Seven Sure-Fire SEO Killers

So you have your website and you’re trying to sell your product or service. That’s great. Now you desire to get some great page ranking. That’s even better! But the problem sets in when you realize you essentially have to remake your entire site because you did some things that are completely detrimental to your search engine optimization health. What are those things?

1. Text in graphics

What happens here is most times someone falls in love with a super neat font, or perhaps you don’t know much about creating a decent layout, so you just decide you want to put some information in a picture and call it a day. I totally get it’ it’s really easy, hassle-free and gets the job done, but what many fail to realize is this is absolutely killing your search engine optimization.

The problem here is not just that it’s a horrible idea, but the way search engines work and the way you are choosing to display information just does not work together. See, search engines pretty much scan your website text to see what it is your website is about. Unfortunately, search engines cannot scan pictures and figure out what it is you are talking about. This technique is fine, of course, if you’re not saying much but if you get in the habit of creating pictures with paragraphs of text on them (or even important headers), this is a bad idea.

2. Unfriendly file names

Every website needs to have some pictures. People love to visit a site and have something to visualize. However, when using pictures, you have to save your file names so that they make sense. Far too often, you may have a graphic or a picture file name that just looks like a bunch of mumbo jumbo or isn’t really descriptive at all (i.e., “picture1.jpg”).

What you must understand is that friendly file names can actually help your SEO if you give it a fairly descriptive name. Of course you don’t want to overdo it (many say 45-60 characters is more than enough), but if it’s a picture of your product, the file name should reflect that.

3. Unfriendly URL’s

The previously mentioned principle remains the same for this concept. Sometimes people rarely take the time to actually name their inside pages. I’ve literally seen people with urls that are ‘www.mywebsite.com/insidepage2.html’ or ‘www.mywebsite.com/ab-co-XY1.php’. That’s not really helping you. Again, you want to make your url as simply descriptive as you can--nothing too long but concise and makes sense. If this your ‘About’ page, then name it that.

Also keep in mind, if you are using a content management system or blogging platform you want to make sure you have your friendly URLs turned on so they don’t look like a bunch of cryptic code.

4. Ignoring image “alt” tags

The reason you don’t have to be overly descriptive in your image file name is because you can do that by using the ‘alt’ tag. This tag pretty gives you an opportunity to describe what’s in the picture and what it’s supposed to do. Keep in mind many of our current search engines have the ability to search specifically for images. Friendly file names and good alt descriptions can make it realtively easy for your product or service picture to show up in an image search. Try to take advantage of this by utilizing this task.

It also helps with your regular SEO, because the search engine typically takes some of that into consideration when coming up with the relevancy of your website to a search query.

5. Splash pages

Honestly, in 2012, if it isn’t absolutely necessary, just avoid them. I know sometimes they are cool and sometimes it’s really nice to have something introduce your website, but if it isn’t absolutely necessary in the scheme of things, just let it go. The reason is because search engines take into account what is said on your very first page (index) when scanning your site. Most splash pages are just videos or pictures of some sort. If there’s absolutely nothing of use on it, then your site won’t rank very well.

6. Meta keywords

When creating and coding your site there is sometimes a little ‘meta’ tag that people like to put a bunch of keywords in to to try to give your page a better chance of getting a higher ranking. To be quite frank, this tag pretty much is useless now. Many search engines don’t use it as heavily weighted to determine the relevancy of your website to a query. Many years ago this may have been a factor but as of now, it isn’t really worth it.

7. Overdoing keyword density

You may have heard that you need to sprinkle your keywords all over your website or you need to make sure that at some point you refer back to your keywords some way or another. It’s definitely a good thing to keep in mind -- of course you want all your content to be as relevant as possible. But search engines are starting to take into account your keyword usage and density when determining how good your website is to a query. If you sprinkle your keywords around too much, there’s a chance a search engine can determine that you are spam site and are therefore irrelevant to any query.

This is one of those techniques that you have to be careful with because it is necessary but you cannot overdo it. The best bet is just to use a bit of common sense and try not to pile the keywords on.

 

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Best of Charlotte Website Design

The fundamentals of good website design are simple and universal: Provide a clean, uncluttered interface that is intuitive for the end user and that works seamlessly with meaningful content to offer an engaging and memorable experience. In reality, however, these seemingly basic principles are all too often overlooked in the development process. Below are five sites from Charlotte, North Carolina, that exemplify what can be achieved when these fundamentals are successfully defended and put into practice. These sites are proof that great design is not the domain solely of corporate giants and glamorous consumer brands but can be attained by companies of all sizes, in all industries and with any budget.

 

Elevation Church

This site offers a clean design that does a good job of providing funnels that quickly direct the user to key areas within the site. Nice features include rotating graphics (that aren't Flash-based, for the record) and a hidden video element that only appears if you are interested. In addition, they have successfully integrated various microsites that handle a live broadcast feature, blog and fundraising campaign. Also noteworthy are the ways in which the site allows those who opt to view the service online opportunities to participate in a traditional churchgoing experience. These include the “connection card” feature that allows users to submit contact information and comments, a function for taking notes on the sermon and a donation module for making a weekly offering online.

 

Leroy Springs

This elegant design captures the spirit of Leroy Springs, a company that has long been known for providing high quality recreation programs and services in the Carolinas. The site is well-organized, and the front page gives the user direct access to information about the company’s many recreational facilities. The attention to detail here is evident right down to the icons. Flash slideshows in each major content area provide an engaging overview of features and service offerings. While the banners could have been created without Flash, the site does allow the user to navigate without the the plug-in, and they provide alerts that something is broken instead of just letting it fail silently.

 

Arts and Science Council

Serving the primary purpose of conveying information about grants, programs, education and more, this site successfully organizes a vast array of details into a format that is manageable and easy to navigate. The detailed footer provides a secondary navigation system that backs up the main navigation if javascript is disabled. The front page is fresh, with a light background that puts the content center stage and bright colors that create an energetic feel. The footer on this page very cleverly and neatly displays a laundry list of corporate partners without creating a cluttered hodgepodge of logos that detracts from the main focus.

 

Noda Arts District

This is an excellent site that effectively captures the flavor of a very eclectic Charlotte neighborhood. Its core purpose is to promote all interests of the community — an objective that it serves well with content that is accurate, up-to-date and relevant. Although I personally am not an advocate of Flash navigation, the developers have also wisely provided a completely functional menu so that those who can’t or don’t use Flash would never know that it was missing.

 

Discovery Place

This is a high-energy site for a high-energy place. Bold blue hues create a dramatic effect and make the banner area highlighting the museum’s main attractions pop. The site uses Flash very well, but it would be advisable to provide an alternative image for the facility map in the event that the plug-in isn't available. The site footer is a nice touch that serves as alternative navigation so the user doesn't have to scroll back to the top in order to continue browsing.

 

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