Article printed from SEO-News: http://www.seo-news.com
  HTML version available at: http://www.seo-news.com/archives.html

SEO FrightSites: Top Thirteen Worst Website / Search Issues Seen in 2005
By Jim Hedger (c) 2005, StepForth News Editor, StepForth Placement Inc.

Everyone loves Top10 lists. In the SEO industry, where search
engine results form the ultimate Top10 lists for clients and
practitioners, the sheer number of ways a website, document or
other spiderable object can be designed makes it very difficult
to produce a general Top10 list for best practices. There are
however, a number of basic mistakes made by webmasters, site
designers and new online-entrepreneurs that inadvertently create
obstacles to search placement success.

In other words, while it is difficult to say exactly what one
should do in any given circumstance, it is fairly simple to say
what one shouldn't do. In the spirit of Halloween, here is a
list of the Top10 worst things we've seen designers doing this
year.

1) ISP Hosted Shopping Cart CMS Template Generated Websites

The worst and I mean absolute worst commercial websites to work
on are designed using sub-standard shopping cart CMS generated
templates. Often designed by micro-businesses new to the
Internet, these sites tend to look as if they were created
several years ago. In some cases, the templates they use were
written in the last century.

These CMS systems rarely produce a quality product to represent
your products. The advantage seen by new Internet businesses are
often found in the "business in a box" solution these schemes
offer by enabling website design with a shopping cart and
credit-card processing. In the end, the business owner doesn't
even get what he or she paid for as monthly fees are often more
expensive over time than the development and hosting of a
professional website.

A quick caveat... There are some very well designed Shopping Cart
CMS systems out there that have worked hard to take SEO concerns
into consideration. These systems tend to be newer, having been
developed and instituted in the last two years. ApplePie from
RoseRock Design is one example.

2) Continued Use of Duplicate-Template CMS Systems by
Competitors in the Same Industry (especially prevalent in real
estate industry)

Following on the points above, the use of duplicate content
templates makes achieving search placements very difficult.
While some content such as name, location and region-specific
information might vary; the layout is almost identical as are
the all too common shared information-includes. Facilitating the
creation of multiple incidents of duplicate content, even if
everyone else in the local sector is doing it, is not a
particularly good search engine placement technique.

3) Duplicate Content on Multiple Domains

Speaking of duplicate content, there is a second, more damaging
type of "dupe-content" which continues to be practiced out
there. Some webmasters purchase multiple domain names, often
trying to protect the brand name on their original one but
sometimes in attempt to manipulate search rankings. The problem
is, they populate those domains with duplicate content. Like
most of us, search engines rarely enjoy reading the same stuff
twice. They are very unlikely to give good rankings to incidents
of duplicate content. Nevertheless, dupe-content persists, often
due to neglect more than intent.

A few years ago, someone, (most likely working in the domain
registrar industry), said it would be a good idea to purchase
the URL for every possible incidence of your corporate name. The
logic is sound as it prevents confusion if another company with
a similar name opens somewhere in the world. Lots of companies
followed this logic and needing something to put up on those
domains, they simply replicated content found at their original
domain. In the past year, we have seen more than one incident
where a global-scale corporation replicated duplicate content
across dozens of nation specific TDLs (.ca, .ie, .co.uk, etc...)
The correct way to use a number of TDLs is to either produce
content that is unique and relevant to visitors from the region
each TDL represents, or to use the 301 (permanent) or 302
(temporary) redirect
(http://www.404-error-page.com/301-apache-httpd.conf-redirect.shtml)
command to reference search spiders and site visitors to the
site containing the original content.

In previous years, the words used to phrase a domain name had
much more influence over organic search engine placements than
they do today. That led to the purchase and proliferation of
multi-word URLs networked together to blitz the Google algos.
Mega-network promotions populated with URLs such as
homes-in-walla-walla-washington.com and
realestate-agents-walla-walla-washington.com and
walla-walla-real-estate-homes.com were spawned and littered the
web with duplicate content. Some of that duplicate content
remains in use. In one extreme case, we saw what had been a
duplicate-content site sold to a new and obviously cyber-naive
real estate agent.

4) Leader Pages – Doorway Pages – Customized Ranking Pages

Every search engine uses a slightly different algorithm.
Google's is heavily influenced by incoming links but considers
an array of on-site/page elements. Yahoo is also influenced by
incoming links but also considers a wider array of on-site/page
factors. MSN is very influenced by on-site/page factors. The
other search engines have their own unique ranking tendencies.
Therefore, a version of each important page in a site should be
designed to achieve high rankings on each search engine, based
on the unique ranking method used by each search engine. On
the surface, that thinking makes sense. With a dozen or so
mini-sites, a link density network could be crafted to please
Google's link-dependent algorithm. The method became a primary
tool of the early SEO industry when there were eight different
search engines to think about.

