How to Maintain Rankings after a Redesign

As an SEO I am asked a number of questions covering a broad range of SEO related topics and one question in particular is asked quite often. This question holds answers which, when ignored, could see a once well ranked website spiral into depths of the search engine rankings forever.
"I am in the process of redesigning my site, what should I look out for in order to maintain the SEO (and rankings)?"
In a word, the answer to this question is relatively straight forward, but depending on the intensity of the redesign, it can become very complex. In most cases there will be specifics for each site, and it is near impossible to cover all scenarios in a single article. With that in mind I will describe the process that would apply in most cases for a site which is currently enjoying great rankings that they do not want to disturb.
If your site has no, or very few rankings, some of this advice may be safely ignored (it really depends on a number of factors). If you currently do not have any rankings, and have very few pages indexed, or if your site has never been properly optimized, you may be able to undergo a redesign with minimal worry. (If you are looking for SEO Friendly Web Design , please view this article.)
However, if your site ranks very well in the search engines, or even has 1 or 2 key positions that you would not want to lose, it's an entirely different story. The following rules assume that there are current rankings you are trying to watch out for.

Site Structure
The existing structure of your site is in most cases the single most important factor behind a safe redesign. If your structure changes, even just a little, you could easily see your rankings plummet.
With the redesign you will want to do everything in your power to maintain your existing site structure and page file names. The second you move or rename a file you risk losing valuable rankings. (Not only that, but you risk losing existing customers who may have bookmarked the now-moved page). Unless it is absolutely necessary to restructure the file hierarchy, don't. In cases where it must take place, the use of a 301 redirect is your best friend.
The 301 redirect will save your existing customers from head aches when visiting now-moved pages by seamlessly directing them to the new location. Permanent 301's will also help you retain your rankings – sometimes.
In theory, when you move a page, the 301 will tell the search engines "Hey, this page moved" and the search engines will re-assign credit. Existing rankings will eventually be transferred over to the new location along with any credit from inbound links.
It is important to note that the 301 is not a wild card that you can play to trump any drop in rankings. In principle this is the effect the 301 should have, although credit is not always transferred and when it is, it is sometimes many months down the road. It is certainly in the best interest of the site owner to not require this approach in the first place. If your redesign can maintain the existing site structure and file names your site will be in much better shape.
Advanced sites are another story all together. If your site suffers from obese URL strings loaded with extraneous characters, bizarre paths, session ids, etc. you may be in better shape to change your URL's to something much cleaner.

For example, www.domain.com/product/model/color is much more valuable than www.domain.com/product.cfm?item=productid&model=abc&c=white. Long URL's like this can usually be processed by the search engines, indexed, and ranked, however cleaning them up offers a better chance of rankings, a cleaner impression to your site user, and an opportunity to incorporate some potential target phrases.
Change in site structure can also include your domain name. If your domain name is the only change you make to your site, the above rule still applies. Even when proper 301 redirects are in place, you can expect to see your rankings drop significantly if not entirely. The 301 should help to reduce the down time, but it is not uncommon to see a sites rankings slip considerably, sometimes indefinitely with a domain change. Changing your domain name can be a complete rankings killer.
If you have implemented the new site to include a new site structure, a valuable tool combination is an XML sitemap combined with an HTML sitemap. For sites with current rankings many will have these two items already in place, but if you don't they can be your best friend. This is one more way to help Google index the new location of your site pages to ensure an easy and faster recovery from the change.
Be Safe! Even if you move all your files around and implement the appropriate 301 redirects and everything looks all nice and perfect, ensure that you also have a 404 redirect in place. Either direct "page not found" traffic to a custom 404 error page, or to your site's home page. Displaying to a potential client (or search engine for that matter) a 404 error can be tragic. Customers and search engines can lose confidence in your site. The custom 404 page is your best bet for retaining their attention.

