STEP 1: SITE DESIGN & BASE SEARCH ENGINE COMPATIBILITY ANALYSIS
A. CHECK OVERALL SITE DESIGN
If the site is in Flash or Frames or the website has more dynamically generated pages than static HTML web pages, you may want to consider a site redesign.
Search engines simply do better with basic HTML web pages. Period. If you have a site in Flash or Frames and redesign is impossible or highly undesirable, you will need to consult an expert optimizer or additional resources outside this guide.
B. DOUBLE CHECK FOR SEARCH ENGINE COMPATIBILITY WITH THE LYNX VIEWER
Go to the Delorie Lynx Viewer and view your page. This is how search engines see your web page. If the site is navigable, basically clean and understandable, has plenty of good text and can be seen in the Delorie Viewer, that’s a good sign. If it can’t be seen, there’s a good chance that search engines won’t be able to view the page either.
DEFINITIONS
Flash – Software designed by Macromedia to help create websites. It has awesome graphics and is generally murder for search engine optimization (although newer versions of the product claim to be more search engine friendly).
Frames – A website technique used by programmers so that each section of a website is actually a separate, sometimes scrollable region and each region is located in a separate file. Frames are generally considered obsolete, cause numerous design and SEO problems, and since the advent of SSIs, serve no real purpose. This website is in frames.
THE DELORIE VIEWER SHOWS WHAT A SEARCH ENGINE SEES
| To a Search Engine…. | |
| A Flash Site Looks Like This | A Frames Site Looks Like This |
| [entry_top.gif] [entry_logo.gif] [flash_enter2.gif] [html_enter.gif] [get_flash.gif] |
FRAME:left_wnd FRAME:top_wnd FRAME:main_wnd |
| If you see either of these things…or worse nothing with the Delorie Viewer, this is not good. | |
C. HOSTING
Make sure the site has a static IP. The benefit to having a static IP, is its yours and yours alone. Apposed to having a dynamic IP where you share one IP with many others.
D. DOMAIN NAME
Do not try to capture the keywords in the domain name. Dashes and double dashes are just tacky, and they could indicate over-optimization to search engines. Choose a catchy, professional, easy to remember domain name. Further Details
E. CUT YOUR FILE SIZE
The smaller the better. For search engines and for people.? Under 80K to 100K is what most people can manage, but if you can get it under 10K or 15K that is even better.
<< Back to Introduction | Step 2: Keyword Analysis >>
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