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Jeff Palmer
talks about the 11 most common search engine optimization mistakes
and misconceptions. Find out how to avoid or correct these mistakes
so that your website will benefit in the search engine rankings.
The 11 Deadly Sins of Search Engine Optimization
(Common mistakes and misconceptions about search optimization and
marketing)
There is so much misinformation floating through the internet regarding
search engine marketing and optimization that it’s important to
shed some light on a few common errors and misconceptions. The following
list highlights some of the most critical issues involved in determining
the success or failure of a web site’s search engine optimization
and marketing strategies.
1. Lack of "Search Friendly" Content.
Every week I review web sites with no real search engine indexable
content. Web pages composed mostly of graphics, flash and other
bells and whistle are commonly over-looked by the search engines.
Search engines determine what content is of value per web page based
on the text used on that page. A truly optimized site should contain
at least 200 words of keyword-dense text. There is some debate among
experts on exactly how many words should be used, but generally
200 words will suffice. As a point of reference this paragraph contains
about 200 words. It is equally important for text content to contain
keywords that match the page titles. For example, a site selling
peanut butter owned by a company called "ACME Foods" might
have a title of "Acme Foods, Inc. Wholesale Food Products".
We have to consider how many people are likely to search for the
term "Acme Foods, Inc. Wholesale Food Products" it is
much more likely that people will search for the term "peanut
butter". Knowing this, we can say with confidence that it would
be a wiser choice to title a page, "Peanut Butter, ACME Foods"
and the page content should reflect this same keyword strategy.
2. Insufficient Link Popularity.
Search engines make every attempt to qualify the results which
are displayed in search results. One of the ways that they do this
is by tracking the number and quality of the incoming links to a
web site. A site with a large number of incoming links from quality
sites is given a higher ranking in search results. This is an important
consideration that is sometimes over-looked by those attempting
to market web sites. Services that promise to link your site to
thousands of other sites are far from productive; in fact they can
sometimes do more harm than good. Most search engines these days
consider services like this to be spam, so called "link farming"
and often give sites with these types of links a low ranking or
drop them all-together from the search results. Incoming links to
a site that compliment it and are relevant to the site contents
are golden and can greatly boost a site's ranking. Google's page
ranking system is a good example. A site with a page rank of 1 if
given a link from a site with a page rank of 8 can see its page
rank boost to 4! Link popularity is one of the most time consuming
and difficult aspects of search engine optimization. It's no wonder
that many of the search engines give so much importance to this
web site measurement.
3. Lack of Keyword Research And Updates
So, you have a web site. Do you know what pages in your web site
are generating the most interest? Do you know what terms people
are searching for that result in them finding your site? Probably
not. Let’s use the peanut butter analogy again. You own a web site
that sells peanut butter. You spend some money on paid search advertising,
logically; you assume that the key phrase "peanut butter"
is a prime candidate to target. What happens? usually one of two
things, one, the term peanut butter is such a popular search term
that thirty million other web sites are competing for the same key
phrase. Two, the term peanut butter is so unpopular that it’s unlikely
that it's searched for more than once in this lifetime. Proper keyword
research can solve these problems. Let’s say for the sake of argument
that keyword research is performed and that it is determined that
a significant number of people are searching for "organic peanut
butter". It just so happens that our peanut butter company
manufactures a whole line of organic, all natural peanut butter.
We have discovered a niche. The right amount of people searching
for the specific product that we want to sell. It's the perfect
match. So, what must be done to capitalize on our findings? First
we optimize our web pages for our target keyword, we change the
title, and the content so that they include the term "organic
peanut butter", then we scrap all of the paid search advertising
that wasn't working and focus on targeting our "organic peanut
butter" market. The point is, successful search engine marketing
relies on constant research and updates the internet is fluid and
evolving. What works today might not work tomorrow, we have to be
able to identify strengths and weaknesses in our internet marketing
campaigns and must be prepared to research, update and adapt.
4. Designing First, Optimizing Later
I have seen this mistake repeated hundreds of times. Even experienced
web designers fail to consider the results of design decisions on
search optimization until it’s too late. What is the point of spending
thousands of dollars for a well "designed" web site if
nobody ever sees it? Consult a search engine specialist early in
the design process. Even if your web site marketing strategy relies
heavily on paid search advertising a consultation with a professional
optimization expert may expose flaws in your site's layout. Points
in the flow of information that tend to cause users to lose interest
or become confused may become apparent, better to address these
issues early on.
5. Relying Too Heavily On Paid Search Advertising
This is a mistake made by Fortune 500 companies and small businesses
alike. The fact is that most businesses, small and large aren't
getting it right.
The rationale is that since search advertising can be purchased
it isn't necessary to focus on search optimization techniques. On
the surface this might make some sense, you can buy certain keyword
phrases that people are searching for, so why bother optimizing
your site for the search engines? For a company with a huge internet
advertising budget this means spending huge amounts of money to
drive traffic to their sites, when, if their site had been properly
optimized from the beginning, these costs might be half as much
for the same amount of viewers. For many smaller businesses trying
to compete in the internet marketplace simply becomes overwhelming.
While paid search advertising is a highly effective means of targeting
an audience, organic search optimization greatly increases the chances
of success for any web site. Make sure that the site you are advertising
is one that people can find easily without the assistance of a paid
search campaign.
