Web Site Content Guidelines – Part 2

Read Web Site Content Guidelines – Part 1 No. 1-4

5. Don’t use hidden text or links

Some site owners try to trick the search engines by hiding links in the text so visitors inadvertently get taken to another site or create hidden text to get more keywords in their html code. This will be seen by Google as spamming the search engines and your site may get penalized. If penalized your site may disappear from Google and will take a long time to get it back. Therefore stay within the Google Webmaster Guidelines.


6. Include a Site Map

Every page of your web site should be reachable from at least one text link. A site map enables visitors to quickly view the content of your site by giving you an overview of where the links of your pages are and provides a description what they are about. It also allows search engine spiders to index your whole site from the site map link on the homepage. If you have a very large site (over 100 links), create several site map pages.

7. Fix broken links

Links are what make up the World Wide Web. Search engines will find your site by following the link from another site. If your site contains broken links the spider will not be able to index all your pages. Visitors will click elsewhere if they can’t link to pertinent information on your site. Run your site through a link checker.

8. Validate HTML

Incorrect HTML code can prevent your site from displaying properly. One missed CSS or HTML tag can throw your whole web page out. Incorrect HTML will also slow the indexing of your site by the search engine spiders. Some browsers are also very picky when displaying web pages. A few are very forgiving of html errors whereas other browsers may mess up the appearance of your whole web page. Correct HTML will help you to avoid these problems. Be sure to check every page with an HTML validator.

Conclusion

Before you embark on your next site design, review these web content guidelines. It will help Google and other search engines find, index, and rank your site. If you wish to increase your rankings focus on writing lots of targeted content and acquiring many high quality links that point to your site.

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