Search Engine Stumbling Blocks.
Is your Website Preventing the Search Engines to Find You?

Despite our best laid plans, some of the web's most prized technology can be a major stumbling block for a search engine spider. In a quick fashion, we'll take a look at these spider stumbling blocks, and I'll lay out some quick optimization solutions you can implement to overcome them.

This can also be overcome by submitting one page at a time.

	Frames - despite the unique design capabilities they present, can be a major problem for search engine spiders. Many spiders can not read them. The quick solution is to utilize your No Frames content to optimize your page.
	Password Protected Pages - are pages you probably don't want indexed anyway. Just be aware that like a human, the spider can not enter any area that is protected by a password.
	Flash Sites - while beautiful, can not be read by a spider. Your solution options are to use an entrance page that is keyword text phrase intense, create a two frame frameset where one frame is only one pixel in height and use the No Frames area, or to alternate the use of Flash and static HTML.
	Image Maps - are something that can be read by some spiders but can not be read by others. If you plan to use an image map, make sure there are other links on the page (perhaps on the bottom) that link to your other pages.
	Meta Refresh - this tag has been so abused by the XXX industry that it is now considered spam by the engines. Perhaps it is not really a stumbling block, but the spiders have been programed to run from it.
	PDF Files - also known as Adobe Acrobat Reader files, present a major stumbling block to most spiders. Some engines (specifically Google) are beginning to index these kind of pages, but from an optimization perspective this is one format you want to avoid.
	Dynamic Pages - Any web address which contains a question mark (?), or some other like character, is a major stumbling block to most spiders. This is most often seen with dynamic pages that use Perl, ASP, Cold Fusion, etc...

Some of the larger search engines are now beginning to index dynamic pages, (specifically Google), but this advanced capability is not widespread.

If you feel that your website has any of these stumbling blocks, please, contact us.

Also, a great way to get the ball rolling and find out what is missing with your current website is to sign up for our 10 point assessment.