Navigation
Undoubtedly, navigation is one of the most important aspects of your site contributing to positive site rankings. Drastic changes in the site's navigation can be fatal to your existing rankings.
Flash With newer design applications and technologies available these days more and more webmasters are incorporating Flash into their designs. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but if used incorrectly it can destroy your rankings. Flash has incredible benefits with site aesthetics. The possibilities for phenomenal design are endless, but it is not search friendly and really, search engines do not like Flash one bit. If you are thinking of introducing an entirely Flash based site to replace your existing one, there is only one circumstance where I would say go for it – if you don't care about your search engine rankings. (Actually, there is also another exception here. If your site is a very high level authority site, with thousands, if not millions of inbound links, you just may be safe to do whatever you want without jeopardizing your sites rankings).
If introducing a new Flash based site is essential to your master plan, you would be best to offer users, and search engines, a non-flash version of your site.
The best middle ground between Flash developers and SEO's is use "spot-Flash". Incorporate pieces of Flash into the html based site. This will allow the search engines all the content they require, while leaving the aesthetics in place for your visitors. This said, your new design should not utilize Flash as the exclusive means of site navigation. In order to retain your existing rankings, you are best to retain the existing means of site navigation. In most cases your optimized site will have some form of textual based navigation. This is here for a reason. While spiders are fully capable of following image based links, as well as a number of dropdown menus, basic text links offer the most 'bang for your buck'. Basic text links provide an easy path for spiders while also helping with relevant contextualization. The relevance of the link anchor text passes along to the destination page, and along with this, keyphrase value.
Image Links The major search engines really have no problems following links contained within images. The problem here is adding relevance to the link. Alt tags help, but the best way to link to main pages is through standard text links. The text helps add key phrase relevance to the linked page. If your current site utilizes text links, ensure that they are carried over to the new design. Even if the new site switches over to image based navigation, be sure to include the text based links somewhere on the page.

Content Management Systems
Many new sites today are utilizing CMS for ease of site updates and new content additions, but many of these systems can destroy your rankings. If you decide to make the switch to a CMS you need to ensure that changed URL's are properly covered with 301 redirects. Where at all possible retain your existing URL paths. Many Content Management Systems create a site structure with very unfriendly URLs that contain a number of extraneous characters. Do your best to find a system that will offer clean simple URL strings with minimal extra characters. Try to find a system that will still allow you to edit all aspects of a given page. Can each page have unique title and meta tags? Can you adjust alt tags? A good search engine friendly CMS is money well spent, especially if you have existing rankings you wish to maintain.

Content
Chances are if you are redesigning the look of your site, the majority of the content will not be changing. If this is the case ensure that all textual content makes it over to the new site, as it is most likely playing a significant role in your existing rankings. Changing up your content significantly can cause a drop in rankings if not done properly.
If your new site will contain entirely fresh textual content you will want to ensure that keyword densities and focus remain as close as possible to the old copy. Be sure to keep items such as mid-sentence (inline) text links (especially if they link to internal pages on your own site), heading tags, and keyword placement within the top portions of the new site.
If your SEO has implemented text above the header image (often referred to as Search Engine text, or SE text), be sure to keep it in place also. This text was probably placed there to ensure that the search engines saw relevant content immediately when visiting the page, and there is a strong chance this text is contributing to your positive rankings.

Meta / Title tags
Be sure to copy over your title tag, meta keyword tag, and description tag from each page to the new version. The title tag is especially important as there is still significant value placed here. You want to ensure that each page retains its old, optimized title tag.
The description meta tag is also important to carry over to the new design. The description tags do still carry some weight, and also can have an influence on the copy used in the search engine listing. Be sure not to lose these tags.
The meta keyword tag can really go either way. While these days it provides little to no value, if it is optimized and unique for each page, you may as well carry it over. It will provide some value for some of the smaller engines, but really have next to no impact on Google, Yahoo and MSN. Since you'll be transferring the description tag over anyways, it's all part of the same cut and paste action to transfer the keyword tag also. If you are switching the entire back end system, and copying over the keyword tag will provide you with an extensive amount of extra work, then you are most likely safe to leave it out.

Alt tags
For images remaining on the site be sure to keep the optimized alt tags in place. In cases where header images and image based navigation is being completely updated be sure to follow the same guide set with the alt tags in the original design. Wherever it makes sense, be sure to have the same alt tags copied over to the replacement images. These alt tags do have some value in your search engine rankings, and removing them entirely could cause a ranking decline.

Summary
If your website has rankings in the major search engines, chances are you have spent good money, time, or both on making this happen. This is not something that you want to simply throw away for a newer, fancier looking site. By incorporating the above items into your new design you will stand the best chance for retaining your existing rankings.
I do want to put an important caveat here. Redesigning your site, even when following all the rules, can still result in your site being demoted. You may still find your rankings disappear. Redesigning a ranked website is really a gamble any way you look at it. Your rankings could drop, they could skyrocket, or they could stay exactly where they are. There is no way to know for sure without moving forward.

