Understanding the Search Engine Spiders!

Understanding the Search Engine Spiders!

If you're really serious about your future in marketing it's important that we understand how the search engine spiders see's your website. Optimizing your site for the user is definitely an important element of good marketing, however, unless your optimization includes meeting the search engines requirements and algorithms, most of your efforts will be in vain. One way to check and make sure you're meeting most of these criteria is to use some form of search engine spider simulator. It's a fact that optimization does not guarantee top positions on Google, Yahoo, Bing and other fine search engines but it helps in earning respectful positions on the internet.

Most search engine spiders function basically the same way using many of the same principles as other search engines. The function of the spiders is to crawl the web and index pages of websites and store their findings in a database and when a query is made by a user the search engines will go to their database and match keywords and other relevant functions to determine page rankings regarding the query search. Most search engines have their own algorithms for determining the page ranking even though the search engines may use the same principles of gathering information.

Search engine are not human, they are robots and they do not read your pages the same way as a human does. The search engines don't read Flash and JavaScript. These functions are actually intended for humans. Since the search engines function is to make it easy for people to find your website when you make a query, you must consider what the spiders are looking for and what they like and dislike.

If you use frames in your website, you must make certain that those frames are correctly done. Frames can be a real disaster particularly in terms of search engine optimization rankings if not done correctly. If you're going to use frames, you must totally understand exactly how the search engine views every aspect of frames. Before you incorporate and publish your site online you might be wise to take advantage of a search engine spider simulator and see how it responds.

To some degree spiders are similar to text browsers and they see nothing but text. Having an image with text means nothing at all to the spiders and the spiders will ignore it. There are some simple workarounds it you use a bit of caution in the process. If you include a description of the image in the ALT attribute of the IMG tag may work, however, be extremely cautious not to use too many keywords or phrases because the search engines frown on using keywords over and over again trying to manipulate page rankings. The engines will penalize you severely for keyword stuffing and may ban your site from the internet. Getting reinstated is virtually impossible so be extremely careful in this part of the process.

There's a fine line between optimization and over-optimization in the eyes of the search engines so at all times make it a priority to be extremely careful with your optimization strategies.

Another critical area of interest to the spiders is whether the hyperlinks in your site are spiderable and do those links lead to the right place. Reciprocal links may be an area of concern here simply because many link exchange websites use fake links to your site using JavaScript using mouse over code to make the links look real but in reality the link is not genuine so the search engines can't follow the link. If you use a simulator and the spiders can't follow the link then probably the link is a fake. Use extremely caution when doing any type of link exchanges.

It's recommended by the professionals that you use the noscript tag rather than using _JavaScript. The _JavaScript is not spiderable and the links formed in that situation will be totally ignored as page text. Make sure you put all menu item links in the noscript tag. Do NOT use link stuffing in any kind of search engine optimization or attempt trying to manipulate the engines for higher page rankings.

Keywords are another important factor to be considered in effective search engine optimization. Since the search engines spiders are looking for good relevant keywords the keywords in your website must be positioned properly for maximum efficiency. One good example of this would be the keywords in the first few paragraphs of your website which weigh more with the search engines than keywords elsewhere in your site. The only explanation for this would be that the algorithms of the search engines are set to pick up keywords early on in the spidering process and give more credence to those keywords than others found further on in the website.

Another factor to consider when optimizing for the search engine spiders is the URL. The search engines don't like question marks in the URL. The use of a search engine spider simulator will help you determine which works and doesn't work in your particular situation. You might want to do a Google search for the differences between dynamic and static URLs.

Meta keywords and meta descriptions can be found in the source code of your website. There was a time when keywords and meta descriptions was the most important criteria for determining relevance of a page. The search engines are now incorporating other factors into their algorithms that may be more important than keywords and descriptions. Google these key elements of optimization and become familiar with the importance they play in today's optimization process.

Since the search engine guidelines and algorithms change on a regular basis, you might be wise to seek the help of the professionals when attempting to optimize your website.

The eBiz Solutions Team is standing by to assist you in your optimization and marketing challenges. Call today for your free 30 minute "no obligation" consultation.

"Let's Build Your Business Together"

Larry L Miller SEM/SEO Consulting

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-tips-articles/understanding-the-search-engine-spiders-3832801.html

Larry L Miller - SEM/SEO Consultant who specializes in promoting clients to "Top Positions on Google" and other leading search engines. Mr. Miller is the promotions director for BLM Traders the leader in Automated Marketing Systems. Private Line: 321-594-4405, Skype: larrylmiller121

Partner Sites....

Home Business Millionaire      Wealthy Internet Entrepreneur

My Success Secrets          Passive Income Pro




Understanding the Search Engine Spiders!
Understanding the Search Engine Spiders!