Top 3 SEO Mistakes
I plan on doing a comprehensive top 10 list next month but I’ve run into one of my biggest pet peeves today (a web designer who ‘knows’ SEO which is why he built a clients site entirely in Flash and low and behold the client’s site doesn’t rank at all!) Needless to say I couldn’t help myself from publishing at least a top 3 this evening.
Top 3 Search Engine Optimization Mistakes to Avoid at all Costs….
Dynamic URLs that are not SEO friendly. The worst of these are URLs with session id’s assigned to them (if this is you oh how Google hates you!). If you have URLs with ?, &, and the rest of the random characters/letters combinations chances are you are running a poor content management system that was not built with SEO in mind. Keywords and easy to read URLs are a necessity not only for the viewers sake but for the search engines sake as keywords and readable text within the URL is a vital component in SEO. Make sure every effort is made from the start to produce URLs that are easily read and easy to index. That segues into #2 perfectly…
Search Engine Optimization after the fact. Despite what you might think you do not design the website first then optimize it. This ‘logic’ leads to a host of problems later when an SEO consultant comes on board and chances are a rework of the design will be needed. SEO needs to be in the forefront of your thinking from day 1. The layout of the site, the navigability of the site, the linking structure, all of these are not simply design elements but foundational to a good SEO plan.
Building your website in Flash. This has been harped on more times than I’d care to admit but this really is a no-no. It takes the whole idea of on-page and on-site optimization and throws it in the garbage. I’m not anti-flash, it’s just moderation is key. Despite the recent talks of Google and Adobe coming up with a Flash reader technology it’s still years from perfection. Use flash to compliment not as a design platform.
Alright, that will do it for my list. There are of course a thousand and one things to avoid but that’s what SEO specialists are for. They’ve been in the trenches and know what the stumbling blocks are, experience is the name of the game with SEO. Cheers everyone and I’ll get the rest of the list written out and articulated next month.