Article by Scott Van Achte

The Search Industry’s Most Influential Events of 2006

#5 -- Google Buys YouTube for $1.65 Billion
Everywhere else, this is the biggest item in 2006. I get it, and understand why.Please keep in mind though that my list is of the most influential changes of 2006.The core group of Internet users do not use video search to be productive online.If anything, they do it to kill time and productivity.As a result, I find this less influential than the rest of the list.
So why is Google's acquisition of YouTube influential for those in the SEM industry at all?Well, even for a major company like Google -- $1.65 billion is a lot of money.While the cash flow earned from their advertising programs and stock sales help to fund such purchases -- it also leaves many doors open for Google to explore.
If Google can commit that much to the acquisition of a company, then one of two things is now likely to happen.Google with either continue to develop into offering services as if they were a full-scale ISP / portal – or -- develop video search as a more productive and useful method to retrieving relevant information.
Google has technically owned YouTube now for just over three months -- and so far, there haven't been any notable improvements in video search.Still, it's something we all need to keep an eye on as 2007 continues on, because if nothing else, we can expect Google to act quickly on this.

#4 – Mainstream Text Link Sales
Once more people began to understand how search engines used inbound links and anchor text as a major contributor for organic search rankings – literally dozens of text link brokers emerged.While some of these companies were very much in place before 2006 began, it was this past year that truly brought them to the front of the marketplace with millions of dollars changing hands in an effort to beat the system.
Simply stated, a budget for text link purchases became as necessary as that for pay per click advertising and directory submissions.
With more sites now inviting text links to be bought and sold, the search engines have begun to crack down on how effective these strategies can be. It's been rumored that Google has begun automatic filtering when a large number of similarly formatted links emerge in a short time span.Other engines too have hinted at reviewing inbound links for similar behaviors for the purpose of adjusting the rankings.
For those in the industry, this is a huge change.Gone are the days of strategic link building campaigns – not because they rendered themselves ineffective – but simply because the masses have become too powerful to overcome.While there's still hope that the weight and value of an inbound link will be more strongly considered – we can only sit back and guess at the true methods in which inbound links will now be viewed.

#3 – The Exposure of, and Reaction to Click Fraud
Since the first competitor stumbled across a paid advertisement, there has been click fraud.Denying it would simply show that you think that everyone else is naive -- and Google was wise enough back in July to admit as much.
Google had Shuman Ghosemajumder, Business Product Manager for Trust & Safety, address the issue with a full Q&A following a $90 million dollar settlement in July.The exposure of the settlement and the entire case raised eyebrows and prompted a number of changes in the Pay per Click industry.
Just a few weeks before that settlement was made, Yahoo was also forced to offer a click fraud settlement while they improved their systems of fraud prevention.On June 28th, Yahoo entered a $4.95 million dollar settlement – and then began to make swift changes.
As a result of these cases, both companies agreed to work with other major players in the industry in an effort to better detect, police and education advertisers on click fraud.In my experience, the efforts and offers from Yahoo to its advertisers have been leaps and bounds ahead of Google's.That's not too much of a surprise, but it should make for another interesting thing to watch through 2007 as more evidence and attempts of click fraud continue.

#2 – Social Networking Sites and Birth of Social Media Optimization

Consider these quick facts from 2006… MySpace becomes more popular than Yahoo.Google enters the winning bid of $1 billion to handle three years of MySpace's search functions.Social networks are the most searched for terms of the year on Google. The result?Social Media Optimization, or "SMO" now hits the scene as the next big thing.As Rohit Bhargava explains, the goal of SMO is simple…
"…Implement changes to optimize a site so that it is more easily linked to, more highly visible in social media searches on custom search engines, and more frequently included in relevant posts on blogs, podcasts and vlogs…"
SMO has become the hot topic dominating webmaster conferences and search industry seminars.More and more people are focusing on the marketing of their blogs and social media sites, and as a result – a new source for free traffic has emerged.
Less than five years ago site owners would create a site, add some backlinks from indexed sources, and wait for it to be indexed after the monthly Google update.Today, there's a more instant gratification with the help of social networking – and strangely enough – effective SMO now results in stronger organic search engine performance.
Clearly, this trend will continue on through 2007 to further shape the industry as we know it…

