Showing posts with label search engine crawlers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label search engine crawlers. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

How Important is Site Tagging?

Search engine optimization professionals believe that the most effective ways to guarantee that a web site will appear on result pages of search engines is by using proper site tags. Pay-Per-Click campaigns and top keywords are just as important, but a web site’s HTML tags help search engine crawlers retrieve the most information.

A proper SEO plan involves well-written content. All content is very important for the user interface portion, as well as the HTML regarding the crawler-facing aspect. A web sites ranking depends greatly on the “behind the scenes” tagging that manages the page. No online visitor is able to see the HTML, but without it, users wouldn’t be able to view the site!

Site tagging is only successful when the correct HTML commands are place in the appropriate areas. Your hardest task will be deciding on what types of tags to use and what needs to be included.

Basic Tags

• Title
• Heading
• Meta Tags
• Body

A page should always include these particular tags. This is how a search engine finds a web site.

Title tags are by far the most important SEO tag for any web site. Placing the right keywords in a title tag can increase its efficiency. Search engine spiders and crawlers use title tags for determining the web page topic.

With the proper HTML tags, a company can inform a search engine a lot more about a site than the written content can tell it. There are many aspects to tagging a web site. The right strategy should be used to ensure that tags are as helpful as possible.

About CODANK Web Design

CODANK is a top rated Web Design and Internet Marketing firm located in Charlotte, NC. We are dedicated to providing the highest quality, cost effective custom software development services, delivering a broad range of business consulting and outsourcing services.

For more information, visit us at www.codank.com

Friday, October 29, 2010

How Page Titles Help a Website

Page titles are one of the most crucial essentials within search engine optimization. When search engine crawlers analyze a web site, the very first part that it looks at is the page titles. A ranking in search results is also due to the measurement of the title on a page. For that reason, a web designer and copywriter should always construct content for a web site with correct page titles.

A page title is found in the HTML tag and is also used on search engine result pages. Good titles can greatly enhance your web sites search engine optimization (SEO).

When creating your page titles, take into account the following tips, suggestions, and recommendations:

• Consider using special characters in the beginning and end of your title to increase notice ability. Characters such as, parentheses, arrows, and asterisks often help to catch a viewer’s attention to your title page.
• Never repeat phrases and keywords in your title tags. Repetition is known as SEO spam to most search engines, so avoid repeating certain words if possible. Do not duplicate keywords in order to obtain a crawler’s attention. Doing so could result in your site being excluded from search engine listing.
• Make an effort to keep titles to 50 characters or less, including spaces. Certain search engines will only index up to 50 characters while others might index up to 150. Yet, sustaining shorter page titles will keep you in search engine results.
• Try not to use your company name in the page title. A better alternative is to use a descriptive keyword or phrase. Using keywords will help to explain exactly what is on the page. It also helps guarantee that your search engine rankings are precise.

Not tagging your page titles properly can cost your web site its high ranking. All of your titles should be short, descriptive, and tagged into your web page coding. By utilizing title tags, you are increasing the possibility of ranking high in Google, Yahoo, Bing/MSN, and many other search engines.

About CODANK Web Design

CODANK is a top rated Web Design and Internet Marketing firm located in Charlotte, NC. We are dedicated to providing the highest quality, cost effective custom software development services, delivering a broad range of business consulting and outsourcing services.

For more information, visit us at www.codank.com

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Search Engine Penalties

Search engine optimization professionals tend to disagree as to whether or not search engines should penalize companies that do not follow their SEO guidelines and regulations. If you were to do your research, you will discover that a majority of search engines won’t actually admit to the specific penalties that decrease a web sites ranking. Unfortunately, they only disclose when a page has been delisted from a search engine.

There are quite a few reasons a search engine might remove a web site from its index. Potential ways to get delisted include: cloaking, linking schemes, keyword stuffing, even over optimization.

Once a web site has been delisted, it is possible to get re-listed. It is recommended that webmasters correct the errors and then give search engine crawlers the opportunity to recrawl a site. Once this has been completed, a web site will be added back into the index. There is a chance that it will take a few months to see the results.

However, a web site may simply lose a higher ranking rather than actually being delisted. Normally, this is not the result of a penalty from a search engine. A drop in ranking could be due to a problem with the web site or web server.

