David Fiske Affiliate marketing & web development musings from Fiske Towers

Let's talk SEO as it determines everything non-script related.

We've already discussed urls and have opted for a "url/recipe-id-title.html" structure. The benefit of this is that the keywords (presumably the recipe name) will feature in the URL. Some say it's not important. I prefer nice tidy urls over "url/recipe.php?recipe=1".

So what else do we need?
 
We need a dash of H1 and H2 tags. The H1 tag should be used to display the page title. If the page is about a Raspberry Cheesecake, the title tag and H1 tag should contain the words "Raspberry Cheesecake".

I would then use H2 tags to identify new sections (i.e. Ingredients, Recipe, etc.).

Content is your most crucial component so I would write very descriptive explanations and instructions. Bear in mind who will be searching for the recipes. What are they after? Are they after a recipe for themselves or someone else? Are they really looking for ready-made cakes or are they trying to identify rogue ingredients in one they already have?

Don't forget your template meta description and keyword tags and use these wisely. They should be full and descriptive.

That's about it. As a basic, you should have the H1 and H2 tags ordered correctly. Fancy URLs are down to preference. Content is key.

Also remember to test and adapt. Content affiliates (as opposed to PPC affiliates) rely 100% on word of mouth and search engines. Keep a close eye on your search logs and try to identify potential content (recipes). If people are searching a lot for Blueberry Muffins and land on your Blueberry Cheesecake recipe, they've not found what they were looking for. They are demanding a recipe you haven't got. How quickly can you get one online?

Another bug bear is code validation. I try wherever possible (especially when building Price Tapestry Templates) to test the site in as many browsers and make sure it meets the W3C rules on XHTML Validation, CSS Validation and RSS Validation. Over time, rogue content formatting can mess with your validation though for a long while now, all of my sites validated when first launched. Browsershots is a fantastic site to get an idea of what your site looks like on other computer systems.

Finally, bear in mind that SEO is subjective. It revolves around content so if your content is poor, no matter how good your layout or tags are, you're not going to get far, hence why data feed based sites can take a long time to get decent traffic.