#1 – Google Continues to Frustrate

When it comes to frustrating webmasters, web marketers and site owners – there's usually one common villain:Google.The "minus thirty penalty" was our first true glimpse into some of Google's automated penalization schemes.
Matt Cutts had eluded to those a bit this year when he said that…
"so we also look for problems and leaks in different semi-automatic ways. Reputable sites that sell links won't have their search engine rankings or PageRank penalized–a search for [daily cal] would still return dailycal.org. However, link-selling sites can lose their ability to give reputation (e.g. PageRank and anchortext)."
First off, Google is their search engine.It makes sense and I understand why they continue to innovate and improve upon search.Unfortunately, a necessary evil in our industry requires them to also hold their cards close to their vest – which leaves us all questioning, speculating and at the very least, hoping.
Aside from the many business moves that Google made this year, there have also been a number of crack downs on those of us in the industry.From the referenced minus-thirty penalty, to "Quality Score" being enforced for AdWords buyers and beyond – one common theme has continued to emerge.We're at the mercy of Google if we wish to make the most of their potential – and they'll continue to throw their weight around.
The good news is that white hat SEO has made a number of strides this past year and it seems as though the industry itself is on an upswing again.That's great for those of us who have made this industry the basis of our careers.Using the strengths of social networking to our advantage and keeping current with Google's movements should propel us well into 2007.Just remember that while Google will continue to frustrate us as professionals, it will still continue to dominate in usage statistics.As a result, we need to buck up a bit and put our best foot forward to make the most of the sites we market.

Search Market Predictions for 2007

Another New Years has come and gone and over the past few weeks search industry professionals have been releasing their search market predictions for 2007. I have steered clear of reading them because it is time for me to write down our predictions and the last thing I want to worry about is duplication. Without further adieu, here are the predictions my staff and I put together for 2007.

Section 1: The Movers and Shakers

Windows Live: will continue the uphill battle of branding their relatively new search platform; the confusion over whether Windows Live is a replacement for MSN contributed to their forbidding decline in market share in 2006. My staff and I firmly agree, however, that MSN/Windows Live will rebound and increase its market share slightly over pre-2006 statistics.
Yahoo!: We expect Yahoo to improve in 2007 due to the fresh perspectives of new staff (from the 2006 executive restructuring) and the incredible potential of this massive search network. Unfortunately, I read that Yahoo is comfortable with its current market share and has no illusions about ever being a market leader; hardly the kind of intentional goal setting that leads to results. Their unfortunate vision statement aside, I anticipate Yahoo will increase its global market share from the current 19% to 24%. Frankly, I am still dumbfounded that Yahoo has anything less than a 30% stake. I realize Google is the clear victor in the search engine wars but Yahoo definitely has the necessary weight to grab a better than 19% share.
Ask: 2006 was a good year for Ask because they stuck to their guns and focused on what they were good at; answering questions. Ask has gained quite a loyal following over the past couple of years and I expect it will continue to do so as long as it maintains its focus; Ask's push into local and mobile answers search was particularly well timed. I expect Ask will not lose any market share over 2007; in fact I would be surprised if they didn't take a few more percentage points over the year.
Google: Google's insatiable appetite for growth will have it pushing for more market share in Asia and Europe where new Google outposts have recently opened. In addition, I expect that its algorithms will be improved sometime in the 3 rd quarter to further devalue the benefit of reciprocal links (see more in Section 2 under " Link Building "). Google will continue to improve its mobile services which will culminate in more aggressive promotion of searching "on the go" wherever you are in the world.
Baidu: I don't consider this engine to be one of the major 4 search engines (yet) but it has grown so much over the past 2 years that it just felt right to add it. Who is Baidu? Baidu.com is China 's leading search engine and since its conception in 2000 by two young entrepreneurs, this company has experienced massive growth (i.e. their IPO in 2005 started at $27/share and is now sitting at $122/share); sound reminiscent of Google? In my opinion Baidu is not going to be another Google but it has potential to grab a noteworthy piece of the search market when it finally premieres in North America ; still no word yet when this premiere might happen but I expect the first steps to begin late this year. Part of Baidu's success stems from its simple and effective methods of searching for multimedia such as mp3's and videos online in addition to standard searchable content.

