IA SUMMIT

Search engine optimization (SEO) is optimizing a website or intranet for people who use search engines. In reality, search-engine friendliness is a critical component of overall findability. The human aspect of searching is just as important as the technical aspect of searching…and often the missing findability ingredient.

As Peter Morville states in his book Ambient Findability, “Findability precedes usability. In the alphabet and on the Web. You can’t use what you can’t find.” Users should be able to locate and discover desired content via browsing and searching. Believe it or not, a usable and consistent information architecture that communicates aboutness, information scent, and sense-of-place actually makes a website and intranet more search- engine friendly. Site search results are more accurate, and your website is more likely to be displayed well on the commercial Web search engines. And not only your Web pages – videos, graphic images, blogs, and PDFs – can also achieve relevant search engine visibility.

In this half-day workshop, Shari will show you how to architect a website that makes your content easier to find via internal search engines and the commercial Web search engines in a way that enhances the user experience.

Bring examples of websites and intranet pages: this is a hands-on session with plenty of what- not-to-dos and exercises.

After attending this workshop, you will be able to:

• Avoid common (and costly) architecture, navigation, and design mistakes
• Implement proven techniques and strategies for long-term results
• Use a variety of keyword research tools for usability testing wireframes and prototypes
• Understand the role of keywords in site navigation and page interlinking
• Types of page interlinking that are necessary for search engine visibility
• Effectively place targeted keywords and links on Web pages, graphic image and video files without sacrificing a positive user experience
• Avoid common (and costly) architecture, navigation, and design mistakes Implement proven techniques and strategies for long-term results