Come Into My Web Said the SEO Spider!

For a web page to become user-friendly, it should first become search engine friendly because the more it is visible to search engines, the more it is available for users. SEO firms offer services for improving a sites visibility in a data retrieval system to elevate users' ability to find it.

Spider is the most commonly used term for a web crawler that a search engine uses to scan web pages' content. These are automated computer programs that browse the internet methodically, create a copy of visited pages, send them back to the information retrieval engine for processing which are then indexed to increase seek speed.

Should a Designer Welcome this Spider?

Unlike other bots, spiders sound creepy but bring no threat to a web site. In fact, a design should be built with an atmosphere that welcomes this kind of program. The easier it is to extract information from each page, the easier it becomes for the content to then be indexed back to the information retrieval database.

Nowadays, a search engine puts more emphasis on web sites that are naturally found by spiders. The more these bots visit a web page, the more it gets indexed and the higher the chance it will get high rankings on that particular information retrieval engine.

What is needed to Attract Spiders?

Since these bots are helpful visitors, it is worth considering the following listed below in building a web site that is welcoming to these bots.

• Links - Spiders love to crawl from one link to another. The primary reason why links are so critical to a site is that the more links that get to it from other pages the more opportunities for them to be found and re-indexed.


• Plain Text - Use plain text as much as possible. Search engines appreciate plain text. They are unable to index images nor watch videos or flash content nor listen to audio, therefore plain text has more worth to these bots. However if images are used, make sure they are tagged.


• Log in & Forms - If a site requires a log in or form to view content note that spiders can't log-in or fill in those forms. As much as possible, it is a good thing to avoid using either in a web page.


• Well Structured Site - Avoid burying pages more than 3 levels deep and avoid using split frames for these can cause delay and confusion to internet bots.


• Relevant Content - Spiders are designed by information retrieval engines to gather relevant data. When they scoop immaterial data from the site, there is a great possibility that the search engine will penalize or ban a site since most users look to another system if they get unimportant results for their hunt for information.

SEO Spiders are just one component of a bigger picture that has great impact in optimizing web sites but given less importance will have a negative effect on its search engine rankings. It's always better to have an abundance of information about how a web page should be designed!

C. Michael Hunter is an expert in Web Design and Search Engine Marketing. To find out more about Houston Search Engine Optimization, go to the main website at: http://www.webunlimited.com/.