Below are a few reasons why a web site’s ranking may decrease:
• Broken or spammy links
• Another site is redesigned
• Server issues and hosting issues
• A search engine algorithm change

If you find your web site’s rank decrease, begin a thorough investigation and fix the problem quickly. And if you have been delisted, again, handle the issue as soon as possible. Attempt not to let the same problems happen more than once. More importantly, learn how to stay on a search engine’s good side!

About CODANK Charlotte Web Design

CODANK is a top Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company located in Charlotte, NC. The company is dedicated to providing a broad range of web design services. CODANK specializes in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Graphic Design, Online Marketing, and Web Design and Development.

For more information, visit CODANK Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company at www.codank.com

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Design Do's and Don'ts

A user-friendly web site should be equivalent to a search-engine friendly website. When you are designing a site, there are several rules that need to be abided. If you choose to “break” one rule, it is best to compensate in another area. Below is a list of design do’s and don’ts provided by The Truth About Search Engine Optimization by Rebecca Lieb.

The list consists of:

Avoid splash pages – A splash page briefly appears as an introductory web site home page. It tends to be graphic-heavy and text-light. These types of pages are not good because they only link to one other page within the web site.

Do not use frames and inline frames (iframes) – Avoid using frames and inline frames because they make it hard for search engines to crawl web sites. They break each page into three or more files (rather than just one).

Use clean, valid coding – It is best to use code that is lighter, cleaner, simpler, more semantically defined, and in agreement with World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards.

Avoid duplicate content – Do not place the same text content on multiple domains or within more than one page on your web site.

Avoid Flash websites – Majority of flash sites only consists of one single web page. You will not rank for dozens of separate keywords with only one page.

Utilize individual title tags – Every page on your web site should have its own distinctive title tag. No two pages should be identical.

Place graphics lower on a web page – Because search engines pay more attention to words that appear higher on a page, it is best to use graphics only near the bottom. Search engine crawlers only index words.

About CODANK Charlotte Web Design

CODANK is a top Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company located in Charlotte, NC. The company is dedicated to providing a broad range of web design services. CODANK specializes in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Graphic Design, Online Marketing, and Web Design and Development.

For more information, visit CODANK Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company at www.codank.com

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Website Content Do's and Don'ts

When preparing written content for you business’s web site, be sure to use the following guidelines (provided by The Truth About Search Engine Optimization by Rebecca Lieb) to help you create well-organized copy that is intended for both your audience as well as search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN/Bing, etc.):

Use proper keywords and phrases – Prior to writing any content, make sure you have thoroughly researched the keywords and phrases that are appropriate for your web site and viewers. The words should match what your target audience is typing in search query boxes when they are searching for information, products, or services.

Place keywords and phrases high on the page – Not all search engine crawlers spider their way to the bottom of a page, so use your keywords and phrases towards the beginning of a web page.

Be descriptive – Try not to refer to yourself as “our team”. Instead, say CODANK Charlotte Web Design. Use the term wherever possible.

Use phrases instead of single keywords – Not all searchers type single-word queries, so you should use phrases whenever appropriate. “Minority Business Loans” is more relevant to a searcher than “loans.”

Don’t use text as a graphic – Search engines can not read images. They only read text. When placing graphics on a page, be sure to use proper naming and tagging of the file.

Provide a physical location – Viewers and search engines need more information than “our office.” Try to incorporate a complete physical address, postal code, and phone number with area code.

Check your spelling – Do not rely on your viewers to correct your mistakes. Take the time to go through all of your pages in order to detect any errors. You do not want the “did you mean..?” message to appear at the top of search results pages!

About CODANK Charlotte Web Design

CODANK is a top Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company located in Charlotte, NC. The company is dedicated to providing a broad range of web design services. CODANK specializes in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Graphic Design, Online Marketing, and Web Design and Development.

For more information, visit CODANK Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company at www.codank.com

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Optimize Your Website in a Different Language

The goal of every business owner is to be successful in their own country. Once they have achieved this, consideration of expanding to other countries often comes into mind. Majority of web sites on the Internet are in English, but there are billions of surfers around the globe that speak a different language. Before any online business can expand globally, the need to create a multi-language web site is very important.

When an online company decides to design a multilingual web site, it usually means that they will also have to double their search engine optimization strategy. Optimizing a foreign language web site is very similar to optimizing an English site; you just do it in a different lingo!

Not translating content correctly can not only hurt you as a business but it can also affect your search engine rankings. Be sure to hire someone who is fluent in the language you are focusing on just to be safe.

