Friday, February 12, 2010

How Do Spiders See A Web Site!

How Do Spiders See A Web Site!

When we set out to do a marketing campaign, we never know for sure how receptive the search engines are going to be when reviewing your web site. There are no guarantee that the search engines will index the site or whether our web site will earn that coveted page one ranking we all strive for. We do know for sure that if we don't follow some basic search engine guidelines we will definitely fail. On the other side of the coin we do know that if we follow those basic steps our chances are good we will earn a respectable page rank with Google, Yahoo and MSN (Bing).

All search engines send their spiders to a web site and all the spiders follow the same basic principles. The spiders function is to crawl your web site and index the pages of that site. The information gathered is stored in a database and then the search engines will use their secret algorithms to make several determinations. Some of the things they will rule on is the keyword density, keyword stuffing, relevancy, linking and more.

What we want to talk about today is what those search engines are interested in....to make the determination of your page rank. It is imperative for us to know what those robots, spiders and search engines are looking for so we can include that information in our web site. If you don't know what these rules and guidelines are all about, then do your research and learn what this process requires for gaining recognition of the search engines before you do something foolish.

Search engine spiders are robots and don't view a web page the same as a human being would. They only read text and are blind to Flash, JavaScript, scrolling text and the list goes on and on. There is nothing wrong with having a good looking site with lots of eye appeal because all the flash etc. is for the human observer. Just remember without your site being indexed with the search engines, your site may never be seen. Therefore, it is important to give the search engine spiders what they are looking for so the algorithms of the search engine will work to your full advantage.

When optimizing your web site keep in mind that Frames is a train wreck waiting to happen. Frames may be good in terms of design but the search engines doesn't like frames so avoid them when building your web site. If you question this statement, then find a Spider Simulator Tool and see just how many inbound and outbound hyperlinks the search engines picks up. The report page will be almost blank in every case. If the search engines don't like frames and don't recognize them, then why put them in your site at all. Good relevant content in HTML code is the what the engines like.

Search Engine Spiders are a lot like text browsers...they don't see anything that is not part of the text. Having an image with text in it means absolutely nothing to the spiders....they will totally ignore it. If you know a bit about source codes and ALT attributes there are ways you may be able to make a workaround in this situation. Too many keywords here can get some deductions and penalties due to keyword stuffing.

Make sure your hyperlinks are all live and lead to the right place. A dead hyperlink or one leading to the wrong place can become the turning point for the spiders to index your site....or not. Make sure any link exchange that has put a link on your site is genuine. Many of these links may be in javascript using mouse overs to make the link look genuine, however, since the search engines don't like javascript the won't pick up the link and will not display the link. I am always very cautious regarding reciprocal linking. Reciprocal linking is great but make sure you monitor those links to make sure they are not fake. Make sure your link stays on the other site you've exchange links with. Many will get your link on their web site and very soon pull your link off of their site. If you don't catch it, then you end up with a one way link from them to you only.

If you are uncertain on how to do any of the suggestions listed above, "Google It" and do some research and understand the concept before experimenting. Spending a little bit of time and understanding what the search engine robots, spiders and search engines are looking for will save you a ton of headaches in the future.

If you have any questions, or need some personal mentoring, you can contact the eBiz Solutions Team at the contact information listed below. Our Team is standing by to assist you in your marketing challenges.

"Let's Build Your Business Together"

Larry L Miller SEM/SEO Consulting

Private Line: 321-594-4405
Skype: larrylmiller121

The Most Powerful Link on the Internet!

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