Section 2: Search Engine Marketing Strategies

For added reading on this topic please see Scott Van Achte's insightful article written in November 2006 titled " Future Evolution of Search ".
Link Building: The industry of link building will take quite a hit this year as Google (among other SE's) continues the process of weeding out unscrupulous linking techniques such as haphazard reciprocal link building and advanced link building directories (previously missed in other weedings). By no means will Google get a handle on all of the less desirable links but an onward push to cleansing rigged results based on false popularity will be noticed throughout the industry. The future of link building will be more difficult but definitely more effective because one-way links (someone linking to you without need for reciprocation), be it through carefully researched paid links or from premiere link building companies, will finally be known as the only way to provide a lasting ranking advantage. For more information visit the home of the guru of link building, Eric Ward or read " Thinking (a lot) About Link Building " by Jim Hedger.
Search Engine Optimization: As the most complex search engine Google tends to set the bar for best optimization practices so focusing on attaining results on Google usually nets favourable results on the other major engines. With that information in mind I do not see any reason that ethical optimization tactics will be revised to any significant level in 2007. If you would like a refresher on what it takes to optimize a web page see The Ten Minute Optimization REDUX white paper.
SPAMMERS Beware: This year Google will begin a more focused campaign of eradication for websites using keyword stuffing to attain search engine results. It amazes me to this day that I still find top ranking sites with keyword-stuffed footer navigations designed to fortify competitive rankings and attain dozens of long-tail results. At any rate, it has been a long time since I have seen a significant cleansing of Google's SERPS and I would be blown away if we don't see at least one significant cleanse this year. For more information on what is considered SPAM please see " 15 Shades of SEO SPAM ".
PPC: This year Google will crank up the volume and remove 99% of the Adsense-driven leader pages that repeatedly clog the top ten rankings under many queries. Unfortunately, Google's "don't be evil" catchphrase may clash with their interest in the bottom line since these SPAM sites effectively add to Google's pocketbook.
Mobile Search: I cannot stress enough the importance of this emerging industry and I expect that the increase in R&D from Google and some effort from Yahoo and Microsoft in this area will produce an undeniable need for separate, mobile-friendly websites (i.e. .mobi sites designed entirely for mobile use). This market place will see significant growth this year as Internet marketing companies jump into the fray and begin offering mobile site creation, promotion and optimization. For more information on the emerging mobile market place see " Stake Your Claim on the Mobile Web ".

Section 3: The Path to Success Will Require More Planning and Technical Expertise

As top search engine rankings become more entrenched the average website owner will need to be more calculating when planning their pending web presence in order to join the ranks of the top 10. As a result, I see the following areas of intentional research and planning becoming critical requirements for online success:
Web Site Analytics: Understanding and managing the behaviour of web site visitors is crucial to repeated online success and I expect this fact will finally become common knowledge throughout 2007. Consequently, enterprising new technologies like ClickTale will emerge and ClickTracks (an analytics leader) will see record sales beyond their expectations. For some introductory information on analytics see " Did You Know You Had Stats? "
Competitor Analysis: In an effort to shorten the path to online success, it is important to start any online marketing with a clear understanding of what it takes to attain rankings and deconstructing the tactics that led to a competitor's success is an important first step. StepForth has been performing advanced competitor analysis services for over 3 years now and every year we see the demand for such intelligence mounting. I expect the need to grow significantly over 2007 and it will become an accepted first step for all online campaigns within the next 2 years. For more information see our SEO Research page.
Search Engine Friendly Web Design: The importance of search engine visibility to online success is now common knowledge and this year more and more informed design clients will be demanding their web designers create search engine friendly web sites vs. websites that pose significant, if not fundamental barriers to rankings. Is your website search engine friendly?
Professional Copy Writing: Does your content sell your site? In other words, are you converting your visitors? Professional copy writing is a must because it allows you, the site owner, to make more money from the traffic that you attain. Consequently, a higher conversion ratio means you have more money to reinvest in your online success and it is entirely reasonable to expect you may be making more money in the #10 position in rankings than a website in the #1 position that has poorly written sales copy. There is absolutely no question in my mind that professional copy writing services is going to be a growth market in 2007. If you haven't had your sales copy professionally written then drop me a note because I know of an excellent copywriting company that may radically increase your bottom line.

