SEO With Xara Web Designer 7 Premium

[BDM]

Hello All.

Just wondering if we can edit the raw HTML code behind a Web Designer created site.

I tried it with a test site, just editing the code in "view source" of the exported "see it in a browser" view. It worked but the changes were erased when I went back into the app.

What will happen when I create the actual HTML files?
I know I can go into them after they are created and put in <b></b> to make keywords bold, etc.
Will the app destroy all those manual changes if I try to edit with it after the fact?

Thanks
B

[Drwyd]

Hi BDM

The HTML export filter is a one way trip. There is unfortunately no way to re-import code that has been edited.

[BDM]

So you're saying that if I leave the code exactly as it is when created with Xara that we can reimport it and edit it in Xara, but if editing outside of Xara, we cannot?

Thanks again.
B

[Big Frank]

You cannot import a web page created in Xara back into Xara. All you can do is open the XAR file that created the page in the first place and continue to edit it. As has been said above, it's a one-way process. Xara is not an html editor, but that's not to say you can't tweak your HTML using Xara. For the difficult bits like php code there is a way round this if you are prepared to use placeholders to tweak your SEO content that cannot be tweaked in any other way. But, I've not found Xara to be an impediment to SEO, but as with all things it gets easier the more you do it. The most important thing to do which requires no workarounds is to ALT all of your images and TITLE those elements that do not give you the option of ALT. For the rest, remember that content is king and remember to pass your web pages through a text-only browser like Lynx so that you can check what content is not visible to search engines and make the appropriate changes. Create Google site maps and add them into the head using the head code facility and, even though you could say it's fairly deprecated by now, use keywords as well, if only to remind you of the key points your page should be optimised for. Make proper use of page descriptions and and page titles and use large format text (not graphic) headings and subheading and use bullet points and bold to emphasis the important key points of your pages. Remember to optimise pages instead of optimising your website. The standard guidelines that apply to hand-coded pages apply just as much to Xara-created pages and, frankly, people who say you cannot SEO a Xara-created website are barking into their porridge. And let's face it, people with porridge down their chin and over the front of their shirt just look plain silly!

[BDM]

Wow!
Great thoughts Frank.
Thanks.

The only reason that I'm curious and asked my question was that I bolded a would be keyword to see how Xara handled the code.
From what I saw it coded the keyword as a CSS class so the bold command was in the external CSS file and would not be seen by Search Engine Spiders.