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4. Index Status

How many of your website's pages does Google actually have indexed? To discover the answer to this question, simply head to the Index Status section of your Search Console. You'll be presented with a number (e.g. Total indexed: 100), along with a line graph showing how your site's index status has fluctuated over the past 12 months.

If this graph shows a sharp drop, you may need to do some further investigation to find out why. If you've recently removed a lot of pages from your site, then the drop may not be a problem - it could simply mean that Google is no longer indexing all those old URLs that no longer exist. Conversely, it may be that Google has de-indexed large swathes of your site because it decided that a lot of your pages were too similar to one another, in which case you'll need to do some work on your site copy in order to get everything indexed again!

5. Crawl Errors

When Googlebot attempts to crawl one of your pages and something goes wrong, this is where you'll be told about it. Search Console's Crawl Errors section lists:

• 'Not found' URLs (i.e. URLs on your site that go to 404 error pages)
• 'Server error' URLs (i.e. URLs on your site that trigger a server error)
• Blocked URLs (i.e. URLs on your site that Googlebot is blocked from accessing)
• 'Soft' 404 errors (i.e. URLs that don't exist, but don't return a 404 error for some reason)

When an old URL shows up in the Crawl Errors section, it often means that there's still a link to it somewhere, even though the page itself has been taken down. You may also see misspelled URLs here if somebody typed your page's URL wrong when they linked to you. This is another section that it's really important to check frequently, especially if you have a large ecommerce website with a large, ever-changing range of products on it - errors can pile up very quickly on sites like these, fast becoming totally unmanageable!

We've seen a lot of articles in the last few months with titles like this:

"Yes, SEO Really is Dead!"

"Stop Doing SEO - It Doesn't Work Anymore"

"SEO is over. Here's the new way to get your site seen!"

Invariably, these pieces will talk about the supposed demise of search engine optimisation as a worthwhile practice. They use the following arguments to convince readers that SEO is, indeed, a thing of the past:

• Link-building doesn't work anymore. Seeking out links from external websites used to be a huge part of SEO, but inbound links are no longer an automatic guarantee of high rankings - these days, quality is far more important than quantity, and it can be very difficult to manufacture a really good link to your own site. Also, Google are getting much better at spotting unnatural and/or manipulative links and punishing the sites on the receiving end; this has put an end to linkbuilding as an effective means of boosting rankings, or so some bloggers would have you believe.
  
  
• Keywords are more complicated than ever before. Once upon a time, you could achieve high rankings for a search term like 'cheap sofas' by simply mentioning 'cheap sofas' a hundred times in your site copy. Nowadays, the system is a lot more complex - search engines are aware of things like synonyms, closely related topics, and a whole variety of other ranking factors that don't have anything to do with keyword density. Also, Google and their competitors have learned to spot keyword-stuffed content from a mile away, and the penalties for this can be just as severe as the slap you'll get for dodgy link-building.
  
  
• Sites should be optimised for users, not search engine bots. The problem with a lot of old SEO practices (particularly keyword stuffing) was their tendency to make things unpleasant for the user. You can write a 500 word essay that uses the phrase 'best mobile phones' in every other sentence if you so desire, but even if it ranks highly, it's not going to make especially riveting reading; in fact, all of that keyword stuffing might well make it harder for your customers to find the information they need. Nowadays, a good user experience is valued above high rankings, and since aggressive SEOing can quite easily get in the way of a strong UE, those practices no longer have a place on most websites.

Now, these are some good points - keyword stuffing and link farming do more harm than good, and we would certainly advise any webmaster to stay well away from these practices if they value their site traffic. But SEO isn't just the black hat stuff; those three letters may have picked up some negative connotations over the years, but search engine optimisation is still alive and well, and if you want your website to have any kind of presence on Google, Yahoo! and Bing, you absolutely must take it into consideration.

First of all, you need to stop viewing SEO as a shady effort to fraudulently boost a site's rankings. SEO is actually a very important part of website design, and it starts with the code itself - our developers have spent the last decade building sites in a way that's easy for Google and other search engines to digest. We also work hard to create lightning-fast pages, user-friendly functionality, and so much more; all of this is as much a part of SEO as strategic keyword placement.

But we won't bore you with an in-depth dissection of good quality code. Instead, allow us to address the points above, and demonstrate why SEO remains very much alive:

• Links are still important. Building a lot of low-quality links to your site is unlikely to do much for your rankings nowadays, but remember what we said about quality and quantity? That's an important thing to bear in mind - Google themselves have stated that inbound links are still a major part of their algorithm, it's just that they're now more interested in the value of your links than in how many you've amassed. Of course, since artificial links can land a site in very hot water, it's better to focus your SEO efforts on creating a site that encourages people to link unsolicited - make it easy to link, and make sure you provide something that's worth linking to. This is what really impresses search engines at the moment.
  
  
• Keywords still have their place. Modern SEO demands a rather less ham-fisted approach to keyword placement, but that doesn't mean you should forget about keywords altogether. When creating your website, think about the search terms you would like each page to show up for, and then tailor your copy and any other content to those keywords. Make sure you're providing potential users with the clear information and the useful resources that they are likely to be looking for, and this will make each page's purpose clear to search engines as well.
  
  
• User optimisation and SEO are, in many ways, the same thing. User optimisation makes your site more appealing to humans. Search engine optimisation makes your site more appealing to search engines. These two practices are very closely related, especially as search engines get smarter and more capable of thinking like humans. The articles we've read always tell you to forget about SEO and concentrate on the user experience, but this is misleading - they are two equally important undertakings that will yield sizeable rewards if done properly in tandem.