15 Shades of SEO Spam

Spam, in almost any form, is bad for your health. The vast majority of web users would agree with that statement and nobody would even think of the finely processed luncheon meat-product made by Hormel. Even the word itself is infectious in all the worst ways, being used to describe the dark-side and often deceptive side of everything from Email marketing to abusive forum behaviour. In the search engine optimization field, Spam is used to describe techniques and tactics thought to be banned by search engines or to be unethical business practices.
While writing copy for our soon to be revised website, the team put together a short list of the most outrageous forms of Spam we had seen in the last year and a short explanation of the technique.
Please note, we do not encourage, endorse or suggest the use of any of the techniques listed here. We don’t use them and our clients’ sites continue to rank well at Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask. Also, since Google has been the dominant search engine for almost five years, most of the spammy tricks evolved in order to game Google and might not apply to the other engines.
1. CloakingAlso known as “stealth”, cloaking is a technique that involves serving one set of information to known search engine spiders while displaying a different set of information on documents viewed by clients. While there are unique situations in which the use of cloaking might be considered ethical in the day-to-day practice of SEO, cloaking is never required. This is especially true after the Jagger algorithm update at Google, which uses document and link histories as important ranking factors.
2. IP DeliveryIP delivery is a simple form of cloaking in which a unique set of information is served based on the IP number the info-query originated from. IP addresses known to be search engine based are served one set of information while unrecognized IP addresses, (assumed to be live-visitors) are served another.
3. Leader PagesLeader pages are a series of similar documents each designed to meet requirements of different search engine algorithms. This is one of the original SEO tricks dating back to the earliest days of search when there were almost a dozen leading search engines sorting less than a billion documents. It is considered SPAM by the major search engines as they see multiple incidents of what is virtually the same document. Aside from that, the technique is no longer practical as search engines consider a far wider range of factors than the arrangement or density of keywords found in unique documents.
4. Mini-Site networksDesigned to exploit a critical vulnerability in early versions of Google’s PageRank algorithm, mini-site networks were very much like leader pages except they tended to be much bigger. The establishment of a mini-site network involved the creation of several topic or product related sites all linking back to a central sales site. Each mini-site would have its own keyword enriched URL and be designed to meet specific requirements of each major search engine. Often they could be enlarged by adding information from leader pages. By weaving webs of links between mini-sites, an artificial link-density was created that could heavily influence Google’s perception of the importance of the main site.
In the summer of 2004, Google penalized several prominent SEO and SEM firms for using this technique by banning their entire client lists.
5. Link FarmsLink farms emerged as free-for-all link depositories when webmasters learned how heavily incoming links influenced Google. Google, in turn, quickly devalued and eventually eliminated the PR value it assigned to pages with an inordinate collection or number of links. Nevertheless, link farms persist as uninformed webmasters and unethical SEO firms continue to use them.
6. Blog and/or Forum SpamBlogs and forums are amazing and essential communication technologies, both of which are used heavily in the daily conduct of our business. As with other Internet based media, blogs and forum posts are easily and often proliferated. In some cases, blogs and certain forums also have established high PR values for their documents. These two factors make them targets of unethical SEOs looking for high-PR links back to their websites or those of their clients. Google in particular has clamped down on Blog and Forum abuse.
7. Keyword StuffingAt one time, search engines were limited to sorting and ranking sites based on the number of keywords found on those documents. That limitation led webmasters to put keywords everywhere they possibly could. When Google emerged and incoming links became a factor, some even went as far as using keyword stuffing of anchor text.
The most common continuing example of keyword stuffing can be found near the bottom of far too many sites in circulation.
8. Hidden TextIt is amazing that some webmasters and SEOs continue to use hidden text as a technique but, as evidenced by the number of sites we find it on, a lot of folks still use it. They shouldn’t.
There are two types of hidden text. The first is text that is coloured the same shade as the background thus rendering it invisible to human visitors but not to search spiders. The second is text that is hidden behind images or under document layers. Search engines tend to dislike both forms and have been known to devalue documents containing incidents of hidden text.
9. Useless Meta TagsMost meta tags are absolutely useless. The unethical part is that some SEO firms actually charge for the creation and insertion of meta tags. In some cases, there seems to be a meta tag for virtually every possible factor but for the most part are not considered by search spiders.
StepForth only uses the description and keywords meta tags (though we are dubious about the actual value of the keywords tag), along with relevant robots.txt files. All other identifying or clarifying information should be visible on a contact page or included in the footers of each page.
10. Misuse of DirectoriesDirectories, unlike other search indexes, tend to be sorted by human hands. Search engines traditionally gave links from directories a bit of extra weight by considering them links from trusted authorities. A practice of spamming directories emerged as some SEOs and webmasters hunted for valuable links to improve their rankings. Search engines have since tended to devalue links from most directories. Some SEOs continue to charge directory submission fees.
11. Hidden TagsThere are a number of different sorts of tags used by search browsers or website designers to perform a variety of functions such as; comment tags, style tags, alt tags, noframes tags, and http-equiv tags. For example, the “alt tag” is used by site-readers for the blind to describe visual images. Inserting keywords into these tags was a technique used by a number SEOs in previous years. Though some continue to improperly use these tags, the practice overall appears to be receding.
12. Organic Site SubmissionsOne of the most unethical things a service-based business can do is to charge clients for a service they don’t really need. Charging for, or even claiming submissions to the major search engines are an example. Search engine spiders are so advanced they no longer require site submission to find information. Search engine spiders find new documents by following links. Site submission services or SEO firms that charge clients a single penny for submission to Google, Yahoo, MSN or Ask Jeeves, are radically and unethically overcharging those clients.
13. Email SpamPlacing a URL inside a “call-to-action” email continues to be a widely used of search marketing spam. With the advent of desktop search appliances, email spam has actually increased. StepForth does not use email to promote your website in any way.
14. Redirect SpamThere are several ways to use the redirect function to fool a search engine or even hijack traffic destined for another website! Whether the method used is a 301, a 302, a 402, a meta refresh or a java-script, the end result is search engine spam.
15. Misuse of Web 2.0 Formats (ie Wiki, social networking and social tagging)An emerging form of SEO spam is found in the misuse of user-input media formats such as Wikipedia. Like blog comment spamming, the instant live-to-web nature of Web 2.0 formats provide an open range for SEO spam technicians. Many of these exploits might even find short-term success though it is only a matter of time before measures are taken to devalue the efforts.
Search engine optimization spam continues to be a problem for the SEO industry as it tries to move past the perceptions of mainstream advertisers. When under-ethical techniques are used, trust (the basis of all business) is abused and the efforts of the SEO/SEM industry are called into question. Fortunately, Google’s new algorithm appears to be on the cutting edge of SEO Spam detection and prevention. Let’s hope 2006 is the year the entire SEO industry goes on a Spam-free diet.

