What SEO topics would you cover if teaching a College webdesign class?

[BCutrer]

Later this month I am guest teaching a class on best SEO practices for web designers at a local College. I wanted to see what topics others would include if you were doing an overview.

[SEOAndy]

How a customer would interact with a website and how design can influence actions and conversions (use of site-wide contact forms etc...) is probably the main one for designers.

Making sure everything is simple and a customer isn't more than 3 clicks away from a conversion.

[activitysuper]

Researching potential terms, best practises for targeting the terms onsite & offsite, tracking and analysing the data uncovered to expand the SEO campaign.

[KevinBudzynski]

Key component is tracking and usability. Specifically, what metrics to measure and fine-tuning of seo strategies to meet the objectives of the site.

I would also go into great detail on keywords research and implementation.

[CMC-SD]

An overview of on-page factors, the downside of using flash, and how bounce rate can influence rankings.

[EGOL]

The top ten ways dumb designers kill business websites.

[JamesSnipes]

You should take a look at this thesis statement examples !  There is all you need to know!