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09.09.08 The Best Marketing Checklist For Web Architectural Issues  By Stoney deGeyter What this is about: This list covers several elements regarding the architectural aspects of a website that focus on building a more search engine friendly site overall. Why this is important: Website architecture can make or break the performance of a website in the search engines. Poor architectural implementation can create numerous stumbling blocks, if not outright roadblocks, to the search engines as they attempt to crawl your website. On the other hand, a well-implemented foundation can assist both visitors and search engines as they navigate through your website, therefore increasing your site's overall performance. What to look for: • Correct robots.txt file: Make sure robots.txt file is free from errors that can otherwise block search engines from indexing important pages. • Declare doctype in HTML: Implement proper doctype declaration across all site pages and code accordingly. • Validate HTML:You don't have to have 100% compliant code, but eliminate as many errors as possible throughout site. • Don't use frames: Find alternate ways of displaying framed content. • Alt tag usage on images: Every visual image should use alternate text. • Custom 404 error page: Make sure broken links lead to a custom 404 page to keep visitors on the site. • Printer friendly: Print a few pages to ensure that the result is readable. Create alternate CSS if necessary. • Underlined links: Hyperlinks in body copy should always be underlined. • Differing link text color: Linked text in body copy should be a different color than standard body text. • Breadcrumb usage: Be sure breadcrumbs are used and are effective at letting visitor know where they are in the site. • Nofollow cart links: Any links pointing to shopping cart, or adding products should not be followable by the search engines. Add nofollow attribute if necessary.
• Robots.txt non-user pages: Any pages that are not intended to be listed in search results should be dissallowed in robots.txt. • Nofollow non-important links Don't send link juice to pages that you don't want to appear in the search results. • Review noindex usage: Consider necessary usage of the robots meta tag for pages that should not be indexed. • Validate CSS: Use proper markup for CSS to ensure proper rendering. • Check broken links: Perform a broken link check and fix all broken links. Continue reading this article. About the Author: Stoney deGeyter is president of Pole Position Marketing (www.PolePositionMarketing.com), a search engine optimization / marketing firm providing SEO and website marketing services since 1998. Stoney is also a part-time instructor at Truckee Meadows Community College, as well as a moderator in the Small Business Ideas Forum. He is the author of his E-Marketing Performance eBook and contributes daily to the E-Marketing Performance (www.eMarketingPerformance.com) marketing blog. |
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