Every Search Engine Robot Needs Validation

Your website is ready. Your content is in place, you have optimized your pages. What is the last thing you should do before uploading your hard work? Validate. It is surprising how many people do not validate the source code of their web pages before putting them online.

Search engine robots are automated programs that traverse the web, indexing page content and following links. Robots are basic, and robots are definitely not smart. Robots have the functionality of early generation browsers: they don't understand frames; they can't do client-side image maps; many types of dynamic pages are beyond them; they know nothing of JavaScript. Robots can't really interact with your pages: they can't click on buttons, and they can't enter passwords. In fact, they can only do the simplest of things on your website: look at text and follow links. Your human visitors need clear, easy-to-understand content and navigation on your pages; search engine robots need that same kind of clarity.

Looking at what your visitors and the robots need, you can easily see how making your website "search engine friendly", also makes the website visitor friendly.

For example, one project I worked on had many validation problems. Because of the huge number of errors generated by problems in the source code, the search engine robots were unable to index the web page, and in particular, a section of text with keyword phrases identified specifically for this page. Ironically, human users had problems with the page as well. Since humans are smart, they could work around the problem, but the robots could not. Fixing the source code corrected the situation for human and automated visitors.

There are several tools available to check your HTML code. One of the easiest to use is published by the W3C (http://validator.w3.org/). While you're there, you can also validate your CSS code at W3C's page for CSS (http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/). The reports will tell you what source code needs to be fixed on your web page. One extra or unclosed tag can cause problems. With valid code, you make it easier for your human visitors and search engine robots can travel through your website and index your pages without source code errors stopping them in their tracks. How many times have you visited a website, only to find something broken when going through the web pages? Too many too count, I'm sure. Validating your pages makes everything easier for your website to get noticed.

As I said before, what works for your website visitors works for the search engine robots. Usability is the key for both your human visitors and automated robots. Why not provide the best chance for optimum viewing by both?

Daria Goetsch is the founder and Search Engine Marketing Consultant for Search Innovation Marketing, a Search Engine Marketing company serving small businesses. She has specialized in Search Engine Optimization since 1998, including three years as the Search Engine Specialist for O'Reilly Media, Inc., a technical book publishing company.

Copyright © 2002-2005 Search Innovation Marketing (http://www.searchinnovation.com) - All Rights Reserved.

Permission to reprint this article is granted if the article is reproduced in its entirety, without modification, including the bio information. Please include a hyperlink to http://www.searchinnovation.com when using this article in newsletters or online.

---

Meta Tag Tactics - Give Your Website Traffic a Boost with the Meta Tag Basics

Getting your site noticed by the search engines and rewarded... Read More

Dont Submit Your Website To Any Search Engines

We all want to get our websites high up in... Read More

Are You Hung-Up on Page Rank and Back Links?

It's unfortunate that many website owners are so hung-up on... Read More

How to Get Non-stop Free Traffic to Your Website

Yet the simple truth is that without traffic a website... Read More

How To Boost Your Keyword Density On Your Web Site To Gain Top Positions At The Search Engines

Let's talk about what keyword density is and how to... Read More

Page Rank Purgatory - Simple Things You can Do to Keep Your Web Site Out of Search Engine Hell!

Are Meta Tags Really Dead?Right in their Guidelines Yahoo Tells... Read More

Using Meta Tags Wisely to Attract Search Engines and Visitors

There are certain tricks and techniques in SEO industry, which... Read More

Google Traffic Report Card-Does Your Website Pass? Part 1

This is part 1 of a 7 part series that... Read More

Search Engine Optimization Tips For 2005 - Part One

Anybody who has their own website or is involved in... Read More

Why You Should NOT Submit Your Site On Search Engines

Before to answer to this question we have to know... Read More

Monitor Your Visibility in Google, MSN, and Yahoo with these DIY SEO Tools

This is the second part of an article series in... Read More

Drive More Traffic to Your Website With Your Web Page Title!

One of the most overlooked, but important components, on your... Read More

How to Succeed with the Search Engines

The Cold Hard Facts?..One of the most important factors in... Read More

Keywords: The First Step To Recognition

Open Wordtracker [ http://www.wordtracker.com/ ] and you'll see... Read More

Get a Number One Google Ranking With This Simple Technique

You probably do this already - complete regular searches in... Read More

Search Engine Essentials

What are Search Engines?There are numerous different search engines, and... Read More

The 7 Points of Do-It-Yourself SEO

Ever felt intimidated at the convoluted, jargon-ridden information about Internet... Read More

Google Groups

Some very early users of the Internet - not the... Read More

How to Get Listed in Yahoo Within 48 Hours, Without Paying $299

First of all you need to get a blog. If... Read More

Which Search Engine Optimization Services to choose, Google OR Yahoo?

Search Engine Optimization is emerging as the most powerful form... Read More

Table Structures For Top Search Engine Positioning

So you have a beautiful website that you paid a... Read More

Cracking the Google Code: Under the GoogleScope

Google's sweeping changes confirm the search giant has launched a... Read More

Why Do You Want to Link With A Home Business And Affiliate Website?

No, it's not a general question for all and sundry.... Read More

The Small Screen SEO!

First of all, What is SEO? SEO stands for Search... Read More

Search Engine Ranking... Oh, the Mystery!

Rankings, Rankings, Rankings!How do you get your website ranked well... Read More

Advertise Locally Using Search Engines

While search engine advertising has been a great advertising medium... Read More

SEO Expert Guide - Free Site Promotion (PR) (part 6/10)

In parts 1 - 5 you learnt how to develop... Read More

Does The Number Of Links On A Page Affect Ranking?

Lots of research has focused on inbound links to a... Read More

Search Engine Optimization Explained

Search Engine Listing And OptimizationIn the world of website marketing,... Read More

Work With The Search Engines - Dont try to Outsmart the Search Engines

Contrary to the claims of high-priced SEO firms, optimizing your... Read More

Google PageRank Explained

PageRank - an exclusive technology developed by Google which can... Read More

Search Engine Optimization Tips For 2005 - Part Three

Welcome to part three of our series of articles on... Read More

SEO Expert Guide - Ongoing Monitoring of Results (part 9/10)

In the Guide, you have, so far, learnt how to... Read More