Design optimization

No doutbt that if you want to maximise your visibility online you need an effective meta tag optimisation and a strong reciprocal link management, but there might be some site design issues that can make it difficult for the search engines to list your web pages. Here is how our state of the art techniques will put your internet business in the top ten matches.

Contents:
Site Design Optimisation Tips

The main site design problems are:

A. Frames

B. Dynamic URLs

C. Flash Sites

- Splash Pages

- Hyperlinks Made with Flash

D. Sites Using Image Maps for Navigation

E. Sites Using Javascript for Navigation

Site Design Optimisation

A. Frames

Whether your site uses frames, you might get into troubles. The problem is that search engines do not index framed sites. In fact, we recommend redesigning your site without them if you want to get good listings in the search engines. If your site must use frames here are some tips we recommend

The problem:

A frame is exactly what the name conveys - they are an HTML page that "frames" other HTML pages. In most cases a framed site will only have one page you can submit, the Home Page (or Index Page). This page is called Frameset and is usually left blank. Since your site uses frames the home page actually has nothing that the search engine can use i.e. content, to determine how to list your site.

The solution: <noframes> tag

The best thing you can do to improve your results is to use the <noframes> tag within your frameset. The <noframes> tag can be used for content that will help your site get listed. You should also implement the best title tag, and meta tags that you can (see Meta Tags Optimisation Page ).

Where:

The <noframes> tag goes just before the </frameset> tag for your frameset, as you can see below in green.

Example: Code of a Site Using Frames with <NOFRAMES> Tag

<HTML>

<HEAD>

<TITLE> Framed Site</TITLE>

</HEAD>

<NOFRAMES>

Optimized page content goes here for best results.

</NOFRAMES>

</FRAMESET>

</HTML>

Tag tips:

Insert content within the <body> tags that you see above within the <noframes> tag. An easy way to do this is to create a new un-framed home page for your site that describes your site and services. Once you have created the page then view the HTML of the page and copy everything from within the <body> and </body> tags. Then paste the content within the <body> and </body> tags in the <noframes> tags of your frameset. The entire HTML can be placed within the body tags.

Last but not least

A. Search engines like simple HTML pages so keep it simple and text based for best results.

B. Make sure your <noframes> content is "optimised" as explained in the Meta Tags Optimisation Page

C. Include links in the <noframes> content to all of the other pages on your site so that the spider crawls and indexes them too.

B. Dynamic URLs

Search engines cannot list dynamic URLs. Dynamic URLs are usually found on database driven sites. If your URL contains any of the following elements it is considered a Dynamic URL:

? & cgi-bin .cgi % + = $

If your URL contains any of the above, it is likely that it will not get listed at any of the main search engines.

What to do:

You should submit a different URL that is not dynamic from your site, but if all of your URLs are dynamic you should make a static page so that you can get listed.

C. Flash Sites

Flash is not the problem here. The matter is how it is used. The main problems are:

Splash pages

Flash is often used on its own as a home page, commonly known as a "splash" page which the engines can't index. Avoid submitting pages that are made up mostly of Flash. If you do submit a page that is mainly Flash then improve your chances by adding content and having good meta tags and title tag (see Meta Tags Optimisation Page )

Hyperlinks made with Flash

When you submit to a search engine you can expect the spider to follow the links on the page you submit and spider those pages as well. Hyperlinks made with Flash do not allow this. You need to have standard HTML links to the other pages of your site or create a site map page in HTML with links to every page on your site and add a standard HTML link on each page that links to the site map.

D. Sites Using Image Maps for Navigation

Due to the code involved in an image, search engines often get trapped and fail to spider your site.

If you use image maps you need to add HTML links. Yet again an easy way to get around this is to create a site map page using HTML links and also add an HTML link on each page of your site that links to the site map.

E. Sites using Javascript for Navigation

Search engines can't follow links that are within Javascript, so your site will not get spidered unless you add standard HTML links. An easy way to do this is to create a site map page using HTML to link to every page on your site. Then add an HTML link on each page of your site that links to the site map.

For more information see also

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