SEO Daily

Website inspectors inspect websites for detecting flaws in them that slow down their progress in search engine rankings. The main purpose of deploying website inspectors is to apply corrective measures to help make websites more search engine friendly.

Website inspectors carry out an evaluation of websites from an SEO viewpoint, analyze HTML codes including Alt image tags and Meta tags, check the website design, analyze whether the text and content is keyword optimized, and see overall whether the website suits SEO. A detailed report is then generated with suggestions to make the desired amendments.

You may ask how different website inspectors are from other SEO companies. The roles that both play are different. SEO firms play a limited role in evaluating and reporting on website HTML code and website design, while website inspectors make detailed evaluation of HTML codes, website design, use of keywords and keyword phrases in text – all from the viewpoint of improved search engine ranking. Website inspection includes reporting on all matters that affect SEO status, and provides practical suggestions and solutions aimed at rectifying anomalies and improving search engine rankings. SEO firms do not generally do a comprehensive study. They may come up with what is wrong with a website, but may not be able to provide solutions to improve website rankings.

In general, SEO companies use software to help generate reports on shortcomings in a website, which are generic and contain irrelevant information with little to suggest how to improve search engine rankings. Where website inspectors differ is that they refrain from using software, doing a detailed analysis of the website and treating each website as a separate entity. The reports generated by them are specific, detailed, and carry suggestions and solutions that really matter in SEO operations.

These reports, containing solutions, are user-friendly and ethical. Many SEO firms have been reported to be using unethical “black hat” solutions, which may land customer websites in trouble with search engines, later. Linking to link farms is treated as an exercise in spamming, and may open a website to search engine scrutiny and action. Search engines may place offending websites in a “sandbox” or even ban them.

Website inspectors ask for access to web pages of the client and provide online solutions by rectifying website design. This feature of their services is a great help to website owners, as they receive a complete solution to their effort to improve search engine rankings.

You would certainly like to see your company website as a forerunner on the search engine result pages (SERP); and, if you have no idea how to do it, take the help of a professional search engine marketing (SEM) company. Search engine marketing is a broad term that entails pay-per-click (PPC), search engine optimization (SEO), pay for inclusion (PFI) programs to improve search engine visibility. The main issue, however, is how to pick an SEM firm.

The success of your website’s visibility over the internet is the responsibility of the SEM firm that you may engage. It is important to have trust on that firm. For trust to be had, apart from relying on your gut feeling, seek certain answers.

• The company should answer all your queries frankly and without sounding ambiguous about anything.
• They should disclose how they intend optimizing your website.
• Confirm the professional experience they have in the business, and ask for references.
• Make sure that they do not use questionable means that could jeopardize the existence of your website on the search engine.
• Discuss the purpose of your business with the person who will deal with the actual process, and not the salesperson. Salespersons may not be able to understand your needs, interested as they would be in winning your business.
• Discuss the services you want included such as, PFI or PPC. Ask for other services that are available, and seek their recommendation whether a particular service will benefit you.
• If you opt for PPC, ask whether the SEM company will provide that service, since not all SEM firms provide such specialized service. Ask them to recommend any such company.
• Learn from the SEM company how they will ascertain the best keywords and keyword phrases for your business, products or services. Discuss in detail how these keywords will be used, since you know your business better.
• Make sure that all methods used at search engine optimizing your company are ethical. You would not like your website penalized, suspended or expelled by a search engine.
• Your website may need redesigning for search engine optimization. Discuss the matter with your expert, as you may have to re-write the content to allow for keywords and keyword phrases.
• Consult the issue with a few SEM companies comparing their services and professional fee.

You could get carried away by the promises shown by your webmaster when it comes to search engine optimizing your website. Certain aspects related to SEO need to be avoided while designing your website. If neglected, you will not achieve the rankings you set out to achieve in the first place.

• Avoid using any black hat SEO technique, as it does not go down well with search engines. Some webmasters may use cloaking mechanisms, which are deceptive in nature. Cloaking involves presenting a unique optimized page to the search engines, but a different page to the visitors. Your website may be penalized or even banned by most search engines.

• Webmasters may offer you software that automatically submits your website on a periodic (weekly / monthly) basis. Search engines consider the use of such software equivalent to spamming, and might penalize you.

• Some SEO professionals or webmasters may guarantee a first rank for your website on the Search Engine Result Page (SERP). Search engine algorithms are such that no one is sure how they exactly work. Hence, you should not trust such statements. If you are given any such guarantee, ask the expert what mechanisms they intend using to support search engine optimization. They might be using techniques that may ultimately lead to the ban of your website.

• If you are being offered submission of your websites to hundreds of search engines, take care that there aren’t that many search engines. Your website might be submitted to link farms, which does not serve your purpose.

• To run up their bill, webmasters may resort to over-use of Flash animations. Remember that Flash animations and images are treated as blank spaces by search engines. They might lend beauty to a website, but avoid their over-use, if achieving search engine optimization is your major aim. Instead, focus on using HTML and search engine optimized text to promote your website up the Search Engine Result Pages.

Search engine optimization is not all about hiring top SEO experts to optimize your website and doing all that they suggest to grab the attention of search engine crawlers and spiders. Though the role of an SEO expert cannot be undermined, yet what does the trick is having a functional website with informative articles that describe your products or services truthfully. In addition, a shopping cart and quality products at competitive price will get customers coming to you in droves.

You may, if you want to, use every trick in the book on search engine optimization, but will lose out finally if your products or services are overpriced, of poor quality, and your website is not supported by a secured payments system that carries information and articles not related to the products. Top search engines look for ethically built websites, as their aim is to filter out websites that use excessive SEO tricks.

Google and Yahoo search engines have a process in place to filter out websites that take the SEO way to promote their websites up search engine rankings. Yahoo calls for manual submission to their programs. This costs money to website owners and they are penalized by a non-refund of the money if the site is rejected. Google search engine too works on similar lines where an XML type feed is created and submitted.   

To simplify matters, SEO should be used justifiably in conjunction with a website that is well constructed and not a blatant misuse of SEO techniques to have search engine spiders visiting. An easy way is to be linked to a website that is indexed by either of these top two search engines, or other prominent search engines. The indexed website will allow a link only if your website is good and functional because it would not like to lose its search engine ranking by linking to a dubious website.