Paul Brooks | 3 Aug 2007
Some of the most attractive and innovative websites on the Internet are virtually invisible to search engines, such as Google, MSN and Yahoo.
Search engines cannot ‘see’ images, animations or colour differences. The only parts of a page visible to them are the text paragraphs, links, menu items and titles. If your website makes use of images or animated elements, it may be a good idea to look at alternative options to produce better search engine results.
Search engines will regularly visit your website to review the text content and record the subjects it covers. In simple terms, they look for repetition of phrases and keywords – the more a specific word appears, they more likely it is that a page will appear in search results when visitors search for that word.
But because search engines can’t see images or animations (such as Flash movies), keywords displayed within them are not recorded. Some websites are built entirely using Flash or images and it is very unlikely that they will have any search engine success.
Also, search engines use links to move between pages and find new areas of your website, but links within Flash animations cannot be followed. This may mean that large chunks of your website will not appear in search results.
The secret to using animation and images is to combine them with text that can be read by search engines. This way, you have an attractive, high-impact design that won’t have a negative effect on your site’s effectiveness.
To find out how we can help get your website noticed please get in touch.
"Thanks for the info, we've been looking for a new website design and were warned about this. We rank well in the search engines now and don't want to jeopardize that to get a fresher look." | Bruce S. | 6 August 2007
"Found this out the hard way - we had a website built by a company who recommended a Flash website. After 12 months we realised we weren't getting any visitors." | Simon | 3 August 2007
PBS UK Ltd are a specialist business outsourcing provider based in the East Midlands offering services such as UK & International Payroll, HR and BACS Payments.
Full case study...
UK Payroll
International Payroll
BACS Payment Services
Recruitment and business services in Nottingham and the West Midlands.
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