Make sure the search spiders will crawl all the pages on your site by following these search engine optimization strategy tips!

This is the last post in our multi-part series on how search engines work; read the basics of how search engines work and the importance of visibility to the search spiders.

Search engine optimization strategy #1: Add a robots.txt to your site.

A robots.txt is a file that tells search spiders where they are and are not allowed to go on a site. Having a robots.txt, even a basic one, is considered to be a “sign of quality.” It shows that you acknowledge that search engines are allowed on your site and that they may have free access to it. Learn how to add a robots.txt file to your site.

Search engine optimization strategy #2: Use search engine-friendly CSS navigation.

These days, all of the cool navigational effects previously accomplished with JavaScript can be replicated using text-based CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). CSS navigation is much more search engine friendly in that the links, which sometimes look like images, are actually HTML text that can easily be crawled and indexed by the search spiders. Many types of JavaScript links cannot be read or followed by the spiders. If the links can’t be read, the pages can’t be indexed.

Search engine optimization strategy #3: Strengthen internal linking with a site map.

Having a good site map is one of the most important things you can do for your site visibility. A site map makes it easy for the search spiders to find all of the pages in your site and index them efficiently. Link to the site map in the footer, and be sure to include every page on your site in the map. Remember to update the site map whenever new pages are added to your site.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this series about how search engines work. Contact The Search Guru to plan your search engine optimization strategy today!