Is Your Website Search Engine Friendly ?

When I sit down with new clients and discuss the status of their new or existing site they are often shocked when I am forced to inform them that their site is not search engine friendly. Encountered with a blank but slightly shaken look I then explain that this means their site has a particular problem that is hindering search engine rankings. Often this is represented by an inflexible design, overuse of advanced web technologies, or simply a weak navigation scheme. As a result, if they were to continue with the site as it stands they are unlikely to attain competitive search engine rankings.
The following is checklist designed to help you gauge the search engine friendliness of your website and, if you are in the midst of planning a website this checklist will help you avoid the common pitfalls of unfriendly designs.
TechnologiesFirst consider what technologies your website is using. There are certain technologies that require a little more hand holding than others to ensure search engine compatibility.

1. FRAMES

Lets start with this oldie. Luckily, frames are becoming a way of the past what with the use of DIV layers and the slow onset of incredibly flexible AJAX coding. The long and the short of it is that if you have Frames on your website then you are starting off at a disadvantaged position that cannot be truly search engine friendly no matter what you do. There are, however, some remedial fixes that will tie you over until you can redesign your site; yes I said redesign. The fix that I recommend is to use a noframes tag whereby you place another version of your web page inside of your framed page. This 'backup' page is what the search engines will view; here you can place relevant content and navigational elements so that the search engines can at least navigate portions of your site that are (hopefully) not framed.
More info on the no frames tags.

2. FLASH

There was a big brouhaha that Flash had become search engine indexable and you no longer had to worry about its search engine issues. Frankly, I have not seen the fruits of this 'improvement' to a respectable degree yet so I still consider it a kiss of death for websites designed solely in Flash. If you have a Flash-only website then I recommend one of these two options; one is to design an html version of your website and make the home page of your website html rather than Flash where you can then allow users to choose between html or Flash. The second option is to redesign the site so that it mixes both html and flash together. For example, this might mean implementing Flash amidst content on an HTML page as you would an image. I realize there are certain limitations to this option but if you can create a slick site in this manner then you will have the best of both worlds; clean search engine friendly content along with an interactive, multimedia feel. Just remember that the majority of relevant text should be in HTML format for the search engines to index.
3. Search Engine 'Unfriendly' Dynamic URL'sUnfriendly dynamic URL's are a common side effect of using a Content Management System that is not designed with search engine rankings kept in mind. Here are some examples of some unfriendly URL's:

Sample 1:

http://www.mydomain.com/myproducts.php&354=prod333&subproduct
Sample2:

http://www.surfboardsforyou.com/boards/filename.php?id=F98ZF4&productId=39222§ion=wicked&brand=582&template=532

These URLs are problematic because a search engine may consider these addresses too complex to spider. Why too complex? Suffice it to say that the more complex the URL, the higher the chance that a search engine robot will consider the content too dynamic to read; it changes too often to be valuable to a search engine.
The way around these types of URLs is actually not so difficult; it may only require a small investment of time and money. The 'time' will be required when researching which URL fix is right for your system. The money may be required to pay a programmer to implement and test the new URLs. Here are how the URLs might look once they are fixed to be search engine friendly:

Sample 1 Fixed:

http://www.mydomain.com/myproducts/354/prod333/subproduct/
Sample 2 Fixed:

http://www.surfboardsforyou.com/boards/wickedboards/39222/board532/

These URLs are better because they do not include the extraneous characters that are so telltale on dynamic websites. In addition, the URLs are designed to appear like normal website directories when in fact they are dynamic URLs.
Important: it is vital that you minimize the length of the URLs that you use. Search engines may stop crawling a website if there appear to be too many subdirectories. The samples above show fixed URLs that have about as many subdirectories as I would allow (4).
DesignThis section focuses on the overall layout and usability of your designs from the perspective of a search engine robot. Search engine friendly design is occasionally quite complex so I have provided a list of the most common issues to consider.

