As a search engine marketing consultant, I see a lot of websites that havent been optimized for the search engines. Over the years, I continue to see the same problems with what I call non-optimized websites. Typically, the biggest issues tend to be basic website design elements that are not included when a website is developed, not bad web design. Most search engine optimization problems can be fixed by making sure nothing is overlooked when building a web page.
One reason why I think the internet has been so successful is that website technology has allowed anyone to make a website and publish it on the internet. There are a lot of people out there that have absolute no formal training when it comes building websitesand a lot of people who build websites for a living have trained themselves. That actually is a good thing, especially because it has allowed the internet to grow at such a rapid pace. There are website standards in place such as those developed by the W3C, the World Wide Web Consortium (www.w3.org). These standards, though, have more to do with codingnot what the typical website visitor actually sees.
Problems arise when search engine spiders try to crawl websites and figure out what a web page is about. Search engine spiders arent humans, so they cannot read and interpret what a web page is about without help from the person who created that web page. There are certain elements that must be included in a web page that ultimately helps the search engine spiders figure out what a web page is about, which ultimately helps your website be found in the search engines results.
Duplicate Content
The search engines do not wish to have multiple copies of the same web pages in their indexes. It takes up a lot of unnecessary room in their databases, and slows down how much processing they have to do on a regular basis. Google, in particular, has been removing web pages from their search engine index that they deem to be a duplicate. If you have duplicate web pages on your website, Google will keep the first copy they find and throw out all the others.
When I look at websites that havent been optimized for the search engines, I typically see a lot of duplicate contentor web pages that Google thinks are duplicates. The website owners dont mean to have duplicate pages, but their pages are most likely are considered to be duplicates by Google. Web pages need to be at least 25 percent different from another web page in order to be considered a unique web page. Websites that have the same title tags and meta tags on every page is one major factor. The search engines see the title tags and meta tags as part of the web pagesif those are the same on every web page then the pages could be duplicates. The search engines then look at the overall content of the page. If theres not a lot of text but a lot of graphics on the web page it could also be a duplicate. When it comes to making sure your web pages arent considered to be duplicates, every web page on your website needs to have a unique title tag, meta keywords tag, and meta description tagand enough indexable content on the page, as well.
Not Enough Content
Many web designers like to use fancy graphics on websitesit makes the websites look cool and are visually appealing. Theres only one problem, thoughsearch engine spiders cannot read text that appears in graphics. So, text that can be read by a human wont necessarily be read by the search engine spider. The search engine spiders consider text to be necessary content, not graphics. Oftentimes I see websites that are very well designedbut since all the text that appears on the web pages appear only in graphics, then the page is most likely considered to be a duplicate of another page, as only the image file name is referenced in the source code of the web pagewhich doesnt cover the 25 percent unique requirement by the search engines.
The more text that is included on a web page the better a search engine can figure out what that web page is about. Title tags are essentialthey should give a quick overview of the general subject of the web page. Since meta tags are considered to be part of the content of a web page, the text included in the meta tags help make a web page uniquewhich further helps cover the 25 percent unique requirement by the search engines.
Search Engine Spider Issues
The search engines spiders, when visiting your website, need to be able to crawl their way through all the web pages on your website. Its absolutely necessary that they can follow the links on your web pages. If they cant follow the links, its likely that only the home page of your website will be listed in the search engines. Unfortunately, there are a lot of website navigation techniques that look really good and function well when a human visits a websitebut those navigation techniques wont allow a search engine spider to follow the links. Its imperative that your websites navigation is search engine friendly and that you include a breadcrumb trail.
Lack of Links
In order for web pages to be crawled, indexed, and ranked well in the search results, they need links. Lately, the search engines have been relying more and more on linkage data (what other websites say about your website) in order to determine the search engine rankings. Not only is it important for your internal navigation to be search engine friendly, its important that your web pages have links from other websites. Having links to your web pages helps the search engine spiders find your pagesand the more links your web pages have the better. Many websites that havent been optimized well typically dont have search engine friendly links and they dont have many links from other websites.
By focusing on making sure your web pages arent considered duplicate pages and providing enough search engine friendly content on your web pages, your website will benefit from increased visibility in the search engine results. Working on your websites internal navigation and including a breadcrumb trail as well as getting more links to your web pages will increase the likelihood of the search engine spiders finding your web pages. These are the most often overlooked issuesand they are the biggest contributors to poor search engine rankings.
Bill Hartzer manages the Search Engine Marketing division of MarketNet, Inc., a leading full-service interactive design and development firm in Dallas, Texas.
Hartzer has infused MarketNet with his enthusiasm and vision for search marketing. Bill Hartzer is focused on developing results-oriented paid and organic search marketing programs to help clients increase visibility, broaden reach and maximize their return on investment.
Design to become popular:
The search engines calculate that if other websites containing subject matter in common with your website, have actually linked to your website, then yours is a popular site for that subject. The more links from websites with the same key words as you, the more popular your site is deemed. Plan to get those prized links.
Key words:
What search words you want people to find you by These should include your subject, your products, or services, or information, but could also include location, country, state, town. If you want to be relevant to a search for toys Australia - you need links from toys websites and from Australian websites, but not from competing toys sites in Australia.
For your subject, find websites in other parts of the world using your key words, but who dont directly compete with you.
For your location, there are small business groups, local chambers of commerce, portals and other websites in your location looking for links for the same reason as you.
Non-reciprocal links:
There will be sites that will link to you without requiring a reciprocal link back from you. These include some location sites mentioned above. However, remember that a link from you also helps them appear popular, which in turn helps you. You want links from popular websites.
Reciprocal links:
Websites in other locations with web pages rich in your key words are ideal links to you, and your website would be an ideal link to them. If you are selling pizzas in Sydney a link from Joes Pizzas New York will help with the key word pizzas.
Websites in your own location are of value for the location words. e.g. If you want to be found in a search for Sydney websites, links from other Sydney sites can help. If you are selling toys in Sydney, a link from Joes Pizzas New York is unlikely to help.
Asking for a link:
When emailing another website, avoid making a request that looks like a form letter. Send a personal email offering to swap links, listing particular key words that your websites have in common.
Check where your link will be on the other site. Check that their home page links directly to their links page. Avoid websites where their link to you wont be direct. Run your mouse over their links to other sites. If a link looks like an internal database reference, e.g. resources.aspID=1234, it is too indirect to be counted by search engines. The link should be http://www.yourwebsite.com.
Many websites may ask you for reciprocal links. Evaluate these against the above criteria.
Placing a link:
Links to other websites can be on any page of your website, but its useful to have some text on that page containing your key words. To persuade other websites to swap links, that page should be linked also directly from your home page. Many websites have a page especially for reciprocal links, or resources as many now call it. Your web designer can help.
Many websites will email you the HTML code for a link to them. You can copy and paste it on to your page, or your web designer can.
Supplying link details:
You need to email the other website with (1) URL in the format http://www.yoursite.com, (2) title including key words, and (3) brief description including key words.
Be popular:
The more relevant links you can get the more popular you will be. Your website will be just what the search engines are looking for.
Ken McKay is a web designer from Australia. More information on web design is available at platypus websites -