In this three part series, we discuss the factors that affect your rankings with Google, MSN, Yahoo and the other search engines. The list contains both positive and negative scores as well as neutral factors - because all of them exist. The majority of the factors in this checklist apply mainly to Google and partially to MSN, Yahoo and other search engines.
In the
first part of this article,
we covered influential and detrimental factors relating to Keywords and Inbound, Outbound, and Internal Links.
In
Part two we looked at the
dynamics of Metatags, Content, and Visual Extras-SEO.
In part three, we'll get a better understanding of search engine optimization when it comes to URLs, Domain Names and
overall webmastering.
| Web Mastery, URLs and Domains |
|---|
| 59 |
Site Accessibility |
Another fundamental issue, which is often neglected is accessibility. If your site (or pages) is unaccessible because of
broken links, hosting problems, 404 errors, password-protected areas, etc., then your site simply can't be indexed. Make
sure your site is accessible. Make sure your web hosting provider is reliable.
|
+3 |
| 60 |
Keyword-rich URLs and filenames |
A very important factor, especially for Yahoo! and MSN. If your site was about dog food coupons, a good example would
be: dogfoodcoupons.com or dog-food-coupons.com
|
+3 |
| 61 |
Site age |
Very similar to wine, older sites are usually more respected and reputable. The idea is that an old, established site is
more trustworthy (they have been around and are here to stay) than a new site that has just popped up on the radar and might
soon disappear. Patience grasshopper!
|
+2 |
| 62 |
Site size |
Spiders like large sites, so generally the theory is - the bigger, the better. However, sometimes big sites become
user-unfriendly and difficult to navigate and maintain. When this happens, it can make sense to separate one big site
into a couple of smaller ones (consider subdomains -- e.g. forums.domain.com, articles.domain.com,
store.domain.com).
|
+2 |
| 63 |
Sitemaps |
It's great and extremely beneficial to have a complete and up-to-date sitemap. Spiders love sitemaps. It doesn't matter
if it is a plain old HTML sitemap or the special Google XML sitemap format. Either way, make sure the links are accurate and
accessible.
|
+2 |
| 64 |
Site theme |
It is not only keywords in URLs and on page that matter. The site theme is also quite important for good ranking. When the
site fits into one theme, this typically boosts the rankings of all its pages that are related to this theme.
|
+2 |
| 65 |
Top-level domains (TLDs) |
Not all TLDs are equal. There are TLDs that are better than others. For instance, the most popular TLD .com is much
better than .ws, .biz, or .info domains. But nothing beats an good old .edu, .mil
or .gov domain.
|
+1 |
| 66 |
File Location on Site |
File location is important and files that are located in the root directory or near it tend to rank better than files that
are buried 5+ levels below or on different domains.
|
+1 |
| 67 |
Subdomains vs. separate domains |
In some cases, having a separate domain can be better than a subdomain. Instead of having catfood.dogfood.com or
dogfood.com/catfood, consider a separate domain like catfood.com
|
+1 |
| 68 |
Hyphens in URLs |
There is a tradeoff when using hyphens in the domain name. Hyphens between the words in an URL can increase readability and
help with SEO rankings, but it can also be hard to remember. The positive impact applies both to hyphens in domain names --
dog-food.com and in the rest of the URL -- dogfood.com/dog-food-coupons.html
|
+1 |
| 69 |
URL length |
URL length generally doesn't matter, but very long URLs can start to look spammy. Avoid having more than 10 words in the URL
(3 or 4 for the domain name itself and 6 or 7 for the rest of address is acceptable). An extreme example would be:
dog-food-coupons.com/get-free-dog-food-coupons-for-your-favorite-store-in-newark-new-jersey.html
|
0 |
| 70 |
IP address |
IP addresses usually matter only for shared hosting or when a site is hosted with a free hosting provider. This is especially
true, when the IP or the whole C-class of IP addresses is blacklisted due to spamming or other illegal practices.
|
0 |
| 71 |
Using AdSense will boost your ranking |
AdSense is not related in any way to SEO ranking. Google will not give you a ranking bonus because your site chooses to
show AdSense ads. AdSense might boost your income but has nothing to do with your search rankings.
|
0 |
| 72 |
Using AdWords will boost your ranking |
As with AdSense, AdWords has nothing to do with your SEO search rankings. AdWords can bring more traffic to your site but
will not affect your affect your search rankings.
|
0 |
| 73 |
Hosting downtime |
Hosting downtime is directly related to accessibility because if your site is frequently down, it cannot be accessed nor
indexed. Do not use unreliable hosting providers. There are plenty of fast, affordable and reliable hosting providers out there to
choose from.
|
-1 |
| 74 |
Dynamic URLs |
Spiders prefer static URLs. Though you will see many dynamic pages on top positions, long dynamic URLs (over 100 characters)
are more often than not bad. You should attempt to rewrite long dynamic URLs in something more human and SEO-friendly.
|
-1 |
| 75 |
Bans in robots.txt (disallow) |
If indexing of a considerable portion of your site is banned with disallow, noindex, or similiar method,
it is likely to affect the nonbanned part as well because spiders will come less frequently to a noindex site.
|
-2 |
| 76 |
Session IDs |
This can be worse than dynamic URLs. Do not use session IDs for information that you would like indexed by spiders.
|
-2 |
| 77 |
Redirects (301 and 302) |
When not applied properly, redirects can hurt quite a bit. The target page might not open, or worse -- a redirect
can be regarded as a black hat technique if the visitor is immediately taken offsite to a different page. Ensure you use
redirects properly and this penalty won't apply.
|
-3 |
SUMMARY
In this three part series, we've covered over seventy do's and don'ts when it comes to designing your website
Our checklist focused on several areas including keywords, domains, links, metatags, content and more.
Again, not everything may be cut and dry or apply to your site. There may be times when you have to use a disputed method
for sake of content, compatibility, etc. Just double check the tradeoff and see if it can be accomplished using another
SEO friendly method.
Rate this article:
Rating: 4.8/5
(408 votes cast) |
|
About The Author
The Hosting Hole provides resources for beginning to expert webmasters. Information includes web hosting,
website design, search optimization (SEO), and other web related topics.
