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Indexable Websites: search engine-ready, born to compete (and win)
by Fernando Macia
Website owners often request the services of a web positioning
firm after they realize that their websites are not achieving the
desired results. It turns out that in many cases, inherent programming
issues, or the website architecture itself may keep optimization
efforts from ever becoming 100% effective. Therefore, the best way to
improve the indexability of a website is by involving positioning
experts during the initial design phases. That is when certain aspects
of a web design must be properly considered and nailed down to avoid
costly web positioning efforts later on, or worse yet, to not make
positioning an almost impossible task once the site has been published.
Once a website has been completed and published, obtaining a good
ranking from an Internet search engine -Google, MSN Search or Yahoo-
usually becomes one of the highest priorities. Oddly enough, during the
conception, design and programming phases of a website -in other words,
during its creation- that same priority does not seem to be present in
a developer's mind, nor is requested by a client when ordering the
site. And even though a web developer, with very good intentions, may
use the most advanced programming techniques and the most refined
graphic designs, and a webmaster may also host the site on the most
modern and sophisticated web servers, the website may experience
problems at a later time when it fails to appear within the top search
engine results. The reason for this is typically tied to the fact that
the designer never took into consideration the most basic indexing
aspects of a website and also ignored the fundamentals for web
usability, accessibility and compatibility throughout the design
process.
Interestingly, our consultants often run into this type of
situations when clients come to us asking to improve the positioning of
their websites. Sometimes, clients may even be struggling with the
easiest of all scenarios. In other words, their website is failing to
appear on a first page of results when very specific search terms,
intimately related to their line of business, are used. In such cases,
the website should almost automatically appear on the top results
returned by a search engine. A solution to this type of problems may be
as simple as teaching a client how to properly include a title on each
of their pages, or could involve a more complex and expensive approach,
especially if a website has already been published. In extreme cases,
we find discontented clients that after having invested significant
resources and money implementing a website, they realize that their
site has a difficult time competing and obtaining the expected results.
Building "search engine-ready" websites: born to compete
Are athletes born or made? It seems evident that the best athletes
are those that have hereditarily received a privileged set of genes and
after applying themselves through a rigorous and continuous training
program are able to obtain the utmost from their natural physical
abilities. Applying this concept to the implementation of websites, it
has also become clear that by providing web positioning consulting
services from the very beginning, that is, from the moment that the web
design is conceived, we have the opportunity to ensure an end-result
that is optimal and search engine-ready. By starting from a solid base,
the design will not only guarantee a high level of indexability for our
website, but it will make possible later on to apply more refined
techniques that will improve the positioning for those search terms
that can deliver the best returns in each case.
Therefore, if your company is considering implementing a website at
this time, and you are convinced that one of your objectives is to
achieve good rankings later on, make sure you order a "search
engine-ready" implementation. To assist you in this endeavor, we offer
the tips below as some guidelines that should be considered before
embarking on a project to produce a "search engine-ready" website.
1. Flash: should only be used when absolutely necessary
Those websites developed exclusively with Macromedia Flash
technology are at a definite disadvantage compared to the more
traditional, HTML-based sites when it comes to web positioning. If
animations are not essential for your website, consider using Flash
only in certain areas of a page. In most cases, you will find that the
end result is pretty much the same as if the entire page had been
programmed in Flash. You may also develop specific micro-sites inside
your main HTML-based website to capture those aspects that are best
expressed using the interactive and animated capabilities of Flash. But
always make sure that both the primary website structure and the
structure of all individual pages are HTML-based. By following this
approach, the search engines will know where and how to index your
site. Finally, you should eliminate any animated corporate logos that
get displayed before accessing your home page.
2. Frames: perhaps no longer a very good idea
Frames were introduced years ago primarily to expedite the download
of web pages and to facilitate the navigation. Today, their
disadvantages far outweigh the original benefits. If your web is
currently using frames, you will notice that the title is the same in
all pages (corresponding to the frameset title), that the URL address
is the same for the entire website, not allowing a user to add one of
your pages to their list of favorites. Finally, you will notice that
occasionally, your website registers visits to internal pages that a
user may have seen outside their corresponding frame, possibly without
navigation menus or company information. Frames, in general, pose a
great challenge to the positioning of individual pages.