Search engines implemented filters to remove leader or doorway
pages, a task made easier after the dot-com crash of 2000 when
Google rose to be the only major algorithmic search engine. When
Yahoo and MSN introduced their own proprietary search engines in
2004, a number of less than ethical SEO firms began using leader
or doorway pages again, sometimes culminating in disastrous
results as seen last year when two of the largest SEO spam-shops
in the United States got entire client lists banned from
Google's database.

5) Link-Network Schemes

The client-list bans mentioned under the previous heading
happened for a couple of reasons. The first was duplicate
content spread across a number of leader or doorway pages. The
second was that these doorway pages had been connected together
to form a massive link-network designed to game Google's
page-rank dependent algorithms.

Link-networks as ranking schemes have sprung up over the course
of the ten-year history of the SEO sector. The premise and sales
pitch is relatively simple. Practically everyone familiar with
Google's ranking formulas understands the importance of incoming
links. What most people don't fully understand is the
sophistication that goes into the way Google and the other
search engines judge the value and relevancy of links. The major
search engines need to have very stringent link-evaluation tools
as pieces of their ranking algorithms. Every search engine using
links to recommend new sites for inclusion in their databases
stresses the importance of topical relevance between linking
documents. In other words, information on documents that are
linked together should have a direct or even indirect
relationship.

Both Google and Yahoo consider the content found on documents
that link to each other before assigning a value to each link.
They also consider the age, intent and context of each linking
document. In order to prevent bogus link-networks from being
established, both claim to and attempt to consider the entire
link-tree surrounding a URL before placing a value on links
found within or directed to it.

6) Hidden Text

Hidden text describes a technique as simple as the name implies.
By placing keyword loaded text in places search engine spiders
will see it but live-visitors won't, ill-informed webmasters and
SEOs are trying to achieve high placements through higher
keyword to non-keyword ratios or densities. Hidden text often
takes the form of poorly camouflaged place names and services
tagged to the bottom of documents.

Sometimes hidden text takes the form of white-text on a
white-background. Other times it can be found in comment tags
included in the source-code. A more sophisticated way to hide
text is to place it behind a <div> layer. However one tries to
hide hidden text, search engines always see through the trick
and will tend to apply penalties against sites using it.

7) Sites Designed Entirely in Flash

Flash is an incredibly cool design medium that enables 
animations, sound, video and user interaction with websites. As 
the web and the designers who work on it become more 
sophisticated, Flash is being used more often. Unfortunately, 
Flash files are often used without search engine spiders in 
mind. While Micromedia did distribute a Search Development Kit 
to help search engines decode information phrased in Flash 
files, it is still very difficult to perform SEO services on a 
site designed primarily in Flash.

Sites designed in a coding language search spiders can easily 
read and understand tend to fare much better in organic 
listings. The best advice for using Flash files is to embed them 
in a page designed in a more standard format. 

8) Use of MS Word HTML Generator

Did you know that a MSWord document can be saved as an HTML 
document? If you didn't, I am sorry to report it is possible. 
The problem is, MSWord documents saved as HTML documents have a 
bazillion or so lines of extraneous code and tend to perform 
quite poorly in search engine results. They are hard to work 
with from an SEO perspective as well. Removing extraneous code 
from a MSWord document can be difficult, even when using 
Dreamweaver.

9) Poor Site Maintenance, Updates

Every town has a storefront that never changes and that store 
never seems to be very prosperous. Websites need to be updated 
and maintained, they are sort of like a storefront that way. 
There are actually two issues being addressed under this 
heading.

Maintenance: Many website owners do not properly maintain their 
websites. Some sites look years out of date while others 
continue to carry links to sites that no longer exist. We've 
even come across some sites with product information for items 
the business no longer carries. While operating a business in 
the real world can take a lot of time, the Internet is an active 
place of business. Spiders and live-visitors need to see a well 
maintained website to take the business seriously. 

Updates: We have been preaching the values of regular site 
updates to clients for years. Adding fresh content to a site is 
important on so many levels. Google, for example, uses the rate 
at which new content is added to a site as a guideline when 
judging the relative importance of that site. Fresh content also 
increases the on-site inventory of documents that might achieve 
search engine placements. 

Live-users also appreciate new content as it adds value to their 
experience at your site. As many online business owners 
understand, Internet users are a lot like regular shoppers. They 
follow patterns and purchase from places they are comfortable. 
Giving visitors a reason to revisit your site is always good for 
business.

10) Ignoring Emerging Technologies or Pre-Existing Payment Programs

This point follows the maintenance and update point for a good 
reason. For some website owners, the Internet is their primary 
place of business. Unlike brick and mortar operations, there is 
no physical location to purchase items, all sales are made 
online. That means the website is the store. Like their brink 
and mortar equivalents, online stores need to use a variety of 
tools to attract customers. 

