Pluginlab Articles
Meta Tags and SEO: Do They Still Matter?
Meta tags are part of the HTML code that is used to create your web site. So, even if you're a webmaster or site owner, you may never have seen your site's meta tags below the site's skin. Further, you may not know how they're used by search engine spiders to access and index your web site.
While meta tags are still important to spiders, they're just one aspect of true site optimization. Here's why.
The Birth of the Search Engine
The first search engine was launched by Yahoo in 1994. Before then, we were all stumbling around in the dark trying to find this or that site. However, with the birth of search engines (there are now more than 4,000 of them) search engine optimization was born. SEO is part science, part art and a whole lot of hooey.
Site Navigation and SEO
What is SEO?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is intended to present the best possible image of a site to search engine spiders to ensure the highest possible page rank (PR) on the search engine results pages (SERPs) shown to users who query the search engine.
To this end, site designers and SEOs go to great lengths to simplify the infrastructure that forms the underpinnings of a web site. Web sites are constructed using HTML code, a simple computer code that defines how spiders assess a web site for relevance given certain search words, called key words.
But SEO involves more than just being recognized by search engines (there are more than 4,000 of them currently operating on the W3, by the way). It's just as important that an optimized site be completely and accurately
indexed by search engines. If a site is mis-indexed or partially indexed, it won't appear on the SERPs regardless of how well the infrastructure behind the site is optimized.
SNO - Site Navigation Optimization
In the real world we have lots of tools to help us get from here to there - maps, street signs, global positioning systems, address books and other helpful tools make navigation easy. However, that's not always true in the virtual world of the W3. Getting from Point A to Point B on your web site may not be as easy as you think.
What Is Site Navigation?
In fact, it is the digital equivalent of the maps, street signs and other means we employ in the real world to move about. And, it is a critical, often overlooked, aspect of site design. The ability of site visitors to get from here to there on any website is a key component to site success, which may explain why 94% of all web sites crash and burn. People can't find what they're looking for!
A well-considered site navigation system has an effect on everything from SEO to conversion rate to W3C compliance - all important to long-term site success.
10 Tips to Better Site Navigation
Too many site designers give too little thought to site navigation. Put a navigation bar at the top of the screen, a couple of drop down screens for further direction and there you have the site's navigation system. And it may work for some smaller sites that don't sell any products or services and don't want to get the site's message out there. But if you want your site to be successful, here are ten tips (actually think of them as rules for success) that'll truly enhance the visitor's on-site experience.
1. It's not about the buttons.
Site navigation is much more than buttons, navigation bars, text links and a site map. All of those are neutral, passive means to direct visitors. Good site navigation actually directs the visitor through the purchase process and through the checkout quickly, confidently and securely. A good example: Amazon.com.
Budget for SEO: It Should Be Part of Your Business Plan
Let's assume that you've got a great idea for an on-line website. And let's assume that you're serious about making this site profitable - quickly. And finally, let's assume that you're at the early stages of implementing your plan. If that's you, we got here just in time.
What Does SEO Cost?
Anything from nothing to more than you spent on your last car - thousands and thousands of dollars. There are lots of things - usually time-consuming things - that you as webmaster can do that won't cost anything to implement. However, most of these no-cost SEO tactics take time to put into place and show results. And, if you don't have a lot of time to develop "organic" search engine traffic, you're going to want to set aside some start-up money for SEO.
Resources on Resources (ROR): Do Search Engines “Get You?”
You might think of your web site as a commercial enterprise, an information outlet, a recruitment tool or simply a billboard on the well-known "information highway." But the fact is, your web site is a resource. It contains information and in the Information Age, information has value - that is if people can find it.
Resources on Resources
ROR, for short, is an evolving XML (extensible mark-up language) code used to build web site "feeds" along with the standard HTML (hypertext mark-up language). Why? XML offers designers many more options and it leads to faster, more feature-rich web sites - improving the W3 itself as a resource.
Site Maps: Frequently Asked Questions
What is a site map?
A site map is a schematic representation of a web site showing home page, zone pages and other constituent parts of a web site and the relationship between the various parts including, specifically, links between pages.
Why are site maps so important?
For human beings (site visitors) a site map enables visitors to navigate to a specific zone or page quickly. Instead of having to back out to the home page or access the navigation bar, visitors can click on the site map link and have available all pages with links to each one.
Getting Indexed by Search Engines: 7 Secrets to Successful Indexing
Lots of new site owners assume that search engines will automatically find their fledgling on-line businesses. It's just a matter of time, right? Well, no, it takes more than just time to be successfully indexed by the likes of Google, Ask, Yahoo, MSN and all of the other search engines crawling the W3.
It's not time and it's not luck that will get you noticed. It's taking a proactive approach to site design, search engine optimization and site map submission that'll get your site noticed faster. These proactive steps will also ensure that any new site is accurately and completely indexed - very important to long-term site success. So, what are the secrets to successful search engine indexing? Here are some Pluginlab tips that'll get your site up and running in less time, giving you a head start toward success.
Site Maps, SEO and Success
Site owners pay search engine optimization firms a great deal of money to have their sites more easily recognized by search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN - the big three. Or, they go out and spend a bundle on SEO software that may or may not deliver improved results when it comes to their site's page rank (PR). Or, they try to learn SEO themselves with little to show for the time invested in trying to understand Google's latest algorithm (ranking formula).
SEO is what drives traffic to one site over another based on the site's rankings on the search engine results pages (SERPs). The higher the ranking, the higher up in the SERPs and if your site isn't listed on the first or second SERP, chances are you won't see too much SE-driven, organic traffic on your site.
Why Create a Site Map for Search Engines? Invite Search Engines to You
We've all heard of site maps and maybe some of us have even used one, but a site map has many purposes both for site visitors and search engines. In fact, site maps may just be the most important component of a web site.
Is Your Site Map Search Engine Friendly?
Site maps enable visitors to move around a site quickly and efficiently - important in today's busy world. The benefits of building and maintaining a site map for visitors are well documented. But, what about search engines? Can a site map help improve a site's optimization. In a word - yes. In two words - a lot.
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