3. Beware of PHP programming elegance
A number of PHP-based websites have recently been emerging that
unfortunately share most of the same disadvantages that were identified
for frameset structures, making the positioning of their pages an
impossible task. These websites are kept inside a single URL. Software
in the only dynamic page loads the appropriate set of contents by
evaluating the variables associated with each link. However, from a
browser's perspective, and unfortunately, from a search engine's
perspective as well, the entire website consists of a single home page.
Therefore, all the dynamic content becomes invisible to both the
browser and the search engine, seriously handicapping the possibilities
to compete with other websites. Regardless of how elegant a programming
style is, the marketability and usability of a web design should never
be sacrificed.
4. Content Management Systems (CMS) must also generate search engine-ready results
Websites of medium complexity may offer CMS capabilities, thus
allowing users with no programming knowledge to add, delete or modify
web pages. CMS systems are very efficient and can help decentralize the
efforts associated with updating and maintaining a website. However,
some of these systems were created without taking into consideration
the indexability of the pages that they generated. If you are planning
to let users update pages on your website, either through a CMS system,
or through dynamic pages, you must ensure that the system you are
putting in place requires these users to specify individual page
titles, descriptions, and a different set of keywords for each page. In
addition, the system should allow pages to include ALT labels for all
images (this is the text that appears in lieu of images when the
browser does not download them, or when a browser for the blind is
used) and TITLE labels for each of the defined links (this is the text
that appears inside a small yellow box when the pointer is on a link).
That is the minimum set of prerequisites that should be met. Although,
it would be ideal if the CMS itself automatically generated the
appropriate HTML code: correct use of header labels Hx, W3C validated
code, accessibility-compliant code, etc.
5. Internal search engines: do not hide your web content
Websites that specialize in e-commerce, real estate, and others that
may offer a fairly large number of products or items usually include a
local, internal search engine. Typically, these engines consist of a
small form where users can enter the criteria that they are interested
in and the system returns all available items that meet those criteria.
Even though this form of navigation is extremely efficient from a
user's perspective, it makes all web content that sits behind this
local search engine practically invisible to the external search
engines. The automated search engine crawlers are unable to fill the
small forms and therefore can never reach the resulting content. Due to
the fact that many potential clients will enter very concise search
terms ("bungalow in Miami", "golf balls", "Bose speakers"), it will be
necessary to optimize and position each individual page, or product
spec sheet, in this case. An effective technique that will let a search
engine reach the hidden content consists of including on the home page,
links to various product category pages. For example, links such as
"New bungalows available for immediate occupancy", "Discounted golf
balls", or "Speakers on sale" could be included on the home page. All
these links use pre-canned search criteria to reach the corresponding
content. These product category pages will typically reflect the most
commonly used search criteria and therefore will be very important for
our website. External search engines will be able to reach these pages
and subsequently, via links such as "More Information", will also be
able to reach each individual product page. The goal is to provide
paths for search engine crawlers to reach the content of our entire
website.
Conclusion
We only selected a few examples, among the huge number of potential
scenarios out there, to illustrate how decisions that were made during
the conception phase of a web design can seriously impact our ability
to properly index the website later on, thus handicapping its ability
to compete.
Avoiding the application of sound design principles in the early
phases of a web design will always require the investment of additional
time and money afterwards since the repairs will have to be done on an
ill-prepared and less optimized base. A website's indexability (a must
for being properly indexed by a search engine and therefore have the
potential of being highly ranked for predetermined search criteria),
usability, accessibility and compatibility are all fundamental aspects
that must be taken into account while implementing a web design. This
task could be facilitated by bringing together web programmers and
specialists in search engine positioning.
It is interesting to note that the best Internet rankings are achieved even before a website is formally published.
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