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Search Engine Spider Food
What kind of food do search engine spiders like?
Similar to the traditional arachnophobia, search
engine spiders like regular meals, with fresh
new content added on a regular basis. In order
to feed the search engines, you want to provide
them with tasty websites that are easy to consume.
If you satisfy their hunger, your website may
perform better in organic searches. Here are some
helpful tips...
1. Link Depth
All important pages on a website should be accessible
with 3 clicks or less. Deep links, or links that
require multiple clicks in order to access, are
often ignored by search engine spiders. The most
important pages of a website should not be buried.
Be sure that critical webpages are only one or
two levels deep within a website.
2. Site Map
A site map is a good meal for search engines
spiders. That said, site maps should not be used
as a solution to poor navigation. Attention should
be paid to both solid navigation and a functional
site map, for the benefit of your website visitors
and customers! The fact that doing so will also
make search engine spiders happy is a free bonus.
3. RSS Feeds
Spiders just love RSS feeds. If you are serving
them on your webpage and displaying content from
RSS feeds, be sure that you are using a method
that allows the contents of the RSS feed to be
spidered by search engines.
Here's some help on that topic: Display
RSS Feeds
4. Topical Forums
Active forums that contain content generated
by interested customers is a great form of organic
content. Customers often use unusual phrases in
describing problems, questions, or concerns, and
this is a great way to perform well in long-tail
searches.
5. Blogs
Very few things are tastier to search engine
spiders than blogs. Blogs contain fresh content,
which is added on a regular basis. If you have
a blog, search engines may favor your website.
6. FAQs & How To's
Pages with FAQs (lists of Frequently Asked Questions)
and detailed "How To" instructions that relate
to a websites general theme are great web content
for spiders. Often, content contained in detailed
FAQs and HowTo's will capture long-tail search
phrases, and bring in additional qualified web
traffic.
7. Text
Each page on a website should contain at minimum
250 words of text. It is difficult for a search
spider to discern the meaning and context of a
webpage if it does not contain a fair amount of
basic text.
What Is NOT Spider Food
While its important to recognize the kinds of
items the search spiders enjoy, it is equally
important to acknowledge what sorts of things
do not assist search engine spiders. Each of the
following items have their place in web design,
but they will not help a website perform well
in organic searches. In fact, at this point in
time, search engines do not spider any of the
following...
1. Images
A graphical image can not be interpreted by
a search engine. While it's true that search engine
spiders may use the image "name" and its "alt
tag" in an attempt to understand what the graphic
relates to, the image itself is not visible to
search engine spiders.
2. Frames
Frames create roadblocks for search engine spiders.
Search engines are unable to spider content contained
in a frame, regardless of its format. As such,
you should avoid using frames on any pages that
contain important content.
3. Flash
Flash images and animations cannot be spidered.
Search engines have no way of discovering what
is contained in a flash file. Always include links
to non-flash alternatives, which can be followed
by the search engine spiders.
4. Javascript Navigation
Javascript navigation simply can not be followed
by the majority of search engine spiders, and
it is unlikely that this will change any time
soon. Avoid using and relying on javascript menus
for website navigation.
Feed the search engine spiders by creating content
that is relevant, timely, and unique. If you provide
search engine spiders with websites that they
can easily follow and consume, your website will
increase its chances of ranking well in organic
search results.
Related Articles:
How
to Optimize for Organic Search
Keyword Research
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Search Engine Spider Food