No Comments Written by Robert on August 11, 2008 – 8:08 am

Optimize Images

Search-engine spiders are becoming more sophisticated every day, but the spiders still cannot read any images present on your pages. If images make up a large portion of your content, the search engines will have a difficult time understanding the topic of your content. Using Alt Image tags to describe your images gives the search engines a readable text description of those images and also aids in compatibility with non-graphical Web browsers.

Sometimes you want to use an image in your content instead of a selection of text, and you can use Alt Image tags to ensure that search engines understand what the image is about. Search engines cannot accurately read images, so unless you explicitly tell the search engines what your images are about, those images provide no overall search-engine optimization value to the content of your page. Although images are not necessarily search-engine friendly, they are a vital part of visitor-friendly design.

A vibrant, colorful, image based Web site compels its visitors to stay longer and browse more pages. It can also increase visitor trust and lead to higher sale-conversion rates. As a general rule you should limit the use of images on your Web page; if you can say what you want to with text, you should. However, if you use images, you should also use Alt Image tags. An Alt Image tag is located within an tag, and its syntax is as follows:

<IMG SRC=”yourimage.jpg” ALT=”A brief

 description of the image.”>

The Alt Image tag is a textual replacement for an image. If for any reason an image cannot be displayed, the Alt Image text appears in its place. It also appears when you position a mouse pointer over the image for a period of time. Rather than just fill your Alt Image tags with lists of keywords or phrases, take the time to write a unique, relevant description of the image being described.

Alt Image tags have been historically abused by spammers trying to stuff as many keywords or phrases into their Web pages as they possibly can. Abuse of these tags can lead to a rankings penalty, so be careful when writing your descriptions. Do not repeat the same words over and over again, and never repeat the same Alt Image tag more than once unless the image itself is repeated.

Believe it or not, some Internet users still use nongraphical, text-based Web browsers. This may include visually impaired users that employ screen readers or users that simply prefer very simple displays. These browsers cannot read images, but are sophisticated enough to display Alt Image tags in their place.

Although the number of users of these browsers is very small, they, like all other Internet users, should be able to access your Web page and use the content that you provide. Images can increase the usability and improve the appearance of your Web site, but whenever possible, use actual text within your content instead of images. The search engines read Alt Image tags and take that text into consideration when ranking pages, but Alt Image text is not an equal substitute for actual text included within the body of the page.

Create Links

Your internal linking structure leads the search-engine spiders and human visitors from one Web page to another on your Web site. The structure of your links tells the search engines what the linked Web page is about. Your internal linking structure is taken into consideration by the ranking algorithms that determine where your Web pages rank for target keywords and phrases. Making it simple for both the search engines and human visitors to find every page on your Web site is critical for optimal Web site structure.

You can create an internal link structure that allows search-engine spiders, as well as human beings, to quickly and easily navigate your Web site. Just like human visitors, search engines use links to navigate the Internet. As search-engine spiders crawl from page to page within a single Web site and then from page to page across multiple Web sites, each and every link is taken into consideration by individual search-engine ranking algorithms.

Although it can be difficult to control how many links point to your Web site from other sources, you can easily control how your own internal links are structured. Link creation may be a basic task, but if done correctly, it can be tremendously influential to your overall search-engine rankings. A link should be created within an HTML anchor tag.

These tags are anchor tags and indicate that the element located within will become a hyperlink. HREF stands for hypertext reference and its attribute is set to a URL. Creating effective links involves only two elements. First, be sure to always use absolute URLs even when linking within your own Web site. Second, always make sure the anchor text is descriptive. So, if you are linking to a page about LCD televisions, use “LCD Televisions” as your anchor text rather than something more general and nondescript like “Click Here.”

The search engines place more credibility on links assigned to certain locations on a Web page. Generally speaking, the higher a link appears on the page, the more it assists the rankings of the Web page it links to. Also, links embedded within blocks of content hold more value than isolated links. You can use this to your advantage by making sure the most important pages of your Web site are linked to in prominent, content-laden locations.

Your overall Web site navigation menu should appear on the top of your page in a prominent location. These links to the main categories of your Web site are of utmost importance for both the search engines and human visitors. If possible, avoid using images to link to other pages of your Web site. As discussed in the previous task, search engines cannot read images, and thus you lose the opportunity to attach descriptive link anchor text to that page. Alt Image tag text is not passed as anchor text when linking from an image.

Validate HTML

Writing valid HTML is just as important as speaking proper English. Improper HTML can cause Web browser incompatibilities that result in your Web site appearing differently across different browsers. The World Wide Web Consortium has gone to great lengths to develop standards for Web development to ensure compliance across all browsers.

Valid, properly written HTML allows search engines to easily read your Web page content and underlying HTML code. Much like the English language, there is a right way and a wrong way to write the code that structures your Web pages. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), an international group that works to develop protocols and guidelines that ensure the long-term growth of the Web, has developed standards for HTML development.

Web browser developers like Mozilla and Microsoft adhere to these standards to guarantee cross-browser uniformity when displaying Web pages. Search engines read Web sites line by line, and errors in your HTML syntax can trigger a penalty if the invalid code prevents the search-engine spider from reading the content.

Invalid code can cause Web sites to look different from browser to browser. Some Web developers apply various patches and band-aids to minimize browser display problems instead of adhering to W3C standards, and although the end result may be browser compatibility, these patches often involve adding a substantial amount of unnecessary code.

Avoid applying patches and band-aids by testing your code for standard compliance during the development process. Use the W3C Markup Validation tool at http://validator.w3.org to test your Web page code for standard compliance. Just enter your Web site URL into the location bar, and the validation tool shows you any errors that your code contains and also gives suggestions to help you fix any problems. You should make your best attempt to pass the validation test, but do not spend a great deal of time if it appears to be impossible. Many sites do not pass, including Google, Yahoo, and most other heavily visited Internet hot spots.

Search engines are unlikely to penalize your site for including invalid code unless it significantly hinders the capability of the search-engine spiders to read your Web pages. W3C Markup Validation is primarily in place to ensure compatibility with all current and future technologies. As use of the Internet becomes more prevalent on portable devices like PDAs and cell phones, and new Web browsers are programmed for these specialty items, adhering to the W3C standards is likely to become more and more necessary if you want your Web site to display properly on these devices.

Valid HTML also tends to reduce the overall amount of code on your Web pages. Optimize your Web pages by not having excess markup code surrounding your main page content. Less markup code means a higher percentage of your page size is actual content. Although it has not been proven to increase search-engine rankings, writing valid HTML is another weapon in an arsenal of best-practice techniques that are likely to have a cumulative effect on overall search-engine approval.