Deciding to incorporate search engine optimisation strategies to help improve a website’s listing is a great idea. But, having had the great idea, there are certain things that all website owners need to look out for to avoid turning the great idea into a great disaster.

There are many pitfalls to search engine optimization, but they can be roughly divided into the following sections:

1. Poor website design and layout
2. Black hat techniques
3. Sloppy or lazy work and bad manners

In today’s blog we’ll look at the first section – poor website design and layout.

Taking into account that making a website easy for spiders to find and index is one of the most successful ways to get a website noticed, it goes without saying that one of the easiest ways to get ignored it to make it difficult for spiders to find it.

Using Flash, Javascript, frames and long URLs are some of the reasons that search engine spiders miss a website. Flash doesn’t show enough content to search engines and therefore search engines can’t index them. Similarly, spiders cannot read Javascript links so it’s best to avoid using them. (If you must, the advice is to incorporate some alternate HTML links or use a text link at the bottom of every page.)

Frames, like Flash, are awkward for spiders and human visitors. The search engines can’t locate the website, while the visitors who can, will potentially find it too hard to navigate and give up. (Using a <no frame> tag to include important body text can help if giving up frames is not an option.)

Long URLs and dynamic URLs don’t go down well with search engine spiders. Far better to have a concise URL, more manageable for search engines and users alike, or to rely on being linked from another website, which will lead the spider to yours when it is being crawled.

Using internal links effectively is a good way of achieving search engine optimisation. Most people discount internal links in favour of external ones, but internal links can be as good as any outside ones. As always, ensure the navigation is rich with keywords and targeted description.

In terms of navigation, a huge waste of potential search engine optimization opportunities comes from not having a site map. A site map (the page which links all other pages of the website) can be a helpful guide for search engines and users alike. Since usability is part of search engine optimisation, having a site map ticks a few boxes because it adds structure and allows for text links, increased keyword density and a higher word count.

Finally, effective SEO is also aided by the correct use of tags. Not using title tags, using them wrongly or duplicating them won’t help listings. Dependency on meta tags are a waste – better to focus on the description in the meta tag than the keywords.

Avoid these pitfalls and your website will experience improved SEO. See Part two for more things to look out for.

Read Part Two of This Series

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