Search Engine Optimization

Do you properly utilize the <title> tag in each document ?

Each document title should emphasize what will be found when a visitor views a page. An effective strategy is combining the top headings, found on each page, to form the document title.

Do your documents contain relevant meta keywords and descriptions in the document head ?

All meta keywords used should be found, in key positions, on each web page. Key positions are headings and anchor text, and to a lesser extent, inside paragraphs, lists, and tables.

Your meta descriptions should include a summation, or brief description, of what a visitor will find when they view a page.

Are you limiting or denying access to crawlers and robots ?

Robots will serve your website better, with instruction and direction, from you. You can determine if, and how, a robot will classify each web page, either all at once ( robots.txt ) or individually ( meta robots ).

Do your images have ALT and TITLE text in the event visitors have chosen not to display images ?

If a visitor chooses not to display images, what will they see when they view your website ? The ALT and TITLE text are important for two reasons.

1. They present information to your visitors in the event an image is not displayed, so at least they understand what the image represents.

2. The text inside the tags are crawled and indexed by search engines and you are given credit for the text eventhough it may never be seen.

What type of HTML code do your pages contain ?

It's important to understand that robots, when crawling a web page, only see text and code, no fancy animation or graphics, or even the impact of color and style. And, the code ( HTML ) they encounter, along with the text between the code statements, provide the robot with context.

The HTML language helps define how robots will classify the text it finds on each page. A <P> indicates a paragraph of text, while a <DIV> indicates a generic container, used to house content, like paragraphs of text, headings, anchors, images, etc.

Make certain all of your text is where it belongs, contained inside it's proper code statements.

Does your website include Javascript ?

If so, are you including the <noscript> after each instance of scripting ?Javascript content is refered to as client side scripting. It cannot be read as content by search engines, thus eliminating any text, images, or video from your website ranking index. What's more, if your visitors have disabled scripting, they will not see any of the content deployed by javascript. To remedy this, you should always include alternate content after each instance of java scripting.

Does your website have video or animation, such as Adobe Flash ?

If so, are you configuring any alternate content to be displayed in the event Flash or video animation has been disabled ?Just as in javascript, any flash video animation cannot be indexed as content. However, as long as the video has been properly formatted, search engines can read the text inside a flash animation. With the emergence of flash websites, it has become very important to have the content inside the flash animation indexed so as to increase the content value of your website.

Do you have enough content dispersed among pages throughout your website ?

Content, is what you are reading now, and what you see on this web page, including video and images. When offering a product or service, you should always be concerned what your customers or visitors are getting from your website. Do they understand what they are seeing and reading, enough, to make an informed decision about your product or service ?

Is all of your content being indexed properly by crawlers and robots ?

Every website needs good navigation, not only for your visitors, but for robots too. Robots classify pages and content, based on how they are linked together.

Have you created a sitemap ?

Sitemaps, while not mandatory, are helpful to search engines, to understand more about your website. They can also ensure all pages of your website are crawled, and indexed. What's more, by using an XML sitemap, you help robots understand the level of importance for each page found on your site.

Have you submitted your website to search engines ?

Most crawlers, spiders, or robots, provided your website is linked to, from some other website on the Internet that is crawled, will find your website. However, it is always better to attempt to make search engines aware of your website directly.

Has your website been validated by W3C or does it contain errors in the HTML coding ?

HTML validation errors can cause robots and crawlers to ignore content, and in some cases, ignore the entire page. It's always good practice to validate your web documents.