Below are some guidelines by CODANK Charlotte Web Design that an online business should consider when optimizing their multi-language web site:

Properly translate keywords and phrases – It is not always easy to translate some words, so you’ll probably need to choose new ones.

Apply the same Search Engine Optimization Rules – Even though the language has changed does not mean search engines or crawlers are any different.

Translate current web content – If you are not fluent in the language that you choose hire someone who is proficient. Do not rely on your own judgment.

Provide language options – Give your viewers options to choose from on your web site. Be sure to make language options clear so your foreign visitors will not miss it.

Include proper link – Links both to and from your English site to your foreign language site should be included.

About CODANK Charlotte Web Design

CODANK is a top Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company located in Charlotte, NC. The company is dedicated to providing a broad range of web design services. CODANK specializes in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Graphic Design, Online Marketing, and Web Design and Development.

For more information, visit CODANK Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company at www.codank.com

Friday, May 7, 2010

Indexing Issues

Many web sites may be finding it difficult to get indexed by search engines. Being listed is one of the only ways that potential visitors will ever find your web site on the Internet. Searchers use different keywords and phrases to locate specific information. If your site does not include these words or phrases, chances are search engine crawlers will not index you.

By not adding proper keywords and phrases to your web site, there are also other aspects that may be holding it back from being indexed. You may experience some problems that should be fixed before or after submitting your site.

Issues you may be having with website crawlers:

Design and technical issues can prevent crawlers from indexing your web site. If you are unsure of what to do, it is best to hire a search engine optimization professional who is aware of how to improve your current position.
New websites have been indexed – search engines continuously crawl different web sites, so your current ranking may drop from the index.
Your web server is not connecting to the Internet or your web site is not available.
Your site may be outdated, which can lead to deletion. Also, be careful when choosing other web sites to link with. If their links are outdated, it may reflect badly on your rankings.
You have a slow connection.
Search engines may crawl your web site too often. You can use the 'Crawl-delay' parameter in your Robots.txt file to set how often they can visit your site.

About CODANK Charlotte Web Design

CODANK is a top Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company located in Charlotte, NC. The company is dedicated to providing a broad range of web design services. CODANK specializes in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Graphic Design, Online Marketing, and Web Design and Development.

For more information, visit CODANK Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company at www.codank.com

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Mobile Internet and SEO

Recently, mobile Internet has reached an enormous amount of consumers. According to Nielsen Research, more than 40 million users have taken advantage of this opportunity to always stay connected even if they are away from a computer. With the sudden increase in smart phone sales, this may be a phase that will never die down.

Studies have shown that approximately 84.8 percent of iPhone users and 58.2 percent of smart phone users access news and information from their mobile devices. Also, according to mMetrics, at least 58.6 percent of iPhone users and 37 percent of smart phone users visited a search engine on their phones.

Search engines such as Google and Yahoo are encouraging web sites to submit a mobile site to be spidered by their mobile crawlers. This will help with search engine optimization efforts and always increase viewer visits. Prior to submitting a mobile site, webmasters should make sure that the code is 100 percent XHTML (Extensible Hypertext Markup Language) compatible. Mobile crawlers find it more difficult to read invalid codes than do other traditional site crawlers.

Mobile Web Tips (provided by The Truth About Search Engine Optimization by Rebecca Lieb)

Include major keywords in the title tags
Include keywords in H1s and body
Include keyword-rich anchor text for internal and inbound links
Make sure that keywords are short and simple (Ex: instead of “Pizzeria”, use “Pizza”
Create mobile only pages
Create a mobile/traditional hybrid
Use dynamic mobile pages
Optimize the site so that it looks good on a variety of mobile devices

About CODANK Charlotte Web Design

CODANK is a top Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company located in Charlotte, NC. The company is dedicated to providing a broad range of web design services. CODANK specializes in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Graphic Design, Online Marketing, and Web Design and Development.

For more information, visit CODANK Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company at www.codank.com

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Page Titles 101

Page titles play a very important role in Search Engine Optimization. Search engine crawlers examine them first when going through the evaluation process. When a web site is being ranked for search results purposes, page titles are one of the top factors measured.

A page title is what describes the content included on a web page. They need to be assigned to every single page to better help your search engine optimization rankings. It is located in the top left corner of your web browser. Some are short while others tend to be a bit longer.

Example Page Titles

CODANK Charlotte Web Design
CMSenabled | Content Management System
Page Titles – Google Search – Windows Internet Explorer
Charlotte Pet Sitter Services
Marriage Counseling | Christian Marriage Counseling | Couples Counseling

Below are a few important factors to consider when creating your page titles:

Keep titles to 50 characters or less, including spaces. Certain search engines will only index up to 50 characters while others might index up to 150. Yet, sustaining shorter page titles will keep you in search engine results.

