This
is a common problem. Your web
designer has created a beautiful
page with nice graphics and great
Flash animations. Unfortunately,
it seems that search engines won't
list your website no matter what
you do.
This can have several reasons:
a) The HTML code of
your web pages is meaningless
to search engines
Search engines use very simple
software programs to index
your web pages. A web page
that looks great to the human
eye can be totally meaningless
to search engines.
Search engines cannot see
content that is presented
in images (GIF, JPEG, PNG,
etc.), Flash elements, JavaScript
and other script languages
or other multimedia file formats.
If you use JavaScript links
for your website navigation
then search engines might
not be able to find your website
page.
Solution: Check
your web pages with a search
engine spider simulator.
Spider simulators will show
you how search engines see
your web site.
If you use IBP's search engine
spider simulator, you can
even enter the name of the
spider, so that you can test
if Google and Yahoo get different
results when they visit your
web pages.
b) The HTML code of
your web page contains errors
Some HTML errors can prevent
search engine spiders from
indexing your web pages. While
most search engine spiders
can deal with minor code errors,
some of them will send faulty
information to search engine
spiders.
For example, your web page
could contain a tag at the
top of the page that tells
search engines "the
web page ends here" although
your main content has not
been reached.
Solution: Check
the HTML code of your web
pages with an HTML validator
tool. You can find an HTML
validator in the free IBP trial version.
c) The HTML code of
your web pages doesn't contain
the right elements
If you want to get high rankings
for a special keyword then
this keyword must appear in
the right places on your web
page. For example, it usually
helps to use the keyword in
the web page title.
There are many other elements
that are important if you
want to have high rankings.
Solution:
Check the HTML code of your
web page with IBP's Top
10 Optimizer. IBP's Top
10 Optimizer compares your
web page with the top ranked
pages and it will tell you
in detail how to change your
web page so that it can get
top 10 rankings.
d) Your web server
sends the wrong status codes
Some web servers send wrong
status codes. When a search
engine spider requests a web
page from your site then your
server sends a response code.
This should be the "200
OK" code.
Unfortunately, some servers
send a "302 moved" or
even a "404 not found" response
code to the search engine
spiders although the web page
can be displayed in a normal
web browser.
In that case, search engines
will think that the web page
doesn't exist and they won't
index the page.
Solution: Use
the search engine spider simulator
to find out which response
code your web server returns
to search engines. If the
response code is not "200
OK", IBP's search
engine spider simulator will
return a warning message.
If you want to get top rankings
on Google and other search engines
then you must make sure that
search engines don't misunderstand
your pages. Use the tips above
to make sure that search engines
see what you want them to see.
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