WebProNews

Shari Thurow, Founder and SEO Director, Omni Marketing Interactive spoke about SEO and usability.

(Coverage of the SMX West Conference continues at WebProNews Videos. Keep an eye on WebProNews for more notes and videos from the event this week.)

Shari Thurow - SEO Director Omni Marketing

Search usability is a key part of both the user-centered design and usage-centered design. Thurow said one myth is that "search behavior" means "querying behavior". The types of query behavior include, navigational, informational and transactional. Your Web pages should accommodate all those types of querying behavior.

Bolded words in search results are not used for rankings, they are for usability. Using keywords in the heading is important. Use a font that is easy to see and to read.

Things to remember include that the keyword research process should happen before developing a sites information architecture. Important keyword phrases should be part of sites information architecture and corresponding interface, which means effective SEO, begins before a site is built not after.

Search usability addresses all search behaviors, not only querying behavior and Web site usability is extremely important for receiving high quality link development.