Search Engine Optimization Mistakes and Misconceptions

There is so much misconceptions and misinformatiom about search engine optimization that it is essential to discuss about the most common SEO mistakes and how to avoid or correct these mistakes so that your website will benefit in the search engine rankings.

Content should be search engine friendly

Website designers tend to over design sites in order to make it attractive by using lot of graphics, flash and other bells and whistle. Search engines generally over look them. Since Search engines determine what content is of value per web page based on the text used on that page, it is recommended to have sufficient content relevant to that particular web page. A properly optimized web page should contain atleast 200 words of keyword-dense text. It is also very important for content to contain keywords that match the page title.

Consult a Search Engine Expert before design process begins

Even most experienced web designers make this mistake of designing first and optimizing later. It is highly recommended to hire the services of a search engine expert before design process for a website begins. A professional search engine optimization expert may expose flaws in your site's layout and suggest site map in advance. There is no point of spending huge money for a well "designed" web site if nobody ever visits it.

Defining purpose of the website

Most of the websites fail to clearly define thier objectives. What are the main goals of a site? Who will the primary audience be? What actions are desired of the site’s visitors? Answers to these questions must be looked at prior to designing a site so that it does not reflect a poor user experience in the final result.

Avoid splash pages

The index page of a web site is the one that search engines read first and give immense importance. Therfore, quality and relevant content is very important at this page. However, splash pages tell the user to "Enter", and are usually decorated with a flash animation or a large graphic. The only readable content on this type of page is a link that says, “skip intro" and usually "redirect" to the actual home page. Anyone who knows even little bit of search engine behaviour knows that they do not like redirects.

Frames are bad

search Engines find it difficult to index sites which uses frames. Since framed sites use many html files to display one page and this confuses the search engines and therefore web pages that have frames are either not indexed or partially read. Therefore, it is advisable to avoid frames.

Graphics used for text links

To make website look attractive, web designers use graphics for text links. Unfortunately search engines need to find words in plain text to understand what a link is truly pointing to. If using graphics for navigation becomes unavoidable it is recommended to include a set of plain text links somewhere on the web page, usually at the bottom of the page.

Other points one should keep in mind are to do proper keyword research and updates, build sufficient link popularity and not to rely too heavily on paid search advertising.

If you own a web site and wish to optimize it for Search Engines through SEO experts, click here.