It is best not to use your company name in the page title. A better alternative is to use a descriptive keyword or phrase. Using keywords will help to explain exactly what is on the page. It also helps guarantee that your search engine rankings are precise.

Don’t repeat phrases and keywords in your title tags. Repetition may come across as SEO spam when a search engine crawler is examining a site, so avoid repeating certain words if possible. Never duplicate keywords in order to obtain a crawler’s attention. Doing so could result in your site being excluded from search engine listing.

About CODANK Charlotte Web Design

CODANK is a top Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company located in Charlotte, NC. The company is dedicated to providing a broad range of web design services. CODANK specializes in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Graphic Design, Online Marketing, and Web Design and Development.

For more information, visit CODANK Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company at www.codank.com

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

How Redirect Pages Can Affect Your Site

It is very important for web site designers and their customers to pay close attention to how they use redirect pages. Using these types of pages incorrectly can affect a web sites search engine rankings. Not all redirect pages are harmful.

A redirect pages purpose is to send online visitors to another page for any given reason. The two different types of redirect pages include: temporary and permanent. A web designer may choose to use any of the two, but whichever one that they choose will have critical consequences within their site ranking.

Common redirect pages:

301 Redirect: A 301 redirect is categorized as a permanent redirect page. This type of page appears when users are redirected from one site to another. The original page that is no longer accessible will be removed within a few weeks or days when 301 redirects are used.

404 Error Pages: A 404 error page is used to redirect visitors to a page that displays an error message. The message is usually, “This page is no longer available. Please check the URL and try again or use the refresh button on your browser.”

302 Redirect: A 302 redirect is classified as a temporary redirect page. This page is displayed to users as they are redirected from one web site to another. The original page is usually temporary unavailable.

Designing custom redirect pages as a way to improve search engine optimization on a web site is not a good idea. If search engine crawlers find it difficult to read important content correctly, this could cause low rankings within search engines.

About CODANK Charlotte Web Design

CODANK is a top Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company located in Charlotte, NC. The company is dedicated to providing a broad range of web design services. CODANK specializes in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Graphic Design, Online Marketing, and Web Design and Development.

For more information, visit CODANK Charlotte Web Design and Internet Marketing Company at www.codank.com

Monday, August 24, 2009

Usability Considerations

Web designers and their clients will find it almost impossible to please both site users and the search engine crawlers that determine page rankings. But, it is possible to work around problems. Of course, the needs and wants of viewers come first because you want them to keep visiting your site. It is very easy for users to fall away from a site and never look back.

When it seems that users’ preferences are dissimilar to crawlers’ preferences, there is a solution – a site map. There are two types of site maps which you should be aware of: basic site map and XML site map.

A basic site map is an overview of the navigational structure of your website. It is nothing more than just text and links to all of the pages in a site. Crawlers are very keen of site maps. It allows you to outline the makeup of your site down to the second or third level of depth, using text-based links that should include anchors and keywords.

A search engine crawler is able to locate the site map of a page and then crawl all of the pages that are linked from it. Those pages will be included in the search engine index and will appear on search engine results pages. Where they appear is all up to how well the SEO is done for each individual page.

The second type of site map, XML site map, is a file that lists all of the URLs for a website. This file is normally not seen by a site’s viewers, only by site crawlers that index the site.

All site maps should be thoroughly crafted in order to produce great ranking results. Search engine crawlers take in much consideration when evaluating a site’s map. Make sure that your SEO plan is well done before putting up a website.

About CODANK Web Design

CODANK is a top rated Web Design and Internet Marketing firm located in Charlotte, NC. We are dedicated to providing the highest quality, cost effective custom software development services, delivering a broad range of business consulting and outsourcing services. For more information, visit us at www.codank.com

Friday, August 21, 2009

In or Out: Entry & Exit Pages

The entry and exit pages are the first and last impressions that a visitor receives from a company or entrepreneur’s website. It is very critical to understand that an entry page isn’t automatically the home page of a website. It can typically be any other page where a user lands – either by going through a search engine, clicking on a link from another site or online material, or by bookmarking or typing directly into the address bar of a browser.

