SEO Tycoon

**pizza** · 12-29-2006, 06:47 AM

hi everybodey,
i am building a site using css and some javascript and i want to know what does engine freindly mean?
what should i avoid in the structure of the html/css or where can i learn about it?

**stOx** · 12-29-2006, 06:55 AM

Search engine friendly means a site that is easy for search engines to read your pages and spider your content.

so the thinigs you need to look out for are
1. Make sure all of your pages are linked to. Try to make sure all pages are no more than 3 clicks from the homepage.
2. Don't use media that spiders cant see if you dont have to. Dont use images where you dont have to and dont use flash where you dont have to
3. Don't use javascript where you dont have to. Search engine dont execute JS, So anything that is displayed with JS is invisible to search engines
4. Dont use iframes. Spider bots can't see the contents of the iframe

**pizza** · 12-29-2006, 07:23 AM

so if i have content inside a div which i hide with:style="visibility=hidden;"
and i use javascript in order to show and hide the dives then it is wrang?

**stOx** · 12-29-2006, 09:38 AM

Spiders don't execute javascript.

**gringo** · 12-29-2006, 10:35 AM

Spiders can read text that is hidden using "visibility=hidden;"

**ADAM Web Design** · 12-29-2006, 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pizza

so if i have content inside a div which i hide with:style="visibility=hidden;"
and i use javascript in order to show and hide the dives then it is wrang?

Not as such, if you're doing it for users (e.g. a menu). If you're doing it to game engines though, then it is.

Basically, the things you need to do are use plain text for your important text elements (i.e. your keywords), make sure everything is crawlable and traversible (no Javascript or Flash for pages and elements you want found), and try to keep everything no more than three mouse clicks away from the opening page (this is where a sitemap comes in really handy.)

Most importantly, build for your users. One of the trends in engines that is slowly starting to emerge is that the user-friendly sites are gaining position over those that are specifically geared to engines. It will never be 100% like that, but at least it's improving.

**vangogh** · 12-29-2006, 01:36 PM

I just want to re-emphasize what Adam said. If you're using visibility:hidden to create a dynamic menu or to hide a some information until the user requests it you're fine, but if you're hiding text with the idea of stuffing keywords for search engines you will likely get banned at some point.

It's ok to hide text temporarily as long as there's a way for a visitor to your site to access it in some way. But if you're trying to serve different content to people and search engines it's not a good idea.

**northbeach23** · 01-04-2007, 12:49 AM

You can use css but save it as another file.