Search Engine Spider Food

What kind of food do search engine spiders like? Similar to the traditional arachnophobia, search engine spiders like regular meals, with fresh new content added on a regular basis. In order to feed the search engines, you want to provide them with tasty websites that are easy to consume. If you satisfy their hunger, your website may perform better in organic searches. Here are some helpful tips...

1. Link Depth

All important pages on a website should be accessible with 3 clicks or less. Deep links, or links that require multiple clicks in order to access, are often ignored by search engine spiders. The most important pages of a website should not be buried. Be sure that critical webpages are only one or two levels deep within a website.

2. Site Map

A site map is a good meal for search engines spiders. That said, site maps should not be used as a solution to poor navigation. Attention should be paid to both solid navigation and a functional site map, for the benefit of your website visitors and customers! The fact that doing so will also make search engine spiders happy is a free bonus.

3. RSS Feeds

Spiders just love RSS feeds. If you are serving them on your webpage and displaying content from RSS feeds, be sure that you are using a method that allows the contents of the RSS feed to be spidered by search engines.

Here's some help on that topic: Display RSS Feeds

4. Topical Forums

Active forums that contain content generated by interested customers is a great form of organic content. Customers often use unusual phrases in describing problems, questions, or concerns, and this is a great way to perform well in long-tail searches.

5. Blogs

Very few things are tastier to search engine spiders than blogs. Blogs contain fresh content, which is added on a regular basis. If you have a blog, search engines may favor your website.

6. FAQs & How To's

Pages with FAQs (lists of Frequently Asked Questions) and detailed "How To" instructions that relate to a websites general theme are great web content for spiders. Often, content contained in detailed FAQs and HowTo's will capture long-tail search phrases, and bring in additional qualified web traffic.

7. Text

Each page on a website should contain at minimum 250 words of text. It is difficult for a search spider to discern the meaning and context of a webpage if it does not contain a fair amount of basic text.

What Is NOT Spider Food

While its important to recognize the kinds of items the search spiders enjoy, it is equally important to acknowledge what sorts of things do not assist search engine spiders. Each of the following items have their place in web design, but they will not help a website perform well in organic searches. In fact, at this point in time, search engines do not spider any of the following...

1. Images

A graphical image can not be interpreted by a search engine. While it's true that search engine spiders may use the image "name" and its "alt tag" in an attempt to understand what the graphic relates to, the image itself is not visible to search engine spiders.

2. Frames

Frames create roadblocks for search engine spiders. Search engines are unable to spider content contained in a frame, regardless of its format. As such, you should avoid using frames on any pages that contain important content.

3. Flash

Flash images and animations cannot be spidered. Search engines have no way of discovering what is contained in a flash file. Always include links to non-flash alternatives, which can be followed by the search engine spiders.

4. Javascript Navigation

Javascript navigation simply can not be followed by the majority of search engine spiders, and it is unlikely that this will change any time soon. Avoid using and relying on javascript menus for website navigation.

Feed the search engine spiders by creating content that is relevant, timely, and unique. If you provide search engine spiders with websites that they can easily follow and consume, your website will increase its chances of ranking well in organic search results.

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