In Search Engine Optimization, entry pages are important because they are the very first pages users see as they visit a website. A typical website consists of several smaller connected sites. It has a central point along with different topics. For example, say you are a book store. You would have hubs (central points) within your sites for fiction, non-fiction, African-America literature, children novels, etc. Each individual hub will have a main page – which will more than likely be your entry page for that section. The additional pages will all lead from that central page to other pages containing content of relevance.

Distinguishing between which pages are likely entry pages will help with optimization for search engine crawlers. When you add additional entry pages that dig deeper into your web structure, you will increase the number of times you can potentially end up with high search engine rankings.

Entry pages are very significant in the structure of a website. You should monitor those pages by using a website analytics program to guarantee that they are working correctly. A great program is Google Analytics.

Exit pages are those from which viewers leave a website either by clicking through an exit link, choosing a bookmark, or simply by typing a different web address into their browse address bar. An exit pages purpose includes: to drive users from their entry pages to a preferred exit page (also defined as the path that visitors travel through your site).

About CODANK Web Design

CODANK is a top rated Web Design and Internet Marketing firm located in Charlotte, NC. We are dedicated to providing the highest quality, cost effective custom software development services, delivering a broad range of business consulting and outsourcing services. For more information, visit us at http://www.codank.com/

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

I May Not Always Be a Penalty

It is common for people to disagree as to whether or not search engines should penalize companies that do not follow their specific guidelines and regulations. If you hunt around on the Internet, you will also find that majority of search engines won’t even admit to the actual penalties that decrease your web site ranking. They only admit to that gets a page delisted from the search engine. However, both happenings can occur, but possibly not for the same reasons.

There are several reasons a search engine might delist your web site from its index. Keyword stuffing, cloaking, linking schemes, even over optimization – are all ways to potentially cause you to be delisted.

When your web site is delisted, it is possible to get re-listed. It’s best to correct the errors and then give search engine crawlers a chance to recrawl your site. Once this is done, you will be added back into the index. But, it may take a few months to see the results.

On the other hand, you may find yourself simply losing a higher ranking rather than actually being delisted. This is probably not the effect of a penalty from the search engine. This drop in ranking could because there is a problem with your site or web server.

Here are a few reasons why your ranking may fall:
· Broken or spammy links
· Another site is redesigned
· Server issues and hosting issues
· A search engine algorithm change

If you find your web site’s ranking decrease, it is best to start investigating and fix the problem quickly. And if you have been delisted, again, handle the issue as soon as possible. Try not to let the same problem happen more than once. More importantly, learn how to stay on a search engine’s good side!

About CODANK Web Design

CODANK is a top rated Web Design and Internet Marketing firm located in Charlotte, NC. We are dedicated to providing the highest quality, cost effective custom software development services, delivering a broad range of business consulting and outsourcing services. For more information, visit us at www.codank.com.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Powerful Not Weak: Page Titles

Within search engine optimization, page titles are one of the most critical elements. When examining a site, which is done by search engine crawlers, the first part that it looks at is the page titles. When your web site is ranked in search results, titles on pages are again one of the top elements measured. Therefore, when a web designer and copywriter are constructing content for a site, they need to create good page titles.

Here are some of the key factors to take into account when creating your page titles:

· Try not to use your company name in the page title. A better alternative is to use a descriptive keyword or phrase. Using keywords will help to explain exactly what is on the page. It also helps guarantee that your search engine rankings are precise.

· Make an effort to keep titles to 50 characters or less, including spaces. Certain search engines will only index up to 50 characters while others might index up to 150. Yet, sustaining shorter page titles will keep you in search engine results.

· Do not repeat phrases and keywords in your title tags. Repetition may come across as SEO spam when a search engine crawler is examining a site, so avoid repeating certain words if possible. Never duplicate keywords in order to obtain a crawler’s attention. Doing so could result in your site being excluded from search engine listing.

· It is best to consider using special characters in the beginning and end of your title to increase notice ability. Characters such as, parentheses (( )), arrows (<< >>), and asterisks (****) often help to catch a viewer’s attention to your title page.

If your page titles are not tagged properly, chances are you should not even use them. Take the time out to ensure that your titles are short, descriptive, and tagged into your web page coding. By using title tags, you are increasing the likelihood of ranking high in search engine results.

About CODANK Web Design

CODANK is a top rated Web Design and Internet Marketing firm located in Charlotte, NC. We are dedicated to providing the highest quality, cost effective custom software development services, delivering a broad range of business consulting and outsourcing services. For more information, visit us at www.codank.com