Search engine optimisation - programming of web sites

Search engines have become the indispensable linchpin on the Internet. Most Internet users surf looking for specific information through tracing services. Therefore it is indispensable to register your web site in search engines in order users can find your site.

Although this basic necessity is known to every web site operator, numerous web sites are still inaccessible to crawlers of search engines. So that a huge number of web sites in the Internet remain in secrecy and get hardly visitors.

The main reason for this, is that the web site is coded in such way that the crawler cannot readout the contents of the page (even they may be so good and extensive). It does not matter which page the crawler is visiting, the result will be the same, it will always only get the same scanty information: The file name of the individual page as well as the title and the short description (in case it is available in the meta tags) – the rest of the contents is unavailable and therefore it remains invisible to the crawler.

The problem with graphics

Search engines do not have eyes. This has far-reaching consequences as the text of a web site can only be retrieved if it is included as plane text within the source code. This is not the case for texts included in a graphic. The crawlers are only going to be able to reckon that it is a graphic, the file name of the graphic and maybe a short alternative text (if available).

No matter how relevant the text in the graphic is, for the search engine it is not available – it just doesn’t exist. That means that the web site is not going to be found under the words put in graphics or images.

Disadvantages with Flash

Although Flash provides a nice visual effect on web pages it is often inappropriate. Flash is a popular application for adding animations on the web page such as video. The emphasis lies on the word “video”, because it relates to the animation of graphic contents here.

As already described above, it is impossible for the crawlers of search engines to readout completely the contents of such a graphic. So that relevant texts get lost for the search engine. The possibility of entering individual and specific text as search words in connection to the uploaded video is just not enough.

In order to avoid this result, very often a classical HTML page is programmed and prepended and connected instantly to the flash version. Due to the high speed of this process this “bridge page” is not perceived by the web visitors but to the crawlers of search engines. This method contradicts the ethical principles of search engines – and therefore the webmaster guidelines of Google. Important to mention at this point is that this can lead to dramatic results, such as the exclusion of the web site from search engines.

For some time now, Google is using a tool which converts the binary data of a flash file into a readable HTML code. Herewith search engines have better accessibility to parts of the text contained in a flash animation, so that they can be partly indexed. However, this involves such a complexity that is not supported by most of the search services. Nor it is guaranteed that the contents is reckoned completely and in the right context.

Therefore our suggestion: Do not use videos for your text and links. The Google crawler is unable to read them out.

The solution for web design according to the standards:

• Relevant contents should be displayed as plane text and not included in videos o graphics
• Use Flash just as “eye catcher”. Flash videos should be framed into HTLM, including the texts

STFmedia will support you on the development of your projects. Just contact us and get our advise!

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