Proper Site Architecture

[Gravitate]

Hi,

We are in the process of redesigning our website, so I have the ability to kind of start over from an architectural standpoint.

I have seen many references in this forum to the idea of site architecture and "internal linking structure". I am afraid I have read many of these posts with little context and have not understood most of what was said. Ronnie has been quite helpful in showing me a good way to build incoming links and he gave me a simple lesson on architecture that has just whetted my appetite and helped me to remember how novice I am.

So, I wanted to take the opportunity to pose a very basic question (or set of questions) here.

Here are my questions:

1. What is the best way to organize a site to benefit from internal linking?

2. Do I need to worry about anchor text of links to pages within my site?

3. Do I need to worry about internal page names within my site?

4. Do I need to limit the amount of outgoing links to other sites so as not to dilute PR on my pages. (I only know what PR stands for but haven't a clue on how to increase this. My site has a measly 6 out of 10, so you can see where I am coming from)

5. Do I have benefits to my site by linking to other sites? I am not going to link for the sake of linking...I want my site to be useful to my customers, but I don't want to link improperly in a way that cut hurt my standings with the engines.

Any other advice about proper SEO for a site redesign would be great.

Happy New Years!!
Michael

[fathom]

Here are my questions:

1. What is the best way to organize a site to benefit from internal linking?

The single most important link of your site as close to the uppermost left corner as possible... and in ascending order to the least important -- bottom to bottom right. (should consider side bars left/right and/or in content links in the above fashion.

There is a tradeoff here - site usability and coherent navigation - if the links on any one page do not make sense/make for easy orientation -- you will damage the visitors experience by disorientating them... so plan well.

2. Do I need to worry about anchor text of links to pages within my site?

In association with the above -- yes and always add a title="" attribute (also called a tool tip or pop text) to the link that is precisely the anchor text or img alt="".

3. Do I need to worry about internal page names within my site?

Yes - title is your friend! Always attempt to keep pages "themed" together - adjacently linked - as the weight of title on one page will pull up the weight of a "linked to" (and vice versa).

example: mainpage titled Diving Sites linked to three pages and each links back...

Diving in Florida // Diving Sites in Cuba // Books on Diving Sites

Each title and link supports the weight of the "link to" page.

4. Do I need to limit the amount of outgoing links to other sites so as not to dilute PR on my pages. (I only know what PR stands for but haven't a clue on how to increase this. My site has a measly 6 out of 10, so you can see where I am coming from)

I wouldn't worry too much about lost PageRank from linking out... but make it count for the lost you do take in visitors leaving (a greater issue than lost PR).

Link to prime sites (authorities) in your topical page interests not just some joe-smo that is doing a link exchange. If you want to really make an impact develop a directory in a sub-domain for link exchanges - or a different site and have the sponsor of that directory your primary website! :-)

5. Do I have benefits to my site by linking to other sites? I am not going to link for the sake of linking...I want my site to be useful to my customers, but I don't want to link improperly in a way that cut hurt my standings with the engines.

Answered above - but if you want usefulness to customers as well develop a forum in another sub-domain or a different site and have the sponsor of that forum your primary website! :-)

A forum could be as simple as an active FAQ archive but could grow to be something like WebProWorld.

Any other advice about proper SEO for a site redesign would be great.

Greatest benefits of the directory - no primary site cluster/confusions, and all acceptable links add value to the directory which adds value to your primary site without you searching for links... time saver.

Greatest benefits of the forum - content development by the masses (if you work at it) which can be article starts / newsletter info for your primary site which adds value to your primary site without you doing all the work... time saver.

Sorry Michael you need to ask the questions first! :-)

Rod

[Gravitate]

Fathom, Thanks for the thorough response.

Ok, now I think I have an idea of the basics. Let me pose a more specific question. I am a web design company and I have offices in Portland, Oregon, Washington DC, Atlanta, New York and Phoenix. I want to market our firm as if we are local in all 5 locations, but am afraid I will dilute my site by trying to market to each of these locales because that means I have 5 times the amount of keywords to deal with (portland web design, portland website design then atlanta web design and atlanta website design, etc).

When I first started this, I purchased 5 domains, atlantawebsitedesign.info, washingtonwebsitedesign, etc (I had read that having keywords in the URL mattered, but I have read otherwise since then). I built 5 sites that were similar in appearance but with different text catering to the local market. My goal was to appear in the Google results for each of the keyword phrases like "New york web design", "Atlanta Web Design", etc. I was not going to interlink the sites (re: I wasn't trying to do shady linking scheme to build PR), but just couldn't figure out how to market locally without having specific sites targeted to each locale.

After reading a lot of posts I am starting to "rethink" my strategy. Perhaps it is better to have one site, my main gravitatedesign site with subdirectories like gravitatedesign/portland-web-design.htm, gravitatedesign/washingtondc-web-design, etc. If I went with this approach, I would have the following questions:

1. Should I use all of my locales in the title tag of my main index.htm page. Something like "Web design company with offices in Portland, New York, Washington, and Atlanta." I would provide a link from this page that would link to individual pages like portland-web-design.htm. My concern here is it seems that the title tag on the index page is wordy and I think I have read that the shorter more specific the title tag is the more weight to the targeted keyword. Which leads me to my next idea..

2. On my index.htm use a more general title tag like "Web Design, Print Design..serving the U.S." Then I would have this page link to my 4 or 5 local pages where they would be keyword rich in the body and the title tag.

3. I have my site listed in several web design directories. Regardless of which direction I take above, should I have all of these directories point to my main index.htm page, or should I have for instance my directory about Portland web designers point to my "portland-web-design.htm" page, and my Atlanta directory point to my "atlanta-web..." At first I thought it was more important to have everyone link through to my index page, but maybe that is not the best way.

That is probably a good starting point. I don't want to ask so many questions as to scare anyone away.

Happy New Year!
Michael

[fathom]

I didn't thoroughly go through all - but post your offices (city/state) around your copyright statement...
e.g. offices in Seattle Washington - Chicago Illinois - New York New York - etc. and have available on every page...

Now simply promote web design / website design and forget the location.

Develop a local city directory (for each location) and have it sponsored by "you" - you can do this as a sub-directory or separate site but develop the link exchanges and sponsor link points to your primary site:

Sponsored by Company Name Chicago Illinois Office

Often people attempt to target a whole phrase some service in some location and this is in fact extremely specific - and no real need to target the whole thing (phrase) in one swoop.

A good example of this is my own site:

eMarketing nova scotia

I never targeted nova scotia - I just made sure it was on written on all pages... admittedly web design is far more competitive - thus the rational of the city directory to add local weight.