Search Engine Spiders - An Eight-Eyed Perspective
This search engine optimization tip is brought to you by the Austin SEO Guy -- search engine wisdom for Austin, Texas companies.
I'm always happy to show you new SEO tools and resources as I find them online. And today's tool, is extra neat-o.
It's called a spider simulator, and it gives you an idea of how search engine spiders are "seeing" your website.
I use the tool for educational purposes. A lot of people insist on graphic heavy home pages with little to no regular text. When you combine this with weak title tags and dynamic navigation, you end up with a page that gives search engines no idea what the page is all about.
The spider simulator helps me get that point across.
Here's how it works:
1. Visit http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/spider-simulator/
(There are actually dozens of spider simulators online, but this is one of my favorites.)
2. Enter your blog or website's full URL (including http://) into the "valid URL" box.
3. Click the "Spider" button.
The tool shows you several revealing things about your site. Basically, it will go through the page and read all the things a search engine spider would be able to read (title tags, meta descriptions, page copy of the plain text variety, links, etc.).
If you have a Flash site, for example, you might have a bunch of empty or near-empty boxes, because search engines can't read Flash. Read the text in each of the boxes and ask yourself, does this information give a good indication of what my site is about?
Oh, and be sure to read the helpful explanation at the top of the page.
Until next time...
-The Austin SEO Guy
I'm always happy to show you new SEO tools and resources as I find them online. And today's tool, is extra neat-o.It's called a spider simulator, and it gives you an idea of how search engine spiders are "seeing" your website.
I use the tool for educational purposes. A lot of people insist on graphic heavy home pages with little to no regular text. When you combine this with weak title tags and dynamic navigation, you end up with a page that gives search engines no idea what the page is all about.
The spider simulator helps me get that point across.
Here's how it works:
1. Visit http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/spider-simulator/
(There are actually dozens of spider simulators online, but this is one of my favorites.)
2. Enter your blog or website's full URL (including http://) into the "valid URL" box.
3. Click the "Spider" button.
The tool shows you several revealing things about your site. Basically, it will go through the page and read all the things a search engine spider would be able to read (title tags, meta descriptions, page copy of the plain text variety, links, etc.).
If you have a Flash site, for example, you might have a bunch of empty or near-empty boxes, because search engines can't read Flash. Read the text in each of the boxes and ask yourself, does this information give a good indication of what my site is about?
Oh, and be sure to read the helpful explanation at the top of the page.
Until next time...
-The Austin SEO Guy
Labels: Search Engine Optimization
| Permalink |
Links to this post
Create a Link