WHEN SEARCH MEETS WEB USABILITY SHARI THUROW AND NICK MUSICA When Search Meets Web Usability Shari Thurow and Nick Musica New Riders 1249 Eighth Street Berkeley, CA 94710 510/524-2178 510/524-2221 (fax) Find us on the web at www.newriders.com To report errors, please send a note to [email protected] New Riders is an imprint of Peachpit Press, a division of Pearson Education Copyright © 2009 by Shari Thurow and Nick Musica Project Editor: Nancy Peterson Development Editor: Robyn G. Thomas Technical Editors: Anne Kennedy and John Sorfl aten Production Coordinator: Myrna Vladic Copy Editor: Doug Adrianson Compositor: David Van Ness Marketing Manager: Glenn Bisignani Indexer: Valerie Perry Cover and interior design: Mimi Heft Cover photo: Francois Roux Cover production: Mike Tanamachi Notice of Rights All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. For information on getting permission for reprints and excerpts, contact [email protected]. Illustrations courtesy of ToonClipart.com © 2009. All rights reserved. Notice of Liability The information in this book is distributed on an “As Is” basis without warranty. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of the book, neither the authors nor Peachpit shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the instructions contained in this book or by the computer software and hardware products described in it. Trademarks Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and Peachpit was aware of a trademark claim, the designations appear as requested by the owner of the trademark. All other product names and services identifi ed throughout this book are used in editorial fashion only and for the benefi t of such companies with no intention of infringement of the trademark. No such use, or the use of any trade name, is intended to convey endorsement or other affi liation with this book. ISBN 13: 978-0-321-60589-4 ISBN 10: 0-321-60589-6 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed and bound in the United States of America Dedications To our parents: Dale and Edwin Thurow Susan and Nicholas Musica And in loving memory: Big Jim Schultz Donald Londrie Jack Wendt Tierney Smutny This page intentionally left blank V (cid:2) ABOUT THE AUTHORS Shari Thurow is the founder and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Director for Omni Marketing Interactive, a full-service search engine optimization, web design, and website usability fi rm. As the leading expert on search-engine-friendly web design, Shari lectures on this topic and works for many fi rms worldwide. She is also the author of Search Engine Visibility (New Riders, 2007), which teaches web developers how to build a site that pleases both site visitors and the commercial web search engines. Search Engine Visibility has been translated into French, Japanese, Korean, and Polish. Clients include Microsoft, AOL, Yahoo, National Cancer Institute, HSBC, Expedia, WebMD and MedicineNet.com, ABC News, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and Dow Corning. Additionally, Shari has designed and successfully marketed websites for businesses in fi elds such as medicine, science, biotechnology, account- ing and fi nance, computers and software, manufacturing, real estate, law, e-commerce and online stores, art and design, marketing, insurance, employment, education, and travel. Shari has been featured in many publications, including the New York Times, USA Today, Wired Magazine, Entrepreneur, Internet Retailer, andCrain’s Chicago Business. Shari received her B.A. in Genetics and Developmental Biology and an M.A. in Asian Studies/Japanese from University of Illinois. When she is not busy being a search geek, Shari is a die-hard Metallica fan, loves traveling to Iceland, and is not convinced that surfboards make great wall art. She resides in Elgin, Illinois. Nick Musica has over 10 years experience designing, marketing, and managing websites. He’s the founder of Think Green Media, an Internet marketing fi rm that offers search engine optimization, search marketing, web design, and web usability services. He holds a B.A. in Communication with a concentration in Public Relations and Journalism from Monmouth University and an M.A. in Graphic Communications Management and Technology from New York University (NYU), where he lecturers on web design, search engine market- ing, and web usability. He’s also a Certifi ed Usability Analyst (CUA). Nick has designed and marketed websites for businesses in the fi elds of alternative energy, cosmetics, education, healthcare, fi nance, the nonprofi t sector, retail, technology, and telecom. He’s also a speaker to marketers and business owners on the topics of web design, search marketing, web usability, writing for the web, and search usability. VI When he isn’t working on search usability, you can fi nd Nick surfi ng in the Atlantic Ocean or playing mediocre renditions of ’80s and ’90s songs on his ukulele. For those wondering: Yes, there is surf in New Jersey, yes, surfi ng in mid-February can sometimes get just a little cold, and yes, surfboards make great wall art. (cid:2) CONTRIBUTORS Technical Editors Anne F. Kennedy is a managing partner and founder of Beyond Ink. With nearly 40 years’ experience in marketing and public relations, Anne founded Beyond Ink in 1997 to bring the fundamental principles of marketing communications to online media. A search engine marketer for more than 10 years, she is an industry thought leader, sought-after speaker, and writer worldwide. Currently, Anne represents professional SEO fi rms on the Search Engine Strategies (SES) Domestic Advisory Board, an infl uential group of business professionals from various industries and fi elds of expertise selected to propel the search industry forward. In 2001 she launched SEOnews.net to foster better understanding of the emerging search marketing platform and opportunities to a growing market of potential customers. Beyond Ink uses ethical principles of effective marketing commu- nications to achieve critical third-party endorsements in popular, highly visible portals such as Google, MSN, Yahoo, and other top search media for clients, which include large household name brands as well as many small businesses, nonprofi ts, and online start-ups. Anne resides in Maine and Oregon, but can always be found at Beyondink.com. John Sorfl aten founded Optimum Performance Training in 1985 after fi ling several patent applications on a Japanese word processing input system. His design recommendations dramatically reduced the keyboard learning process through user-centered design. He then moved into designing usable interfaces as a response to his question “Why train, when you can design it to be usable right away?” John accumulated 20 years of consulting and teaching experience with the largest worldwide user-interface consulting fi rm, Human Factors International (HFI). He taught hundreds of courses supporting VII certifi cation as a Usability Analyst since the inception of the program at HFI (www.humanfactors.com). Since 1992, John has been a Certifi ed Professional Ergonomist, the top professional certifi cation for usability. He fi lls demands as a public speaker, writer, and innovator in social-web and rich interface applications. His redesign of www.ninds.nih.gov won a Best of the Fed award. With a degree in Cinema from the University of Southern California and a Ph.D. in Instructional Design, John provides clients with seasoned advice and user research. This specialization ensures effective integration of video, text, images, and brand moxie for websites. Cover Photography Francois Roux focuses his photography on nature, particularly in Central Park in New York City. Living in New York has provided him the unique opportunity to photograph natural settings and then to step immedi- ately into an urban landscape of unique and historic architecture. His pictures of France have often focused on black and white images of the mountains of Hautes Alpes, the region of southeastern France where he was raised. When Shari and Nick asked Francois to contribute a cover photo- graph for this book, his inclination was to use an architectural image to suggest the convergence of search and usability. What better place to fi nd such an image than at the Rose Center for Earth and Space at New York’s American Museum of Natural History? The building’s contained sphere, itself containing the planetarium, is surfaced in a mesh-like pattern of intersecting rays and concentric circles. This visual pattern lends itself to two-dimensional representation while still suggesting three-dimensional structure. You can see more of his photography at: francois-roux-photography.com. Cartoons Ron Leishman is an illustrator/cartoonist and owner of Toonaday.com and ToonClipart.com. Ron has worked as an illustrator for over 20 years. His work has appeared in greeting cards, magazines, and newspapers, where he worked as an editorial cartoonist for a number of years. Along the way he has created a number of logos for new companies. Earlier in his career, Ron also was co-creator of Captain Canuck, who was published in comic book form for a number of years in the ’70s and ’80s. VIII With the advent of the Internet, Ron moved to the web in 1996 with his site Toonaday.com, for which he has drawn a daily cartoon for the past 13 years and to which he continues to contribute on a daily basis. Recently, he has expanded his offerings with another website called ToonClipart.com. Ron is a resident of Calgary, Alberta, and can be contacted at [email protected]. (cid:2) ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This book took years of testing and experience to create. It also took the knowledge and support of some very important people. Thank you to those directly involved in the creation of this book. To the staff at Peachpit Press—Nancy Peterson and Robyn Thomas for managing this project, for being great sounding boards, and for giving gentle nudges to keep things going. A special thanks goes to Michael Nolan and Doug Adrianson for continuing to work with us on multiple book projects. Thank you to the production and marketing staff at Peachpit for helping to shape this book and getting it out into the world. We extend our heart-felt gratitude to Anne Kennedy and John Sorfl aten, our technical editors, for their much valued feedback and suggestions. Your unique perspectives and encouraging comments on the chapters helped to focus the writing during late-night jam sessions. To Francois Roux, thank you for the many photographs you took during the cover conception phase and for the fi nal photograph that appears on the cover. To Ron Leishman, thank you for bringing the stories in this book to life with your illustrations and for injecting the book with your distinctive brand of visual humor. Thank you to our colleagues whose work with web usability, search usability, search engine optimization, web design and development, copy- writing, information architecture, and more have helped lay the ground- work for books like this. It’s your work, some of which is referenced in this book, we recommend to clients, colleagues, and students. Shari Thurow would like to personally thank her co-author, Nick Musica. Years ago, I knew I needed a co-author to address this complex but fasci- nating topic. I remember constantly saying to you, “Keep writing things down. I know you will use these experiences some time in the future.” Thank you for taking my advice and for being one of my most valued friends and colleagues. IX I would also like to thank the folks at Incisive Media and Search Marketing Expo—Karen DeWeese, Chris Elwell, Stewart Quealy, and Marilyn Crafts—for providing me with a venue to present this topic. You have been wonderful, supportive colleagues and friends. My success in this industry clearly lies with the existence of the commercial web search engines and their vast knowledge of information retrieval and search usability. I extend my heartfelt thanks to my search engine colleagues—Matt Cutts, Jon Glick, Amit Kumar, Tim Mayer, Priyank Garg, Rajat Mukherjee, Amit Singhal, Bryan White, and Michael Yang. And fi nally, my sincerest gratitude goes to the four people who inspire me to continue my lifelong foray into search usability: Danny Sullivan, Chris Sherman, Susan Weinschenk, and Peter Morville. A chance online meeting with Danny in the mid 1990s inspired me to pursue search- engine-friendly web design. And both Susan’s and Peter’s work inspired me to pursue website usability and information architecture as important elements of search-engine-friendly web design. Nick Musica would like to personally thank his friend, colleague, and co-author Shari Thurow. You are a true inspiration and a pleasure to work with. Thank you for your generosity and for inviting me to take this ride with you. Thank you to those indirectly involved in the creation of this book. To my clients and employers along the way who have given me their trust. It’s because of your faith in my abilities that I have been able to grow and learn professionally from the experiences. I’ve been fortunate to work with many people whose infl uence has helped shape my professional life. The list is long, but at the top are Andy Fischler, Tracy Wehringer, Nick Valente, Marc Buro, Cle Scouten, Bonnie Blake, and Shari Thurow. Thank you to my family and friends whose phone calls, emails, and texts were returned later than I would have liked. Thank you for your understanding, support, and the occasional healthy distraction during the writing of this book. Thank you to those who shared in the life experi- ences used to relate some of the concepts in this book. Thank you to those across the border who helped me get away, even if it was just for the day. And thank you to those on two and four legs who dropped by to see how things were going and let me know when the Atlantic was calling. And last but not least, to users who aren’t afraid to “think out loud,” thank you for showing me what only you can show.