Improving Search Engine Placement Through Regular Web Site Maintenance

July 29, 2008 in do-it-yourself search engine optimization, search engine optimization, small business websites | 1 comment

When was the last time you had your web site checked for broken links? I know I can sound like a broken record sometimes but the search engines really don’t like badly maintained web sites.

Regular maintenance of your web site is an important part of search engine optimization and keeping your web site rising in the search engine rankings. It’s also good for business.

How many times have you gone to a web site and clicked on a link only to get an error message? How do you react? what do you think when a site seems to have problems or isn’t well maintained?

Well guess what?Google thinks pretty much the same thing when it comes across those kinds of web sites. And so do any potential customers or clients if they find problems on your site.

It used to be that you did one set of things to your web site to keep visitors happy and something completely different to keep the search engines happy. and often you had to compromise the two processes. Not any more.

The search engines are reaching a level of sophistication that means what keeps potential customers or clients happy and makes them want to find your web site, is the same thing that keeps the search engines happy:

regular web site maintenance
regular addition of informative and helpful articles, blogs and content that keeps your web site fresh and gives people a reason to keep coming back
easy, simple and intuitive navigation
bold headlines that tell visitors exactly what they’ll find on the page
easily scannable copy with sub-heads
no Flash splash pages visitors have to sit through
no instant on music that visitors have to listen to and can’t turn off
no instant on video they have to watch and can’t turn off or control
a combination of copy, audio and video to suit different types of learning styles