When we sit down with new clients and discuss the status of their web site they are often shocked when we inform them that their site is not 'search engine friendly'. We then explain that this means their site has a particular problem that is hindering search engine rankings. Often this is represented by poor design, overuse of advanced technologies, or simply a bad navigation system. As a result they are unlikely to attain competitive search engine rankings - and that's normally why they called us in the first place!
The following is checklist designed to help you gauge the search engine friendliness of your website and, if you are in the midst of planning a website this checklist will help you avoid the common pitfalls of unfriendly designs.
Technologies
First consider what technologies your website is using. There are certain technologies that require a little more hand holding than others to ensure search engine compatibility.
1. FRAMES
Lets start with this oldie. Luckily, frames are becoming a way of the past what with the use of newer coding and layout techniques. The long and the short of it is that if you have Frames on your website then you are starting off at a disadvantaged position that cannot be truly search engine friendly no matter what you do.
2. FLASH
Some poeple claim that Flash has become search engine friendly and you no longer have to worry about its search engine issues. Frankly, we have not seen real-life proof of this to a respectable degree yet so we still consider it a kiss of death for websites designed solely in Flash.
3. Search Engine 'Unfriendly' Dynamic URL's
Unfriendly dynamic URL's are a common side effect of using a Content Management System that is not designed with search engine rankings kept in mind. Here are some examples of some unfriendly URL's:
Sample 1: http://www.mydomain.com/myproducts.php&354=prod333&subproduct
Sample 2: http://www.surfboardsatsea.com/boards/filename.php?
id=F98ZF4&productId=39222§ion=wicked&brand=582&template=532
These URLs are problematic because a search engine may consider these addresses too complex to spider. Why too complex? Suffice it to say that the more complex the URL, the higher the chance that a search engine robot will consider the content too dynamic to read; it changes too often to be valuable to a search engine.
The way around these types of URLs is actually not so difficult; it may only require a small ínvestment of time and monëy. The 'time' will be required when researching which URL fix is right for your system. The monëy may be required to pay a programmer to implement and test the new URLs. Here are how the URLs might look once they are fixed to be search engine friendly:
Sample 1 Fixed:
http://www.mydomain.com/myproducts/354/prod333/subproduct/
Sample 2 Fixed:
http://www.surfboardsatsea.com/boards/wickedboards/39222/board532/
These URLs are better because they do not include the extraneous characters that are so telltale on dynamic websites. In addition, the URLs are designed to appear like normal website directories when in fact they are dynamic URLs.
Important: it is vital that you minimize the length of the URLs that you use. Search engines may stop crawling a website if there appear to be too many subdirectories. The samples above show fixed URLs that have about as many subdirectories as we would recommend (4).
Design
This section focuses on the overall layout and usability of your designs from the perspective of a search engine robot. Search engine friendly design is occasionally quite complex so we have provided a list of the most common issues to consider.
1. Menus
Are the menus on your website spiderable? If not you may be hiding major areas of your website from search engine spiders and missing out on additional search engine rankings.
The fact is there are very few menus out there that a search engine will have a problem following, but there are definitely some worth avoiding. For instance do not use a JavaScrípt Jump Menus as search engines cannot index this type of menu. Also be careful of Flash menus, they look slick but they will impede the progress of a search engine spider especially if they are the only means of navigation within your site.
General Menu Rules
The ideal menu would be text based and each text link would include the keywords you are targeting on the destination page. Setting up a menu with this much forethought requires that you determine the layout and content for your site before web design begins.
Remember, almost every page within your site has a very real opportuníty to gain a top ranking; all you need to do is ensure that the design, content and site structure is optimized. Ensuring that the menu is carefully thought out and designed is a crucial step for top rankings.
Finally, if you are at all uncertain whether your menu is search engine friendly then be certain to back it up with a text menu in the footer of your page using the same keyword targeting principles noted above.
Tech Advice: a simple text menu may be less than desirable for you; in this case we recommend DHTML menus. These menus use text but in a manner that is quite appealing and very search engine friendly.
2. Sitemaps
Sitemaps can dramatically help the visibility of your website by allowing search engine spiders easy access to all of the pages in your site. Place a link to the sitemap on every page within your site to ensure easy access no matter where a search engine or user enters your site.
3. Layout
How you layout your page can make a significant difference in how well your site ranks and ultimately how search engine friendly it is.
Tips for Layout
Search engine robots read a webpage from the top of the source code (the programming that made your page – see "view source" in your browser) all the way to the bottom. As a result, it is important to ensure that both of the following elements are found as close to the beginning of code as possible:
A) A short sentence introducing the topic using the keyword targets you have chosen for the page. B) Your text menu and other navigational aids, or if this is not possible it would be even more beneficial to start with a paragraph or two of relevant content followed by the navigation.
By placing this information near to the top of the page, you will promptly present the search engine robot with relevant text that backs up the page title and backlinks. You will also provide an immediate sitemap of sorts for the search engine to spider, which includes keywords relevant to each page.
4. Splash Pages – Argh !
With the odd exception Splash Pages are a kiss of death for a website because the home page (the first page seen when someone visits your domain), is your most important page. It is often converted into nothing but an excess entry point with little or no relevant content on it. Aside from reducing your chances for ranking, you are also making your visitors take another step to get to content or sales material in your site. Any additional steps you add will lessen the likelihood of a successful sale.
In Summary
Creating a search engine friendly website requires a basic to advanced understanding of how a search engine works, depending on the complexity of the planned website. Complexity aside, the notes above provide a good basis for you to evaluate the friendliness of your website and make changes where necessary.
About The Author
Anthony Fear is Technical Director for Computer Boffins Ltd. Based in London, UK, Computer Boffins provide professional search engine placement and management as well at other I.C.T. professional services to Small and Medium Sized Businesses. Anthony is a search engine optimization and placement expert with over 10 years of web design & promotion experience and is a Certified Internet Marketing and Business Strategist (CIMBS), Microsoft Small Business Specialist, Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE), RedHat Certified Techician (RHCT), Cicso Certified Network Associate (CCNA) and Apple Certified Help Desk Technician (ACHDT).
