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Web Site
Design That Affects Your Search
Engine Placement
Meta Refresh
A meta refresh tag automatically takes visitors to another page within a site.
Search engines do not like this!
Java & Javascript
The use of java, javascript and other server side techniques can
negatively
affect your search engine position.
Server-Side Imagemaps
An image map is generally composed of a single image with multiple links.
Image maps are not indexable by search engines. If you use them then
provide regular links as well.
Spamming
The use of tiny text and invisible text (text the same color as your
background) is frowned upon by search engines. Be careful that the color of
your text is not the same or even similar to the page background nor any
table backgrounds on the page. This could be considered spamming by the
search engines and could hurt your position in the search engines. Search
engines will also penalize web pages that stuff keywords, i.e., repeating a
word numerous times in a row.
Frames
Avoid frames. Many search engines have a difficult time indexing framed sites. Often the
frameset page is designed with no content in it, which will cause it rank very low in the
search engines.
Splash Screens
Pages that say little more than click here. A page like this does not contain
text or keywords that search engines factor in for web site ranking.
Loads Slowly
Make sure your site loads quickly, this is especially important for Yahoo.
CGI Pages (including shopping carts)
Will not be indexed by most search engines. Spiders will automatically drop a
listing with "cgi" or a question mark "?" in the URL.
Graphic Intensive
Avoid large graphics on your home page - search engines can’t index them.
Tables
The use of tables to layout a document can affect your placement in search
engines. If you use a table for a left border margin, you force the content of
your web site where most of your keywords will be further down in the
document. Keep in mind that some search engine robots index only part of
your web site, with the beginning of your document being the most important.
*To fix this without changing the layout of your page
see:
Search
Engine Hints: Tables.
Factors
That Influence Your Web Site Ranking (Part 1)
Factors That
Influence Your Web Site Ranking (Part 2)
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J.L.Poole
All Rights Reserved.
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