To answer that million dollar question, then: no, SEO isn't dead, it's just different to what it was a few years ago. Mind you, this shouldn't surprise anyone (least of all the type of people who are liable to write 'SEO is Dead!' aritcles) - SEO has been an ever-changing entity since day one, but none of its transformations have ever negated its usefulness as a practice. In fact, as web designers, optimising for search engines is one of our most important jobs!

The winner of The Apprentice 2012, and business partner to multi-millionaire business magnate Lord Alan Sugar, is Ricky Martin. Shortly after winning the Apprentice Ricky began work on the website for his new business with Designer Websites.

The brief from Ricky was to design and develop a highly functional and very professional website to represent Hyper Recruitment Solutions. The website itself would specialise in science jobs, science and technology being a field of considerable expertise for Ricky himself. The website would fully integrate with their chosen recruitment software solution, to make managing and posting jobs on the website automated and easy.

When we learned that Ricky wanted to work with Designer Websites to develop the HRS website we were most pleased and honoured. We immediately began work on planning and designing what we now feel is the best recruitment website on the Internet.

“We chose Designer Websites over many other companies for the HRS website because they have a great track record and obviously have the skills to produce a high quality website, which was absolutely imperative for this venture. Working alongside Lord Sugar is a great privilege, but it comes with very high expectations, so choosing the website developer required much consideration. Thankfully we chose the right web developer and our website is proof of this. Designer Websites completed the work on time, to expectations and without fuss. The team at Designer Websites were easy to work with, full of ideas and extremely cooperative in all areas of the project. We now have an excellent working relationship and hope to continue working together in the future. HRS would like to thank Designer Websites for all their hard work and for producing an excellent website for our business.”

Ricky Martin BSc (Hons) MIRP CertRP MRSC
Managing Director of Hyper Recruitment Solutions

The Apprentice, of course, is the wildly popular television programme in which aspiring young entrepreneurs battle it out for a chance to become a 50:50 business partner with Lord Sugar who would invest £250,000 in to their company.

With Hyper Recruitment Solutions, Ricky Martin is aiming to provide a specialised, professional and highly compliant recruitment service for the science and technology industries. Jobseekers and employers alike will find the HRS recruitment website incredibly useful; applicants can find science jobs with some of the biggest names in the industry, while companies can use the website to recruit highly qualified candidates. It’s a great deal for both parties, so whether you’re looking for employment or looking to recruit some talented new employees, Ricky Martin and the HRS recruitment website can help.

We’re thrilled to have been given this opportunity – it isn’t often that you get to work with such high-profile clients. Apprentice winner or not, we think that Ricky Martin has come up with a brilliant business idea, and we know that he and Lord Sugar have worked hard to bring Hyper Recruitment Solutions to life. We’ve been working hard too, and we know that the HRS recruitment website that we’ve developed will be up to their high standards.

The site went live today; you can find it at www.hyperec.com.

Cardiff Airport Taxis - Bay Cars

These are the 2 websites that we have recently launched for a Cardiff-based taxi and executive cars company. We actually developed the first version of websites for the taxi company way back in 2005, so this time we have just refreshed the websites to make them look even better than before!

We have all personally used the company for taxis and can vouch for the professionalism of the company. They are very reliable and extremely courteous and professional.

So if you are looking for a taxi in the cardiff area or need a taxi from cardiff airport, then look no further..

Cardiff Airport Taxis - Bay Cars 

Many companies believe that a choice must be made between usability and website SEO, with many people believing that one element has to be sacrificed for the sake of the other. Needless to say the goals of website SEO and usability are polarised, but that doesn’t mean they have to be mutually exclusive. With keen eye for functionality an experienced website developer will bring to the table, it is simple to produce a website that satisfies customers and search engines alike.

In days gone by pages produced for the purpose of website SEO were filled with text that contained a high density of keywords which often made the copy a little disjointed. Website SEO has changed drastically over the years, and now, with the assistance of a professional SEO copywriter it is possible to merge keywords with punchy text that attracts rather than deters your customer base.

So what elements should you consider when balancing usability with website SEO?

• Title tags and headings – this is one of the most important factors to get right to strike the perfect balance between SEO and usability. The title tag plays an integral part in website SEO, but it is also the first thing a user is going to see, so it has to be readable and explain accurately what the page will do. A good title tag should focus on only one to two keywords, and still make sense to readers. Every page of your website should have a different title tag.

• Usability testing – this plays an integral part in determining the user experience and how simple it is to navigate your site. Any findings which illustrate the poor usability of your site should be addressed immediately, even above website SEO considerations. If the usability of your site falls below the mark, the amount of traffic SEO helps you to attract will be for irrelevant, as poor usability will quickly lead visitors to look elsewhere.

• Keyword use – keywords should be used in the right places in the meta data as well as throughout the body copy of your page. However, don’t be tempted to indulge in keyword spamming as this not only effects usability, it is also likely to be detrimentally to website SEO as the search engines will regard the page as ‘spam’, which will hinder your rankings for the targeted keywords. Anything around 3% is the sort of keyword density you should be looking to achieve.

This is only a brief insight into the intricate balancing act between website SEO and usability, with many other factors also playing a part. For further information about usability and website SEO, please call the experienced website developers here at Designer Websites on 0845 272 6813.