Gerry McGovern's blog posting this week cites an interesting study conducted by the Open University in the UK titled "Search is now normal behavior. What do we do about that?"

After all the emphasis on navigation, I've often struggled with this.  The Open University study opens with an often-repeated maxim: "Search represents a failure of navigation."  I couldn't disagree more.

As search engines have become more powerful and better able to deliver relevant results, it's little wonder that it has emerged as the dominant method of finding one's needle in a haystack.

And so it goes that it seems like more emphasis is now placed on search engine optimization than navigation.  In order for search to be effective, content developers need to pay even closer attention to those key words and phrases that resonate with their audience. 

The study finds the classic pattern of "sharp peak, long tail, and persistent themes."  This classic pattern is echoed in our own Carewords research: 

• A small number of popular terms
• A large number of infrequently used terms
• Even in the long tail, the most popular themes persist

A concept like Carewords not only helps you engage visitors once they're at your site, but it can help visitors find your site when using a search engine.  While Carewords are not search terms per se, they are related.  Not all search terms are Carewords, but many Carewords are search terms.

That said; ignore navigation at your peril.  Bad navigation can cause a visitor to click off of your site faster than you can say "Google."

So what does a content manager with limited resources do?  I would spend more time making sure you have relevant content that resonates and the most robust internal search functions you can.  Make sure your basic navigation works, and works well, but don't get wrapped around the axel making sure every little possibility is covered via navigation.

You can read the entire study:

One thing I'm famous for saying is "The Web is all about pointing. If better information exists someplace else - point to it."

Pointing = linking and that's what the Web is all about.

So in that spirit, this week I'm going to direct you to another excellent post by Gerry McGovern about search engine optimization.  The post is entitled Avoiding Search Engine Optimization Madness and focuses, rightly so, on keeping customer focus.

• Focus on the searcher - not the search.
• Do something useful.

Now onto the asking part—

I'm interested in hearing what topics you would like addressed in future posts.

What are your challenges? What are your burning questions? What resources do you need?

And conversely - do you have a success story you'd like to share?

Reply by either posting a comment or shooting me an e-mail.  I'll keep your questions anonymous if you like.  These will take the shape of an old-fashioned advice column.

I removed open commenting from this blog after I was hit with an avalanche of spam.  But you may still post comment to the blog by simply registering.

I'm looking forward to your questions and comments!

Gerry McGovern's newsletter this week is an excellent discussion of how the Web is different from print.   Gerry succinctly outlines 6 ways the Web is different than print, and it echoes my often-repeated statement that the Web is all about pointing.

And speaking of Gerry and Carewords, I held a workshop last week in Davis with a group of Master Gardener coordinators and volunteers on incorporating our Carewords into their Web sites.

We jointly critiqued each Web site, and then made suggestions for content and navigational changes.  This workshop worked well for a variety of reasons - it was hands-on in a small group setting, and all of the participants were working in the same program area.  This last point was key.

If you think this kind of workshop would be of benefit to your group - contact me and we can discuss holding a workshop for you.

One of the workshop participants, David Alosi from the Napa County Master Gardeners, passed along an excellent primer on Search Engine Optimization - written my none other than some folks at Google!

Last week I started reading Search Engine Optimization - An Hour A Day.  This book came to me highly recommended - and so far it has lived up to expectations.

Like one of my other favorite books about the Web Don't Make Me Think, Search Engine Optimization is written in an engaging, conversational style that doesn't talk down to the reader while providing a primer on how search engines and search sites work.

The book is organized into three sections - I've finished the first. And it's the reason I've named this post SEO Plus.  Unless you understand what you want your Web site to do for you in the context of your organizational goals - you can't really get started.  To do this, the authors walk you through a number of exercises to help you answer a number of key questions.  And their related Web site, Your SEO Plan, contains downloadable worksheets to help you as you work through the initial planning stages.

And like Don't Make Me Think, this book is full of insights that make you want to slap your head with a Homer Simpson "Doh!"

For example, as a marketeer I've been focusing on the role of the home page. All the while knowing that since the Web isn't linear, visitors are entering sites from many locations, not just the home page.  Here the authors make a distinction between "landing pages" and "home pages."  Landing pages are pages with key content where you want to focus your SEO efforts.  And landing pages may or may not be the home page.

The lesson here is that if you have a content rich page within a site - a little SEO effort can make that page rank higher in searches - bringing more visitors to your site.

I still think the home page is important - if only for branding and messaging purposes.  But this gives me a rational way to think about how to focus efforts beyond the home page - and a road map for how to get there.