Search Engine Optimisation Web Log (BLOG)
Editor: Matt Paines

| This News Blog is dedicated to bringing news, information and innovations targeting the Search Engine Optimisation industry.

Successful websites built on good foundations

85% of UK businesses do not realise building a website should always start with “good foundations”.

XSEO first conducted the research at a Marketing Show in 2007 and were astounded that at the time so few companies put SEOsearch engine optimisation with similar results. on the agenda at the planning stage of a website's construction. The research has been highlighted following a number of recent telephone conversations on the subject of

Although basic the research indicated that only 15% of companies reported that they had thought about how their website would be found on the Internet before they built it.

Companies are wasting their money if they do not build websites so they can be found by search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN.

Good foundations underpin the potential success of any website, and it is vital that every website is built so it can be as search engine friendly as possible.

In the same way a building will fall down if it no has foundations, a website is rendered invisible on the Internet if it is not built in a way that allows it to be easily signposted online.

Companies still seem to see the appearance, content and functionality of their website as a priority, when in fact arguably the single-most important consideration is having a search engine friendly design.

If it came down to a simple choice, I'm sure every business would rather have a mediocre looking website which attracts lots of visitors, than one that is stunning but nobody can find it on the Internet.

For many years we, along with other SEO's, and search engines (Google, Yahoo and MSN) have been trying to re-educate web designers to consider search engines and how they navigate websites.

Building search engine friendly or accessible websites is not complicated, in fact it's relatively easy, search engines use simple programs- which are commonly known as robots or spiders - that crawl the Internet looking for websites and their content. If they can access a website they can begin assessing the relevance to any given search.

The search engines use computer programs (often called robots or spiders) that crawl the internet looking for websites and their content. Once this data is collected it is processed and it forms the basis for the search engines to derive the sites relevance to any given search. Being search engine friendly allows them to enter the site and read the content. So conversely having a site that does not give the crawlers access to the readable text will prohibit them from understanding the sites content thereby, destroying any ability of being ranked highly in a search for a product or service.

It's a shame, that so many companies waste huge amounts of money on websites, many have bought into the idea that the Internet offers untold riches, but fail to understand that a website is not the end of the story.

Basic marketing principles are often not adhered to. The results from the research demonstrated that simple planning and consideration regarding target audience and means of  attraction are still being disregarded. Given that for media time, the Internet has caught up with that of television, ignoring how they will be found on the Internet and the real measure of its success online will be the nail in the coffin of many companies.

For more information visit www.xseo.com/pitfalls.htm

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