMS systems I saw do not allow javascript. The ones my customers use need it.
9. Editable Footer: I will need to edit the footer for many reasons. Mostly for adding tracking codes that should appear on every page on site, and in some cases adding links or graphics. Don’t show me a fixed footer with sitemap and privacy policy links. Let me change it.
10. Dedicated IP: This is a hosting issue, that in many cases comes in the same package. Dedicated hosting is a big advantage. This means that our site is the only site that has our IP address. I don’t want to get search engine penalties because of adult sites running on my machine.
11. USA hosting: I know that hosting in India is great. I really do. But my market is in the US, and my site should be where my customers are. Both in terms of SEO and network aspects. My site should be rocket fast both to my customers and to Google.
12. LAMP: Linux + Apache + MySQL + PHP is my favorite. CMS built on these machines just makes me happier. I can’t explain this one. It’s a matter of belief.
13. Standards: Standard site according to the world wide web consortium is an advantage. I’ll be actually very surprised if anyone will say yes to this one.
14. Firefox: That is the easiest request. I saw web sites that belong to web development companies that can not be viewed with Firefox. How stupid is that?
15. Flash: I don’t like flash websites. Neither does Google.
If you have any additions to this list please comment…
Tags: how to develop an seo friendly website.
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, April 30th, 2008 at 10:23 am and is filed under seo, web development.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
April 30th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Excellept post. Very good list. I will sure use this post next time I get to a new project.
May 1st, 2008 at 1:19 am
*** Alt tags ***
Don’t forget that “alt” is an attribute.
*** H1 H2 H3: Let me add any HTML tag I want on my page. Especially Header tags. ***
These are very normal tags for markup. A page should be made from headings, paragraphs, lists, tables and forms. Not using headings is insane.
Oh, and they are headings, not headers.
May 1st, 2008 at 6:57 am
Thanks g1smd, fixed.
May 2nd, 2008 at 3:09 pm
Great post.
I agree with most of it, although I wouldn’t go for the LAMP and Standards. I use mostly .net and like it a lot. And the standards are good only for the ones that invented them. As long as my sites work I couldn’t care less!
May 4th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Flash is not so bad. There are great ways to use flash and still make google like you. Even Google use Flash on some sites they run.
I would add to the list the option to upload files to site, like sitemap files and webmaster verification files that are sometimes needed.
It’s a pain in the neck to send those files by email and wait a few days till they are uploaded and then you realize that they were uploaded to the wrong place and need to send them again and wait again a few days…