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Common problems
Common problems
There are a number of things that can cause a search engine to be unable to read and index your website or specific web pages correctly. This section will provide a brief introduction to some of the most important things to watch out for.
If you want to learn more about how to solve each of the issues described below, visit Search Engine Watch.
Frames
Frames have always been a problem for search engines and some users to understand. Some studies show that users have a problem performing simple standard tasks that they would otherwise be able to solve with a similar website not using frames.
Jacob Nielsen is a well-known and respected usability guru that has some rather extreme views on the use of frames. Read his article "Why Frames Suck (Most of the time)" to understand the arguments against using frames.
When a website uses frames, users can rarely bookmark specific pages deep inside the website. If they use the browsers bookmark function and click it later to return they will end up on the front page - even if they did the book-marking from another web page deeper in the website.
If users can't bookmark pages within your site, neither can the search engines. If users can only bookmark your front page - as is the case with most websites using frames - that is also the only page most search engines will link to.
Some search engines might try to browse and index individual pages on your website outside the normal frame set. However, that will leave you with a whole new set of problems. If the search engines send visitors directly to content pages that are supposed to be viewed inside a frameset it is usually difficult, if not impossible, for users to navigate further into your website.
To solve this, you can implement various sorts of scripts to re-fetch the content page in the right frameset if it is requested outside the frameset. You should refer to your programmers and JavaScript references for further instructions of how to do this.
Some search engines read the content in the NOFRAMES section of a frameset. The NOFRAMES section is a special part of the HTML code that is presented to users with browsers that cannot read frames (e.g. search engines, very old browsers, and homemade viewers).
The code looks like this:
<![CDATA[Place content here]]>
Browsers and search engines that don't support frames can read the content you place between the two NOFRAMES-tags.
To use the space the best way you should …
· Fill the section with the same text that you have on the page visitors see. Just use the raw text without images and never use text not visible to the users.
· Remember to also add links in the NOFRAMES section for the search engines to follow. Use the same navigational links as you do on the page you show your visitors, but remember to keep them as normal text-links.
Using the two tips above does not in any way guarantee that your web pages will be indexed and rank well. Many search engines will not read the content in the NOFRAMES-section.
There are more advanced options available if you want a frames-based website indexed and ranked well. The easiest solution, however, is still to get rid of the frames.
If you want to use more advanced methods to make your frames-based website more search engine friendly, consult with an experienced search engine optimization expert or firm.
Two more ways of solving the problems of using frames are:
· Information pages
· Inclusion programs
Information pages are static HTML pages (no frames) with information about key products or services provided on your website - one information page for each key topic. An information page is optimized with simple HTML, but otherwise looks and feels like the rest of the website. Creating such pages can in some cases produce search engine friendly entry points to your website.
If you can make additional entry points, you can use Pay For Inclusion programs to have the pages indexed in major search engines. You can use the inclusion programs even if the website is framed - as long as you can provide a unique URL for each target or entry page.
TIP:
Some search engines might compare the content you have in the NOFRAMES-section with what is presented to normal users. If the search engines do not find the same text in the NOFRAMES-section as they do on the user pages you might get penalized for spam.
Dynamic websites and web pages
Dynamic websites are very difficult for search engines to read because they use long and strange URLs.
A traditional static website is comprised of a number of individual files usually ending with .html - e.g. index.html, products.html etc. Each page is a unique file and usually has unique content.
A dynamic website very often only has one or a few files called "templates". The template dictates how to present the content but holds no content itself. All the content is stored in a database. To show a page on a dynamic website, you need to tell the template what to load from the database. Technically, that is done by adding "parameters" to the file name.
If the template is called "pages.asp" and you want to load the content with ID #54, the URL could look something like this:
www.YourDomain.com/pages.asp?page_id=54
That part is not so complicated. However, there is often more than one parameter attached to the URL as the database needs to have more information about sort order, navigation etc. This is when it gets complicated for the search engines.
There is simply no way for a search engine to be sure what parameters identifies a new page and what parameters are just a sort order of the content, a navigation setting, or something that does not justify indexing the new URL as a new unique web page.
There are many other problems related to having dynamic websites and websites built on content management systems indexed in search engines. It is unfortunately not possible to cover all of it in this tutorial.
The good news is that there are many ways and methods available for you to get your dynamic website indexed in search engines. Here is one method that is probably among the easiest to use:
With Search Engine Submission you can pay to have specific URLs indexed in Inktomi and FAST. That goes for dynamic URLs as well!
The only thing required to have your dynamic website indexed through this program is that you can link directly to the web pages you want indexed. This is very simple to test. If you can copy the URL of the page you want indexed into an email, send it, and get to the same web page when you click on the link in the e-mail, you should be all set.
For further information on how to index your dynamic website, hire an experienced search engine optimization expert with expertise in these areas. Most often it takes a closer examination of your website to determine the best strategy.
Flash and Macromedia Director
Search engines do not read Flash and Macromedia files. Content and links in any of these formats will not be accessible by search engines.
Search engines basically only read regular text on a web page. They don't read text and follow links within special formats such as Java Applets or any other formats that require the user to have a certain program installed.
You can read more about Flash, Macromedia and Java Applets in the Links and Navigation section.
Image maps or navigation buttons
Not all search engines read image maps. Most search engines read navigation buttons. If you use image maps you should add the same links as you have in the image maps as regular text-based links.
You can read more about image maps and navigation buttons in the Links and Navigation section.
JavaScript and DHTML navigation
Search engines do not read JavaScript. You should not put important content or navigation inside JavaScript unless you also have the same links and content duplicated as regular text and text-based links.
IP delivery, agent delivery, cloaking, and personalization
It has become more and more common for websites to implement some degree of personalization, regional targeting, or other forms of individualization in the way web pages are served to individual users.
In its most simple form it can be a program on the server that checks what browser people are using, and serves up a specially tailored version for that browser. The same kind of program can also be used to check if people have specific plug-ins installed so that they get a version of the website they can read.
A more advanced use would be to check what country the user is coming from to serve a local version. Some portals and search engines have been doing that and many other cross-national websites do it. There are many legitimate reasons to do so including business strategies, marketing, and legal issues with products only allowed in certain countries.
The same techniques can also be used to serve different content to search engine spiders and normal human visitors. These techniques are usually referred to as "cloaking".
In most cases search engines do not like the use of cloaking. Thus, do not use cloaking unless you have a very good reason to do so.
Cookies
Spiders do not read cookies. Therefore, if your website uses cookies, make sure that all the web pages you want to have indexed can be accessed without accepting the cookie.
A cookie is a small text file that a web server can save in a users' browser for future retrieval when that same user returns. It can be used to store login information or other preferences to make it easier or better for users to use a particular website.
Cookies are very safe to use in the sense that they cannot be read or shared across different users or websites. If a cookie is set on your browser, the website that wrote it is the only website that can read it. Also, other users of a website cannot get to the information in your cookie - it can't be transferred or shared.
Thus, even if the search engine spiders did accept cookies there would be no way for them to re-fetch it in the users' browser when they click a link in a search result. Consequently there is really no point in writing cookies for the search engines or sending cookies to the search engines.
Tip:
You can turn off cookies in your own browser to test if your website can be accessed without them. Refer to your manual or help files of the browser you are using for instructions on how to turn off cookies. Usually these instructions will appear under "advanced options".
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