subject: SEO, Information Architecture and Interface Design [print this page] Keywords, I swear, that's all I hear from my colleagues, that and the assumption that keywords are the most important part of SEO. Well, I disagree. I don't believe keywords are the most important building block of SEO. Keyword phrases mean nothing unless they're used in a specific, contextual environment.
Think about it. Many search engine spammers use software spiders to "borrow" content from competitor sites to generate doorway-page content. Do spam doorway pages generate high-quality search engine traffic and conversions? Not likely, especially if you've ever viewed some of these poorly designed and unusable pages. The contextual environment is substandard; therefore, the keyword phrases have little meaning.
The most important building block of SEO is the information architecture. If you want your HTML/XHTML, audio, video, and image files to generate qualified search engine traffic, the key ingredient to making these files appear relevant are the information architecture and the interface that communicates this architecture.
Information Architecture versus Interface
Many SEOs utilize the terms "information architecture" and "site architecture" without truly understanding their meaning. Information architecture refers to the organization of site content into groups. Navigation is part of the user interface. Unfortunately, too many SEOs confuse a site's actual information architecture with the interface.
How is your site's information grouped? Are all video files (if used) placed in a directory labeled "videos" (or some other relevant label), and do you give search engines easy access to those files? When you use videos on Web pages, are they used as eye candy or to highlight relevant concepts on key pages?
The Meaning of Search
Interestingly, as the search industry has evolved, it seems the word "search" has come to mean only the querying process. In other words, type in two to three keywords into Google and get results -- that's search.
Search behavior doesn't only encompass the querying process. Scanning is also a search process. When people view search results, they scan the page for information. When people click a search result to get to a Web page, they scan the Web page to determine whether or not the page's content matches their search query.
Many SEOs and their clients need to take their blinders off. There's a plethora of search behavior outside of rankings. I find the obsession with ranking to be rather narrow-minded and annoying, especially from people who should know better.
SEO, Information Architecture and Interface Design
