Common SEO Design Mistakes

Here are some common SEO design mistakes to avoid if you want your web site to gain popularity: 1) Flash! Although they look pretty, one should avoiding devoting one’s site to nothing but flash. This is because they cannot yet be read by search engines. This mistake should especially be avoided for the Index page: if it opens with nothing but a Flash automatic search engines will pass right by it. A directory editor will probably not wait for the animation to finish either and skip right by the site before it is even finished playing. This is not to say that you can’t include Flash: but it must be balanced with plenty of non-Flash content that search engines can read. Taking the easy route with cloaking software is also not a good idea: META commands and redirection scripts are techniques frequently used by spammers. As a result, your site could be blocked from the index. Use of Flash on a web page also might make your site links literally unreadable to search engines, particularly the Java and Javascript programs. If you are not sure how to include links for Flash pages, include a ‘NOSCRIPT’ tag or a text link to make the link available. 2) Lack of Keyword Focus.Keywords and phrases let search engines know how relevant a site is to a particular search term. The search engine will look at the frequency, position and content of the keyword on the page and in the html code to determine your ranking. Too many keywords on your page will cause the search engine to judge your page to be less relevant. Putting your keyword in too many times might also cause the search engine to become suspicious and possibly block your site. Search engine representatives typically state that a keyword density of 3 to 8 percent is acceptable. However, no one knows exactly how they calculate this density. Different search engines use different tools, so one’s keyword density will be judged differently by different search engines. Putting in your keyword too many times might also turn off readers. For maximum results, one must combine keyword focus with natural flow. Natural flow refers using text that doesn’t sound forced to persuade visitors into becoming customers.