Everybody has to start somewhere. I remember trying to optimise my first site for search engines. It was a site I had written about 6 months before and I was pretty yound and very uninformed. I had written this site in one of the worst WYSIWYG site design programs ever (you can probably guess which) and even now I can remember just how difficult it was. Here are a few tips to start you on a journey considering Search Engine Optimisation (Optimization to those on the other side of the Atlantic).
I shall be adding to this as time goes on to hopefully become a useful resource to all. The one key point here is that it is normally much easier to write a page to conform to standards than it is to edit one later.
Avoid the use of Flash, Frames and heavy Javascript
Frames are hideous! There is no two ways about it. Please don’t use them! Not only can users struggle to get their head around your site but Search Engines will almost certainly struggle. For the same reason(s) Flash and Javascript are the same. Particularly, Flash is a bit of a PITA for Search Engines. This is because the Flash is a single file and cannot be read like the source code can. Additionally, Flash is a visual component which makes it impossible for the visually impaired to get the information you are trying to offer. Whilst it may look pretty and attention grabbing, consider it’s use carefully. Google can index flash files but if your site is made out of 100% flash then you may find your userbase severely restricted. Javascript is a very powerful tool in website design and development. There are downsides though, particularly if you use javascript in your navigation as Search Engine Robots are unable to read and process javascript. If your navigation relies on javascript (or your content does) you may find that your website is not listed as you expect (if at all).
