Robot Friendly? What is a robot and why should I make my website friendly to him?

Robots (also called spiders) are programs developed by Google and other search engine companies which visit your website daily and gather information from your site. These are welcome guests and must have access to your site if you want to appear well in the search engines.

Not all websites are robot-friendly. How is that? The worst websites are those which do not have any content at all. They may appear to have content (in images), but there is no actual text on the page. Some of these websites are nicely designed and have text in the graphics. However, robots are not human and cannot read text in graphics. See this nicely designed site. It only has text in the pictures. If you were a robot, you would see nothing! That is unfortunate.

We have clients that used to have websites such as these. They paid good money for a nicely designed site, only to have it never do anything in the search engines. We are able to take sites like the one above and maintain the design, yet give the robots some content that they can read.

What about Content?

Your first page is most important. If you prevent robots from getting to the content on your first page or your first page has content, but the menu is all images, you are asking for trouble.

First, is your site made in such a way that your main content is not on the first page? Have you heard of a “splash” page? It is either a graphic animation or timed initial page that lacks in content. Here is an example of a site with a splash page. Notice that after 5 seconds, the initial page goes to the most content-oriented page. While this is not the worst example, it is not good. The robots do not wait 5 seconds. They will either travel through the links on the first page or bounce right off the site. The only thing salvaging this site is that they have a link to the home page on their splash page.

Second, I find home pages with decent content. However, the links to internal pages are all graphics or complicated scripts. Robots cannot follow graphics and still stumble through the scripts. Here is a website that virtually blocks the robots from crawling into the internal pages. These things are not always noticeable to those who do not know coding. However, a webmaster should be able to identify them. In this particular example. The look can remain exactly the same if they just used some robot-friendly coding for their links.

Third, do you have a lot of content on your site? Many people do not like to see content on their site. Many people devour the content and will read through it all. From the statistics/analytics that I have seen, most people spend at least 3-4 minutes reading through the material. Do not be afraid of content. It is the ONLY way you will get good rankings and tons of traffic. One of my favorite examples of a site which has tons of traffic and is one of the most prominent dating sites is www.match.com. When you go to their site, you will see primarily graphics. Scroll down the page. Notice the content? This is huge!

Let’s visit another highly competitive website, www.myweddingfavors.com. Scroll down their page. Look at all of the links to all of the internal pages. This site is HUGE on content.

Content is for your visitors first, robots second!

Let’s face it, robots do not purchase your products. They simply crawl your content. The more content you have, the more traffic you will gain. Give the robots plenty of content. However, when you write your content, do so in a way that it sells your product or gives your visitors the information they seek. So, when you have content on your site, think about your visitors then the robots.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) does not need to be complicated. Here is an Interview with my 11 year old daughter.

RSS Feeds: What are they and how do I use them?

RSS feeds have been around since 1999! However, don’t feel like you have been “out of the loop” too badly. RSS feeds became popular in 2006. If you are not familiar with RSS feeds, then this will open up a whole new side of the web!

Why Should You Use RSS feeds?

Good, informational websites are updated often. When a website updates or adds new information, you often have to hunt for the information. Why not have that information delivered to you the moment it is posted? Enter RSS feeds.

You can set up multiple RSS feeds and view them all. All of the current, updated information is sent to you automatically. Simply scroll down your RSS reader and click on articles that interest you. When you click on an article, you are sent to that website to the exact article.

How Do You View RSS Feeds?

Not every website has RSS feeds. This website has one. If you are using Internet Explorer 7, you will notice the orange button is lit up. If you use FireFox, the icon is at the end of the field where you type in web addresses.

So, how do you use RSS Feeds?

1) If you have Outlook 2007. The latest version of Outlook is set up with a RSS feed folder where you can set up a feed in the same way you set up an email folder.
2) Google Reader. If you use iGoogle for your homepage, you can include a list of your favorite RSS feeds on your homepage.
3) For more information on setting up a RSS feed, see this article.

Understanding Your Google Analytics Report

We offer two types of services: consulting and full service.

Consulting Services:
If you are web savy and like to develop your own website, then we have the perfect solution for you. We will walk you through the process of Search Engine Optimization, help you refine your site and give you the tools/knowledge you need. We will perform the more difficult tasks. Our goal is to train you to know how the search engines work and how to get your website optimized.

Full Services:
If you want us to do all the work, you will find that we offer some of the most reasonable search engine optimization services around. We will thoroughly explain the process of search engine optimization. At that point, we will develop a strategy and keep you informed of the progress. You pay a portion to begin, then when we achieve results!

I recently conversed with a person who asked the following about their website:

“Is it legal if say I had a website to do with Cars for sale, and I used keywords like cars, cheap cars, transport etc. I also want to use keywords with nothing to do with cars for sale like these keywords: “YouTube” and ”Pamela Anderson” Is it legal to do? Will I get banned from Google?

The answer to the above, generally speaking is “No.” YouTube may have some trademark issues with you, but generally there is nothing illegal about optimizing your website for the terms above. Google will not ban a website for the above. Google has been known to take over websites that infringe on their trademarks (e.g., www.gooogle.com).

This question reveals a misconception: Is Search Engine Optimization more important for traffic or for sales?

We believe that Search Engine Optimization’s goal is a Return on Investment and strong profits. It is all about sales. In marketing, the above scenario is called “bait and switch.” If you could rank high for the above terms, you will receive alot of traffic, but it is doubtful any of it would convert into car sales (unless you have a car Pamela Anderson previously owned which has a dash mounted device to view YouTubes:-)

Perhaps one of the most fulfilling aspects of our business is tracking the progress of our client’s positions in the search engines. Our main emphasis is getting websites to the top organic position of search engines.

Last week, while tracking the position of a website, I noticed a competitor had purchased a paid advertisement on Google. The ad sat right on top of my client’s #1 position in Google. That ad no longer exists. My client’s position still remains in the top position and did not cost him anything.

We do not suggest that paid advertisements do not help or are never to be used. We simply say that organic search engine optimization is more valuable for the following reasons:

1. Organic search engine placement is long term. It takes time to reach top placement, but once you are there, it is difficult to knock you off.
2. Organic search engine placement is cost effective. You already paid for your website, you don’t want to continually purchase advertisements.
3. Organic search engine placement lends credibility to your site. People use search engines to find the most relevant websites. They expect the #1 and #2 positioned websites to have the information/service/product for which they are searching. Studies show that most people click through the organic placements.
4. The techniques used to gain organic search engine optimization will result in more traffic than you expect. You may aim for one or two keyphrases, but your website will rank in many keywords/phrases. Paid ads are based on single keywords/phrases.