Search is an access issue

1. Search is an access issue

2. Find this for me…

3. It’s all related… • The core advice is remarkably similar: • W3C on access: Create well-formed, structured content • Google on SEO: Create well-formed structured content Standards = Access = Flexibility = SEO W3C: www.w3.org/WAI/intro/wcag.php Google: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769

4. Web search and user interface

5. >90% of our content depends on search

6. Standards = SEO = Access • CSS helps promote both access and search optimization • XHTML provides semantic structure a crawler can understand • h1, h2, h3, <p>, <ul>, etc. • Allows you to order the page content logically & graphically • DIV and ID structures contain & order content • Text content flow can be independent of graphic layout

7. Standards = SEO = Access • Search engine crawlers are the most frequent “disabled users” on the web • Crawlers can only read text • Crawlers don’t use mice and don’t understand “click here” • Can’t see your pictures & graphic display text • Crawlers don’t use: • Javascript • Cookies • Flash • How will a crawler read your page layout tables?Across rows? Down columns?

8. Search engine optimization defined • Clean separation of content & presentation • A consistent set of principles for content structure • A consistent approach to page graphic layout & design • An awareness of how search crawlers “read” a site • Crawlers read & rank PAGES, not sites • SEO is intrinsic to the site design & structure • The principles are simple • You can’t buy SEO, or simply “add it on” later

9. Page titles are the key starting point • Single most important element in SEO • Provide the keywords and themes for the page • Provide the most prominent text for the search results • MUST contain carefully chosen keywords, consistent with the rest of the page content • Provide the text for user bookmarks • Should be as unique as possible • GOOD: Yale | Medical School History • BAD: Yale University School of Medicine | History of YSM • Bad bookmark result: “Yale University School of…”

10. Keywords • Consistent across: • Page title <title> • Headers <h1>, <h2> • Content • Ideal keyword occurrence range is about 5-9% • Heavy repetition of keywords de-ranks a page (looks like a search scam) • File & directory names: yes, they count too! • Use meaningful plain English words, use hyphens as separators Good: plain-english-words-work.html • Underscores are “non-breaking,” and are not read as individual words Bad: this_is_not_search_readable.html • Directory names count tooseo-advice/keywords/plain-english-words-work.html

11. SEO beyond the page content itself • Every word involved in your site structure matters also: • File names • Directory names • Use plain-English words with breaking characters like hyphens • Make sure your file names are readable by search engines: • “sea-animals” reads as “sea” & “animals” • “sea_animals” reads as “sea_animals” (not a recognizable word) • Examples • Good: sea-animals/marine-birds/greater-shearwater.html • Poor: sea_animals/marine_birds/greater_shearwater.html • (Nothing in the second example contributes to content relevance)

12. Meta tags and search • A great idea, subverted by greed • They can’t hurt, and might even help • DON’T use them to cheat; that will get you blackballed <link rel="schema.DC" href="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" /> <meta name="DC.title" lang="en" content="Patrick J. Lynch personal Web site" /> <meta name="DC.description" lang="en" content="Personal Web site of artist, author, designer and photographer Patrick J. Lynch." /> <meta name="DC.creator" lang="en" content="Patrick J. Lynch" /> <meta name="DC.publisher" content="Patrick J. Lynch, Yale University" /> <meta name="DC.format" scheme="DCTERMS.IMT" content="text/html" /> <meta name="DC.keywords" lang="en" content="web design, web style guide, yale university, yale school of medicine, yale, wildlife illustration, wildlife art, wildlife photography, medical illustration" />

13. Flexible styles

14. CSS CSS CSS Use the cascade • Core & typography shared throughout the site • Unique “skins” create graphic variations skin.css Local graphics & colors unique to this page typography.css All site typography core.css Layout DIVs for all pages

15. skin1.css skin2.css skin3.css skin4.css Yale web standards layouts Variations are produced by different “skins” The HTML remains the same Page engineering by Victor Velt, Yale University

16. skin-green.css skin-red.css “Skins”provide visual or structural variation CSS CSS All pages share the same underlying XHTML structure Styles shared by all pages CSS CSS CSS CSS mobile.css core.css typography.css print.css Use the cascade

17. Yale web standards layouts (wireframes)

18. Screen media=“screen” Print media=“print” Mobile media=“handheld” Flexible styles across display conditions

19. Web Developer Toolbar for Firefox

20. What users expect to emerge from the printer Huh? The ironies: Violating user expectations WYSIWYG A foundational principle of the graphic user interface

21. Limited mobile The regular web, on a mobile device What does “handheld” mean these days?

22. Thank you patrick.lynch@yale.edu patricklynch.net