Search Engine Optimization Blog

Sometimes, a fresh look for your web site could mean new obstacles for your search engine optimization company. Here are some things to do and avoid.

As times change, designs need to change to keep your brand fresh and your company image modern. However, your web sites new look can cause trouble for your search engine optimization company.

Search engine optimization is primarily dependant on the textual content with your web site. Therefore, adding too many graphics or an excessive amount of Flash can often use up valuable space on your web site which could be better used on optimizable text.

Graphics

Using graphics to enhance your web site’s image is a much better method than using Flash animations. Graphics and images allow your search engine optimization company to add alternate text or image tags which contain descriptive keywords and keyphrases which can be read by the search engine’s robots.

When using graphics, try to avoid using images as buttons or links. When a textual link contains a keyword or keyphrase it helps increase the relevancy of the destination page. For example, a page in a web site about golf shoes will show more relevancy if the textual link to the page says “Golf Shoes”. When using buttons or images to link to the (in this example) “Golf Shoes” page, you lose that added relevancy.

Avoid using scanned brochures or flyers as full web pages. When you scan a brochure or flyer (unless in a compatible Adobe PDF file), the information and textual content within the flyer is nearly useless because the search engine will simply see one large image as it can’t scan the content within the image. However, PDF files are easily indexed by the search engine so they do add a valuable benefit to your web site.

Flash

Generally speaking, Flash is not a close friend of the search engine optimization specialist. Flash is often seen as wasted content because the search engines cannot read text within a Flash file and your SEO specialilst cannot place alternate text on a Flash file like they can a picture. Also, search engines cannot follow links from a Flash button. The Flash button dilemma is usually countered by a textual sitemap but two descriptive keyword enhanced links to a page is obviously better than one.

Flash does not have to be completely avoided in your design. Using an animated Flash header can add an attractive element to your web site and using Flash for animated demonstrations of a product or service can also be an effective sales practice. However, Flash should not be used in menu structures (because of the link following issues mentioned above) or used in substitution for static HTML pages for textual content.

Hosting

Hosting is an often ignored yet important piece of your search engine optimization. Using a content management system or online web editing service (ie: GoDaddy, Homestead, etc.) can possibly not give you the server access needed to use such third party scripts as link management programs, on site blogs, lead generation forms, and other valuable tools.

The most popular server environment is Linux. Your search engine optimization results will not discriminate whether you are using a Linux server or Windows server. The main benefit to a Linux server is its compatibility with PHP and mySQL databases. Most open source (freely distributed and freely modified) software is written in PHP and uses a mySQL database. So by having a compatible server environment like Linux, you may be able to utilize this software whereas you would otherwise have to purchase a license for similar Windows compatible software.

By following these few suggestions, your search engine optimization company will be able to easily and affectively optimize your web site for better search engine performance.