Site ease of use or SEO

If you had to choose what would it be?

[sadierae]

Here's one for ya! I have a client and they have a dynamic site in which they sell many different products.

They want to have the site optmized so I had made a few suggestions to help them out. The way they have the site laid out is once you enter the home page you can click on a link and go directly to the product page for that section and make your purchase. I suggested to create a page to optmized that you land on from the home page and then this page will have links to the products the visitor is searching for.

The problem I'm coming across is that they want a site with an ease of use for the visitor with as little of "site navigation" as possible and just simply lead them directly to the products page. My suggestion really only involves one extra step and will make it possible to optimize.

What should it be extreme ease of use and most likely difficult rankings in the se's OR one extra step and an optmized site that will be found on the se's? I personaly choose the latter but I guess its 'cause thats what I do!! :-)

Any other suggestions?

[Axacta]

I'm not an SEO, but my two cents would be, what good is ultra easy navigation without customers? Seems to me optimization is the first step, in order to get to the second step, sales.

[martinibuster]

One way to convince people is point to other people who are doing it correctly. For instance, do a search for their keyword phrase and show them someone who's doing it right, or maybe point to an industry leader, etc.

I have a client that gets uppity now and then who mellows out when I show him his competitors or the industry leaders. Just a thought...

[fathom]

Amazon!

[richlowe]

To heck with SEO - if customers cannot use the site they will not buy, will not stay and will not recommend. Put search engines in perspective - they are only one traffic method, and not the best one at that.

The best way to get and keep traffic is to have a site which works and communicates with the target audience (not a silly robot by some faceless search engine company). When people feel like you are talking to them (good content, good navigation and overall well focused site) and you will listen (good customer service) then they will purchase in droves.

Richard Lowe

[msr986]

>If you had to choose what would it be?

[big]Both![/big]

[fathom]

richlowe, I just said that too!

Great minds think alike!

[Axacta]

>if customers cannot use the site<

This is just a straw man. The choice is not SEO or being able to use the site - it is simply about setting some priorties. Ideally, you would search for a solution to satisfy both needs, not one that excludes the other.

It seems to me that there are many successful sites that are able to meet both needs. martinibuster's idea is great, and while you are checking out these sites see how you can incorperate their solutions into yours.

[edited by: Axacta at 1:56 am (utc) on June 14, 2002]

[richlowe]

Sometimes it is a choice, at least a choice that people commonly make. I get annoyed when I listen to someone say "I'm removing my webring because google will get annoyed" or "I'm deleting my links page because god, uh, google, won't like it", or "search engines don't use meta tags, so I took them all out". These comments all ignore the basic datum about the internet.

It's about PEOPLE! The internet is not about some silly, stupid little robots, or some faceless idiotic rules enforced by their creators. The internet is about communication.

Yes, search engines are a part of that communication, as it is one (and only ONE) want of getting people to your site. But there are an infinite number of other ways to get people to your site, from viral marketing to webrings to link exchanges to contests to newsgroups to whatever else you can think of.

But if your site does not cater to PEOPLE, it will fail. Period.

Yes, it's a good idea to make sure your site is known to the engines and known well. But that is NOT the purpose of the site. The purpose of the site is to communicate. Pure and simple.

Richard Lowe

[Axacta]

>Yes, it's a good idea to make sure your site is known to the engines and known well.<

Sounds like SEO to me.

[fathom]

"Brand Awareness" (BA) and "Brand Recognition" (BR) are at opposite sides of the spectrum.

BA - or SEO (in this case) opposes BR and in every facet.

Therefore a good strategy is build other sites around this one "if indeed it has all the ingredience of quick, ease, get out and come back" potential for BR.

Theme new sites around products of primary site with good content, and navigation and link primary site to these with javascript linking back".

Optimize new site pages which also gains PR from primary.

Next step - once good PR add second, third level pages to primary and link from new sites to primary with JavaScript coming back. (use these as upsell promotions etc.

All in all - ranked position will improve around the board.