Search Engine Recommendations

[JSeverson]

Hi all,
I have a client who is concerned about his search engine ranking for various keywords. The person who originally designed the site set it up in frames and made the navigation dynamic using ASP and JavaScript - it's based off of other files, not a database. I am compiling a list of recommendations for changing the site. I was hoping that someone could take a look at the list of recommendations and let me know if I'm leaving anything out.

Here's the shortened version (full list minus descriptions) of the list:

1. Remove the frames from the site
2. Set up the navigation as a static navigation (non-dynamic)
3. Add title attributes to all links
4. Add alt attributes to all content-related images
5. Site copy
[list:5b9b8a3405]a. Product pages - Add full product descriptions that incorporate related keywords.
b. All other pages (where applicable) - Add a 1 - 2 sentence introductory paragraph that incorporates related keywords.
6. Convert all page headers to <h3> tags.
7. Add page titles to every page that are specific to each page
8. Add Meta tags to every page.
9. Make the site XHTML compliant to ensure that the html code is error free
10. Set up a links section for reciprocal links[/list:u:5b9b8a3405]For #10, the client's biggest concern is with Google. He doesn't understand that page rank is based more on the number and importance of sites that are linking to his site. He currently only has, according to Google, around 15 sites linking to his. I'm suggesting that he offers to swap links with his suppliers and/or clients.

Any input would definately be appreciated.

Thanks,

[bhartzer]

Sounds like you're on the right track. I would stay away from frames and instead use Includes whenever possible (i.e., it makes it easier to update the navigation, for example).

Don't bother adding title attributes to all links, it's a waste of time. Some search engines think it's spammy and others who may not think it's spammy now might think it's spammy in the future. Alt text is fine for images, but it's a waste of time and may hurt you if you include alt text in text links.

Also, make sure those meta tags are unique to each page, as well.

[JSeverson]

Bill,
Thanks for your reply. I had heard title attributes on links are good for search engines. But, if nothing else, aren't they helpful for handicap accessibility?

Thanks,

[TN Todd]

They are also good if the image fails to load for some reason.

[ocean]

Dynamic navigation is fine, as long as you have an html link somewhere on the home page to a site map, search bots should then index the other pages from this map.

[roguenroll]

Dynamic navigation is fine, as long as you have an html link somewhere on the home page to a site map, search bots should then index the other pages from this map.

if i have a nav panel and header as includes, will the bots see them, or is it hit and miss?

maybe I should hard code my index page at least??


I will take the advice and HTML code some links to my sitemap. thx

[simple-biz]

1 - Shorten the title to 55 chars
2 - Add the robots tag
3 - Place the robots.txt in your root on your server
4 - Get rid of the js in the code and put it in an external file
5 - Use css instead of color, size and font tags
5 - Change the link buttons or js links in to text links
6 - Make sure to have a site map page
7 - Make sure you have 404 page
8 - At the bottom of each page use menus as text links
9 - Make sure your page code is not bigger than 100 K
10 - Submit your site to ODP and Yahoo Dir, make sure to select the right cat
11 - Pay special attention to your content
12 - Try to get as much as relevant links you can
13 - Read each search engines guide lines and follow them strictly
14 - Don't spam
15 - Don't use doorway pages
16 - Don't cloak
17 - Always come and ask for advice on this board
18 - And pray hard that the big G appreciates all your efforts

This will help as long as you follow each rule here

More detailed list is at http://forums.seochat.com/t1126/s.html

[fathom]

Haven't seen you in a while simple-biz - welcome back from obscurity! :-)

As for the thread topic... what he said!

[EarthFire]

They are also good if the image fails to load for some reason.

And Mozilla!!! No title tags equals no pop-up text in the Mozilla browser.

Heather

[venividi]

1 - Shorten the title to 55 chars

18 - And pray hard that the big G appreciates all your efforts



19 Have your html code and style sheet validated

Valeria

[Mac 5]

Do mouseover buttons or static image links affect navigation for robots if you also have a set of text links on page.

[JSeverson]

simple-biz & all,
Thank you for this excellent list. I also went to the site you provided and read through that thread.

Thanks also to everyone else for their input and suggestions.

I really appreciate it.

Thanks,

[sandis.viksna]

Add keyword related file names!

Add serious site map!


If your page has title: gadgets, and description: various colored gadgets;

then make sure that at site map you have sort of:




<a href=gadgets.html>Gadgets</a> Various colored gadgets;
</p>

This will make super high link revelancy and google will seriosly love it

p.s. the

tags could help to google identify that this is seperate section and deals about gadgets ;)

just my 2 cents ;)