6. Not Supporting the Conversion Process
A few weeks ago my wife decided that she wanted to buy some Australian
made baby clothes that we can't find here in the states. So being
the internet savvy father to be, I decided to have a look on the
internet for the particular brand she was interested in. I surf
to a search engine and type in the brand name. A few seconds later
I'm greeted with a list of web sites that supposedly have what I'm
looking for. I click on the first site in the list. I find myself
at the site of a clothing importer based out of California. There
are links to several categories of clothing, none of which seem
to have anything to do with babies, eventually after a lot of searching
I find a link on the children's clothing page for infant garments.
The infant garments page has a few images of clothing but not the
brand I'm looking for. I look to see if there is way to search for
clothing by brand name. There isn't. I look to see if there is a
list somewhere on the site of brand names carried by this distributor.
There isn't. I look to see if there is a toll free number to call.
There isn't. The internet optimization part of my brain is boiling
by this point, so to add insult to injury I go back to the children's
garments section of the site. I click on a link to purchase a bright
green jacket. I’m confronted with a page that is requiring me to
fill in a bunch of personal details. Ok, so I fill in the details
and click submit. Now I find myself back at the bright green jacket
page. Apparently now I'm qualified to purchase something. I click
the "check out" button. The web page goes blank. I know
that this is the result of bad programming. I know what's going
to happen next. "Error 404 page not found". Has this type
of thing happened to you? If you have ever tried to purchase something
on the internet, I'm sure it has. This is an illustration of a web
site that is well ranked in the search engines but has not taken
the time to create a site that is designed for its users. I was
forced to hunt through the web site to try and find what I was looking
for. The flow of information was counter-intuitive. There was no
online support. All-in-all the whole site was a joke. I would be
surprised to learn that the site in question made any sales at all,
ever. There were several points in this online experience that I
felt like giving up. In the industry this is known as ”abandonment",
This is a critical point in what is known as the "conversion
process", the act of turning web site viewers into online purchasers.
This is an issue that should never be underestimated. In fact it
is the number one factor that determines a web site's success or
failure. A web site with a million dollar marketing budget and millions
of visitors will not succeed unless it serves to understand its
user’s needs and anticipate its viewer’s questions.
7. Graphics Used For Text Links.
Web designers often use graphics to represent a link in a web site.
There are many reasons for this choice. Unfortunately for web designers,
the major internet browsers display web pages in different ways.
Since fonts display differently on individual computers and in different
browsers, it is a much simpler proposition for designers to create
graphic links than it is to attempt to create cross-browser text
links. The downside to this work-around is that search engines have
no idea if a graphic link relates to a specific web page or a link
to download the latest Britney Spears MP3. For search engines to
understand what a link is truly representing, they need to find
words in plain, good old fashioned text. If a web site must use
graphics for navigation it is important to include a set of plain
text links somewhere on the web page, usually at the bottom of the
page.
8. Use of Frames.
Search engines have a hard time indexing sites that are created
in frames. Framed sites use several html files to display one page.
Search engines are often confused by the frames method of creating
web sites, usually only indexing the first html file within the
framPages that aren't indexed will never show up in search engine
results. Also, many people that use the internet regularly for research
and purchases, so called "power users", tend to avoid
sites built with frames, especially those sites which require the
user to scroll content in separate frames. Simply put, frames are
bad.
9. Splash Pages.
Entry pages that instruct the user to "Enter", usually
decorated with a large graphic or a flash animation. The index page
of a web site is the one that search engines read first. More often
than not the only readable content on this type of page is a link
that says, “skip intro" Splash pages lack indexable content,
usually contain no links and often contain a "redirect"
to the real home page. Search engines do not like redirects, they
want the real thing. Avoid splash pages unless you aren't serious
about being found by search engines.
10. Submitting To 10,000 Search Engines
I sometimes have a difficult time believing that these services
are still making money, more importantly that people still think
that they work. The fact is that a handful of search engines account
for about 90% of all the web traffic generated and the rest comes
from people typing in a web site's URL indirectly into their browser's
address bar. The amount of viewers generated from these Mega-Search
Submittal services is so negligible that it's hardly worth consideration.
Don't waste your time or your money.
11. Not Clearly Defining Action Points
Another mistake that is repeated quite is often is the failure
to clearly define what the objectives of a web site are. What are
the main goals of a site? Who will the primary audience be? What
actions are desired of the site’s visitors? If these questions aren’t
answered prior to designing a site they will reflect a poor user
experience in the final result. Action points or calls to action
are a terminology handed down from the traditional marketing world.
They serve to define a desired action and are often supported by
persuasive sales copy. Though the basic concepts are the same as
traditional marketing, calls to action can take many different forms
on the internet. Often they appear as links or as part of a shopping
cart. The nature of a web site determines its type of action point.
The most important thing to consider is that without them, viewers
have little or no idea what the purpose of your site is. Imagine
an infomercial running a half hour long advertisement on television,
yet the commentator says nothing during the whole ad, just stands
there holding a cardboard box, you are left trying to guess what’s
inside, the advertisement offers no explanations or means of contacting
the company involved. Pointless isn’t it? This is exactly what a
web site without clearly defined points of action accomplishes;
nothing. It’s an exercise in futility.
About The Author
Jeff Palmer is a search engine optimization specialist and senior
interactive designer for Openvision an Internet marketing company
located in Hilton Head Island South Carolina.
www.openvision.com
email - succeed@openvision.com
jeff@openvision.com
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