earch engine optimization for today's search engine robots requires
that sites be well-designed and easy-to-navigate. To a great degree,
organic search engine optimization is simply an extension of best
practices in web page design. SEO's relationship with web design is a
natural one. By making sites simple and easily accessible, you are
providing the easiest path for the search engine robots to index your
site, at the same time that you are creating the optimum experience
for your human visitors.
This approach ties well into the notion of long-term search engine
marketing success. Rather than trying to "psych out" the ever-changing
search engine algorithms, build pages that have good text and good
links. No matter what the search engines are looking for this month or
next, they will always reward good content and simple navigation.
Search Engine Robots
Search engine robots are automated programs that go out on the World
Wide Web and visit web pages. They read the text on a page and click
through links in order to travel from page to page. What this really
means is that they "read" or collect information from the source code
of each page. Depending on the search engine, the robots typically
pick up the title and meta description. The robots then go on to the
body text of the page in the source code. They also pay attention to
certain tags such as headings and alt text. Search engine robots have
capabilities like first-generation browsers at best: no scripting, no
frames, no Flash. When designing, think simple.
Search Engine Friendly Design
Creating search engine friendly design is relatively easy. Cut out all
the bells and whistles and stick to simple architecture. Search engine
robots "understand" text on the page and hyperlinks, especially text
links. The relationship of SEO and web design makes sense when you
start with good design techniques for your visitor. The easier the
navigation and the more text on the page, the better it is not only
for the visitor but also for the search engine robots.
Obstacles For Indexing Web Pages
Search engine robots cannot "choose" from drop down lists, click a
submit button, or follow JavaScript links like a human visitor. In
addition, the extra code necessary to script your pages or create
those lists can trip-up the search engine robots while they index your
web page. The long JavaScript in your source code means the search
engine robots must go through all this code to finally reach the text
that will appear on your page. Offload your JavaScript and CSS code
for quicker access to your source code by the search engine robots,
and faster loading time for your online visitors. Some search engine
robots have difficulty with dynamically-generated pages, especially
those with URLs that contain long querystrings. Some search engines,
such as Google, index a portion of dynamically generated pages, but
not all search engines do. Frames cause problems with indexing and are
generally best left out of design for optimum indexing. Web pages
built entirely in Flash can present another set of problems for
indexing.
Depth Of Directories
Search engine robots may have difficulty reaching deeper pages in a
website. Aim to keep your most important pages no more than one or two
"clicks" away from your home page. Keep your pages closer to the root
instead of in deeply-nested subdirectories. In this way you will be
assured the optimum indexing of your web pages. Just as your website
visitor may become lost and frustrated in too many clicks away from
your homepage, the robots may also give up after multiple clicks away
from the root of your site.
Solutions And Helpful Techniques
If there are so many problems with indexing, how will you ever make it
work?
The use of static pages is the easiest way to ensure you will be
indexed by the search engine robots. If you must use
dynamically-generated pages, there are techniques you can use to
improve the chances of their being indexed. Use your web server's
rewrite capabilities to create simple URLs from complex ones. Use
fixed landing pages including real content, which in turn will list
the links to your dynamic pages. If you must use querystrings in your
page addresses, make them as short as possible, and avoid the use of
"session id" values.
When using Flash to dress up your pages, use a portion of Flash for an
important message, but avoid building entire pages using that
technology. Make sure that the search engine robots can look at all of
the important text content on your pages. You want your message to get
across to your human visitor as well. Give them enough information
about your product to interest them in going the next step and
purchasing your product.
If you must use frames, be sure to optimize the "no frames" section of
your pages. Robots can't index framed pages, so they rely on the no
frames text to understand what your site is about. Include JavaScript
code to reload the pages as needed in the search engine results page.
Got imagemaps and mouseover links? Make sure your pages include text
links that duplicate those images, and always include a link back to
your homepage.
Use a sitemap to present all your web pages to the search engine
robots, especially your deeper pages. Make sure you have hyperlink
text links on your page, and a sentence or two describing each page
listed, using a few of your keyword phrases in the text.
Remember that the search engine robots "read" the text on your web
page. The more that your content is on-topic and includes a reasonable
amount of keyword-rich text, the more the search engine robot will
"understand" what the page is about. This information is then taken
back to the search engine database to eventually become part of the
data you see in the search engine results.
Last of all, it is very important to test your pages for validation.
Errors from programming code and malformed html can keep the search
engine robots from indexing your web pages. Keep your coding clean.
Check List For Success
- Include plenty of good content in text on your web pages
- Incorporate easy to follow text navigation
- Serve up dynamically generated pages as simply as possible
- Offload JavaScript and other non-text code (style sheets, etc.) to
external files
- Add a sitemap for optimum indexing of pages
- Validate your pages using the World Wide Web Consortium's validation
tool, or other html validator
On Your Way To Indexed Pages
The best way to assure that your pages will be indexed is to keep them
simple. This type of architecture not only helps the search engine
robots, but makes it easier for your website visitors to move
throughout your site. Don't forget to provide plenty of good content
on your pages. The search engine robots and your visitors will reward
you with return visits.
Resources
To learn more about how to work around optimization problems with
JavaScript, dynamically-generated pages, Frames and Flash, read the
following articles:
Daria Goetsch is the founder and Search Engine Marketing Consultant
for Search Innovation Marketing, a
Search Engine Promotion company serving small businesses. She has
specialized in search engine optimization since 1998, including three
years as the Search Engine Specialist for O'Reilly & Associates, a
technical book publishing company.