1. MenusAre the menus on your website spiderable? If not you may be hiding major areas of your website from search engine spiders and missing out on additional search engine rankings.
The fact is there are very few menus out there that a search engine will have a problem following, but there are definitely some worth avoiding. For instance do not use a JavaScript Jump Menu (example) as the core mode of navigation of your website; search engines cannot index this type of menu. Also be careful of Flash menus, they look slick but they will impede the progress of a search engine spider especially if they are the only means of navigation within your site.
General Menu RulesThe ideal menu would be text based and each text link would include the keywords you are targeting on the destination page. Setting up a menu with this much forethought requires that you determine the layout and content for your site before web design begins. Once you have a clear picture of the content for each page you can then research the keywords that are best to target per webpage. This essential keyword research can be done in house easily enough using systems-like keyword research tools that provide you with a glimpse into how your customers think by showing how many searches there are per month (or year) for a particular term.
Remember, almost every page within your site has a very real opportunity to gain a top ranking; all you need to do is ensure that the design, content and site structure is optimized. Ensuring that the menu is carefully thought out and designed is a crucial step for top rankings.
Finally, if you are at all uncertain whether your menu is search engine friendly then be certain to back it up with a text menu in the footer of your page using the same keyword targeting principles noted above.
Tech Advice: a simple text menu may be less than desirable for you; in this case I recommend DHTML menus. These menus use text but in a manner that is quite appealing and very search engine friendly.

2. SitemapsSitemaps can dramatically help the visibility of your website by allowing search engine spiders easy access to all of the pages in your site. Place a link to the sitemap on every page within your site to ensure easy access no matter where a search engine or user enters your site.
Sitemap TipsJust having a sitemap will help but how you build your sitemap will also play a role in how well the search engines catalogue it. For example, if you have a twenty-page website it would be ideal to create a sitemap where each page is represented by a title along with a short description. Ultimately, the page may be a bit long but it will have content that the search engines like to index and it will boost the relevance of the linked pages because the titles will accurately represent the content. So in effect, you will now have more than just a sitemap; you will have a table of contents for your site that has the potential of getting a ranking and provides an extra boost to the ranking worthiness of each page.
Google SitemapGoogle Sitemap is an additional design element that you should consider adding.

3. LayoutHow you layout your page can make a significant difference in how well your site ranks and ultimately how search engine friendly it is.
Tips for LayoutSearch engine robots read a webpage from the top of the source code (the programming that made your page - see "view source" in your browser) all the way to the bottom. As a result, it is important to ensure that both of the following elements are found as close to the beginning of code as possible:
A) A short sentence introducing the topic using the keyword targets you have chosen for the page.B) Your text menu and other navigational aids, or if this is not possible it would be even more beneficial to start with a paragraph or two of relevant content followed by the navigation.
By placing this information near to the top of the page, you will promptly present the search engine robot with relevant text that backs up the page title and backlinks. You will also provide an immediate sitemap of sorts for the search engine to spider, which includes keywords relevant to each page.

4. Splash Pages - ACK!With the odd exception Splash Pages are a kiss of death for a website because the home page (the first page seen when someone visits your domain), your most important page, is often converted into nothing but an excess entry point with little or no relevant content on it. Aside from reducing your chances for ranking, you are also making your visitors take another step to get to content or sales material in your site. Any additional steps you add will lessen the likelihood of a successful sale.
Please Let Me Change Your MindIf you think you need to use a splash page then you need to talk to someone who will change your mind. No, honestly, give me a call if you want because there is nothing more painful to a SEO or search engine friendly web designer to see a Splash Page in use. If, in the unlikely scenario your splash page is required, there are ways to make it slightly more search engine friendly.

1. Add a highly relevant and well-worded paragraph to the page so that the search engines have something to index that shows them they are in the right place.2. Either provide a link to your sitemap or implement a text menu in the footer of the page so the search engines can access the internal workings of your website without having to take an extra step.
In SummaryCreating a search engine friendly website requires a basic to advanced understanding of how a search engine works, depending on the complexity of the planned website. Complexity aside, the notes above provide a good basis for you to evaluate the friendliness of your website and make changes where necessary.