XML based sitemaps that feed information to the search engines 
via RSS is an example of a beneficial emerging technology that 
is being ignored by the majority of webmasters out there. Blogs, 
podcasting, social or industrial networking and the purchase of 
PPC advertising are others. By ignoring emerging technologies, 
business owners can miss vast groups of potential clients. 

Online business is dependent on the electronic transfer of 
funds. For most that means using a credit card. Some people 
don't use credit cards and others use them only for specific 
purposes. There are several types of online payment systems that 
are not dependent on credit cards, the most well known being 
PayPal. Surprisingly, relatively few online businesses accept 
PayPal as a payment option. How many brick and mortar businesses 
still use an abacus and a cigar box as the cash till? Aside from 
a few quaint grocers and herbalists in the older part of my 
town, I don't know anyone else who even knows how to use an 
abacus. That's the power of technology. There are still a few 
brick and mortar stores who refuse to honour bank debit cards or 
credit cards. By refusing to use newer technologies, their 
businesses either stagnate in a previous century (which in some 
cases is a welcome respite from the 21st century), or lose 
customers like myself who rarely use coin or cash. 

The last three frightening things for SEOs are not on-site 
related but have an enormous sway on how our industry evolves 
and the practices we employ. 

11) Over-reliance on Google Results

Google remains the most important search engine in the world. A 
strong placement on Google can make the difference between 
success and failure for many online businesses. Over time, 
Google has come to dominate the search sphere but as businesses 
affected by the series of Jagger Updates this month are 
learning, Google listings can be a very volatile place to do 
business in. 

That shouldn't be an issue for webmasters and online businesses 
as there are literally dozens of other marketplaces aside from 
Google. EBay is an example. There are other search engines as 
well. Yahoo, MSN and ASK all offer excellent search results and 
can collectively drive similar levels of traffic as Google. At 
the end of the day however, it must be noted that Google offers 
a heck of a lot of bang for the marketing buck and search users 
continue to love using Google.

It is strongly recommended that webmasters concentrate on 
getting strong organic and PPC placements at the other search 
engines and work to cultivate that business. Learning about and 
taking part in the Yahoo Publishing Network is a good 
alternative for webmasters and bloggers who want to diversify 
the advertising that appears on their documents. MSN is about to 
introduce a series of webmaster and business development 
features in their soon to be released paid advertising program. 

12) Google's Use of DMOZ Information

Google is again reverting to DMOZ descriptions on some sites in 
its listings. This means that Google is querying DMOZ for sites 
to include in its general listings. This can be a potentially 
damaging thing for a host of reasons.

First of all, it is not very easy to get a site listed in the 
DMOZ directory. The backlog is huge and editors at DMOZ seem to 
find reasons to not include sites they feel are designed for 
marketing purposes only. Some website owners and SEOs have 
waited for years without word on the status of their submission 
to DMOZ. 

DMOZ editors are better known for following the DMOZ system than 
they are for accuracy or marketing acumen. If a mistake is made 
in your description, it is often quite difficult to get it 
corrected. 

13) Misunderstanding the Role of the SEO Sector

SEOs are not miracle workers. SEO, as a profession is a 
combination of good website designers and good online marketers. 
We do not control or even directly manipulate search engine 
rankings. For the most part, we don't even reverse engineer 
algorithms any more. We are simply online marketers who have 
learned a great deal about how search engines work and how they 
rank websites. Our technical job is to make client sites as 
friendly as possible for search engines. Our marketing job is to 
make the site as friendly as possible for live-visitors, to 
advise our clients about changes in the search sphere that might 
affect them for good or for ill, and to take action on items 
that might not be beneficial for clients.

We cannot make a site jump from number eight to number three, at 
least not with any guarantee of success. What we can do is make 
a website or document available to as many search engine spiders 
and search engine users as possible. We can help select keyword 
phrases and arrange them properly on the page. We can help with 
site design and structure, and leave trails for spiders to 
complete the submission phase. We can't however tell Yahoo, 
Google, MSN, ASK or any other search engine to promote our 
client's sites higher in the organic listings. If we could, we 
would charge a heck of a lot more.  

================================================================
Jim Hedger is a writer, speaker and search engine marketing
expert based in Victoria BC. Jim writes and edits full-time for
StepForth and is also an editor for the Internet Search Engine
Database. He has worked as an SEO for over 5 years and welcomes
the opportunity to share his experience through interviews,
articles and speaking engagements. He can be reached at
"jimhedger@stepforth.com".
================================================================

Copyright © 2005 Jayde Online, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.

SEO-News is a registered service mark of Jayde Online, Inc.