[IxDA Discuss] SEO and Usability

[Mark Schraad]

Todd,

You are of course right. To design a site with no regard for how  
people might find it... in other words to not pay attention to  
optimization is just irresponsible. The problem for me is more about  
the culture that I work (AOL) than a realistic argument regarding  
SEO. Until 18 months ago we were not a true open web environment and  
very little attention was paid to search engines. Now, it is like  
finding free money. At the moment many design decisions are trumped  
by search potential for expanding our user base (which remarkably, is  
rapidly expanding). So I am always looking to fortify my defense of  
the user experience.

Mark


On Jan 3, 2008, at 4:28 PM, Todd Roberts wrote:

> To pose a tangential question, if you have a design optimized for  
> the user
> but nobody comes across it, is the design successful? Assuming that  
> SEO and
> user optimization won't lead to identical designs, is there a  
> tradeoff that
> can be made between a design's findability (SEO) and its user  
> optimization?
> The overall effects would be measurable using whatever success  
> measures the
> business is interested in - conversions, stickiness, etc.
>