Monday, March 21, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Common SEO Mistakes
1 Graphic header
Very often sites are designed with a graphic header. Often, we see an
image of the company logo occupying the full-page width. Do not do it!
The upper part of a page is a very valuable place where you should
insert your most important keywords for best seo. In case of a graphic
image, that prime position is wasted since search engines can not make
use of images. Sometimes you may come across completely absurd
situations: the header contains text information, but to make its
appearance more attractive, it is created in the form of an image. The
text in it cannot be indexed by search engines and so it will not
contribute toward the page rank. If you must present a logo, the best
way is to use a hybrid approach – place the graphic logo at the top of
each page and size it so that it does not occupy its entire width. Use
a text header to make up the rest of the width.
2 Graphic navigation menu
The situation is similar to the previous one – internal links on your
site should contain keywords, which will give an additional advantage
in seo ranking. If your navigation menu consists of graphic elements
to make it more attractive, search engines will not be able to index
the text of its links. If it is not possible to avoid using a graphic
menu, at least remember to specify correct ALT attributes for all
images.
3 Script navigation
Sometimes scripts are used for site navigation. As an seo worker, you
should understand that search engines cannot read or execute scripts.
Thus, a link specified with the help of a script will not be available
to the search engine, the search robot will not follow it and so parts
of your site will not be indexed. If you use site navigation scripts
then you must provide regular HTML duplicates to make them visible to
everyone – your human visitors and the search robots.
4 Session identifier
Some sites use session identifiers. This means that each visitor gets
a unique parameter (&session_id=) when he or she arrives at the site.
This ID is added to the address of each page visited on the site.
Session IDs help site owners to collect useful statistics, including
information about visitors' behavior. However, from the point of view
of a search robot, a page with a new address is a brand new page. This
means that, each time the search robot comes to such a site, it will
get a new session identifier and will consider the pages as new ones
whenever it visits them.
Search engines do have algorithms for consolidating mirrors and pages
with the same content. Sites with session IDs should, therefore, be
recognized and indexed correctly. However, it is difficult to index
such sites and sometimes they may be indexed incorrectly, which has an
adverse effect on seo page ranking. If you are interested in seo for
your site, I recommend that you avoid session identifiers if possible.
5 Redirects
Redirects make site analysis more difficult for search robots, with
resulting adverse effects on seo. Do not use redirects unless there is
a clear reason for doing so.
6 Hidden text, a deceptive seo method
The last two issues are not really mistakes but deliberate attempts to
deceive search engines using illicit seo methods. Hidden text (when
the text color coincides with the background color, for example)
allows site owners to cram a page with their desired keywords without
affecting page logic or visual layout. Such text is invisible to human
visitors but will be seen by search robots. The use of such deceptive
optimization methods may result in banning of the site. It could be
excluded from the index (database) of the search engine.
7 One-pixel links, seo deception
This is another deceptive seo technique. Search engines consider the
use of tiny, almost invisible, graphic image links just one pixel wide
and high as an attempt at deception, which may lead to a site ban.
Very often sites are designed with a graphic header. Often, we see an
image of the company logo occupying the full-page width. Do not do it!
The upper part of a page is a very valuable place where you should
insert your most important keywords for best seo. In case of a graphic
image, that prime position is wasted since search engines can not make
use of images. Sometimes you may come across completely absurd
situations: the header contains text information, but to make its
appearance more attractive, it is created in the form of an image. The
text in it cannot be indexed by search engines and so it will not
contribute toward the page rank. If you must present a logo, the best
way is to use a hybrid approach – place the graphic logo at the top of
each page and size it so that it does not occupy its entire width. Use
a text header to make up the rest of the width.
2 Graphic navigation menu
The situation is similar to the previous one – internal links on your
site should contain keywords, which will give an additional advantage
in seo ranking. If your navigation menu consists of graphic elements
to make it more attractive, search engines will not be able to index
the text of its links. If it is not possible to avoid using a graphic
menu, at least remember to specify correct ALT attributes for all
images.
3 Script navigation
Sometimes scripts are used for site navigation. As an seo worker, you
should understand that search engines cannot read or execute scripts.
Thus, a link specified with the help of a script will not be available
to the search engine, the search robot will not follow it and so parts
of your site will not be indexed. If you use site navigation scripts
then you must provide regular HTML duplicates to make them visible to
everyone – your human visitors and the search robots.
4 Session identifier
Some sites use session identifiers. This means that each visitor gets
a unique parameter (&session_id=) when he or she arrives at the site.
This ID is added to the address of each page visited on the site.
Session IDs help site owners to collect useful statistics, including
information about visitors' behavior. However, from the point of view
of a search robot, a page with a new address is a brand new page. This
means that, each time the search robot comes to such a site, it will
get a new session identifier and will consider the pages as new ones
whenever it visits them.
Search engines do have algorithms for consolidating mirrors and pages
with the same content. Sites with session IDs should, therefore, be
recognized and indexed correctly. However, it is difficult to index
such sites and sometimes they may be indexed incorrectly, which has an
adverse effect on seo page ranking. If you are interested in seo for
your site, I recommend that you avoid session identifiers if possible.
5 Redirects
Redirects make site analysis more difficult for search robots, with
resulting adverse effects on seo. Do not use redirects unless there is
a clear reason for doing so.
6 Hidden text, a deceptive seo method
The last two issues are not really mistakes but deliberate attempts to
deceive search engines using illicit seo methods. Hidden text (when
the text color coincides with the background color, for example)
allows site owners to cram a page with their desired keywords without
affecting page logic or visual layout. Such text is invisible to human
visitors but will be seen by search robots. The use of such deceptive
optimization methods may result in banning of the site. It could be
excluded from the index (database) of the search engine.
7 One-pixel links, seo deception
This is another deceptive seo technique. Search engines consider the
use of tiny, almost invisible, graphic image links just one pixel wide
and high as an attempt at deception, which may lead to a site ban.
SEO for PDF - Optimizing PDFs for Search
SEO for PDF - Optimizing PDFs for Search: "2010-03-23 - I have a new client who has provided me with an extensive library of PDF documents. These are technical documents that are well formed and utilize proper markup from the originating source. The client have provided the documents already converted to PDF. I wanted to share with you the steps that I'm taking to make sure that each and every PDF are Optimized for Search.
Tutorial and Pictorial - Optimizing PDFs for Search"
Tutorial and Pictorial - Optimizing PDFs for Search"
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
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