Understanding Heuristics

Understanding Heuristics
If you’re going to maintain a web site with the best search engine optimization possible, you will
have to be familiar with “heuristics.” This is simply a term for recognizing a pattern and being able
to solve a problem or come to a conclusion quickly and efficiently by consulting what you already
know about that particular pattern.
In other words, using heuristics is a way to solve a problem, although it’s not always the most accurate
way. Heuristics are important in search engine optimization because they allow for variations
in the way that users search for a particular keyword or keyphrase. Because a combination of factors
must come together to create a ranking for your web site, heuristics make it possible for some,
but not all, of those factors to be present.
The Greeks had a word for it. The root of the adjective “heuristic” comes from their
term for “invent” or “discover.” “Heuristics” has come to mean a way of education or
computer programming that proceeds by experiment or observation, rather than theory, and sometimes
employs “rules of thumb” to find solutions or answers. We all act “heuristically” every day.
An example: Let’s say you run a travel-planning web site. If a web user is searching for “springtime
vacations,” a search engine crawler will visit many sites, with varying keywords, keyword placement,
and keyword density. In effect, it will give each a score, calculated on a baseline for relevance. It may
find one site with the phrase “some writers get their best ideas in springtime or while on vacation.”
But it won’t score that site high, because it doesn’t meet baseline criteria very well. The keywords are
separated and the context is wrong. Also, links from that site are unlikely to support the idea of planning
a springtime vacation. The search engine likes your travel-planning web site better, because it
has a lot to say about “springtime vacations.”
But the crawler doesn’t stop with your site, and it doesn’t look just at the words in your links,
although it helps if those say “springtime” and “vacation,” not something vague like “trips.” But the
crawler will actually go to your links to see if they’re really helpful for the user who wants something
about “springtime vacations.” If your links are irrelevant to that, the crawler may decide you’re running
a “link farm,” designed to catch its attention without really delivering. But if a high percentage
of your links really are related to springtime vacationing — travel information, garden shows, trips to
tulip festivals — then the crawler may score you high and put your site high on the list it compiles
for the user. That user, after all, is the crawler’s customer — and also, you hope, yours.
The crawler has operated “heuristically,” making its best judgments at each stage of the process.
Keywords apply to heuristics because they provide the pattern by which a problem (that is, the
search) is solved. Why do you need to know all of this? Because understanding the pattern by
which your site is ranked will help you to understand just how important it is to properly choose
and place keywords that will improve your search engine ranking. Think of it (as in the preceding Tip) as a rule of thumb. Heuristics provides a working guideline
by which a search term is ranked. However, it’s important to remember that rankings are achieved
through a complex combination of factors, not all of which are completely predictable. So, these
guidelines are just that — but they help you set a standard for how you plan to use keywords.
Heuristics for web-site usability were first established by Jacob Nielsen in 1990. At the time, he developed
a list of ten items that when included in web-site design would make the site more usable for
individuals. In 1994, Nielsen updated that list of heuristics so that it now includes the following items:
Visibility of system status: This principle says that the user should always know what’s
going on through feedback from the system that’s provided in a timely manner.
Match between the system and the real world: According to this, the system should
speak the user’s language. This means that keywords, phrases, and concepts should be
used in a way that is familiar to the user and not be just technical or marketing buzzwords.
User control and freedom: This principle says that users often mistakenly make choices
they don’t really want. For that reason, it’s essential to have the ability to undo or redo an
action. A good example of this is having back and forward buttons in a web browser.
Consistency and standards: Each time users click a button or see a word, they should
not have to wonder what that action or word means. Consistency and standards apply to
both languages and actions, and should be predictable across the Internet.
Error prevention: Users are frustrated by errors. Therefore, you should design your
site with the prevention of errors in mind. However, if there is a place where users might
encounter an error, using a confirmation system is recommended.
Recognition rather than recall: Don’t make users remember things from one screen or
dialog to another. Instead, create your pages with clearly visible instructions, actions, and
objects. If you must create an element that requires additional instructions, make those
instructions easy to access and clearly mark them as instructions.
Flexibility and efficiency of use: This principle applies to both novice users and experienced
users of your site. According to this rule, your site should apply to both groups of
users by providing customizable actions.
Aesthetic and minimalist design: Remember the adage KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid)?
Well, your users may not be stupid, but they still want you to keep your site as simple as
possible. If your products, services, or information are complicated to locate, you’ll lose
site visitors very quickly. They’ll go to a site where it’s easy to find what they’re looking for.
Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors: Users want error messages
that help them navigate through and correct the error as quickly as possible. Make sure that
error messages aren’t cryptic, and provide clear, easy-to-follow instructions.
Help and documentation: It’s always best not to have to refer users to help and documentation
files. But there are some instances when you must. If that’s the case for your site, be
sure your help and documentation files are easy to navigate and written in a clear, understandable
language.