Organic Search Engine Optimization Tips

"Why Doesn't My Page Show Up in Google?"

Our Secret to Search Engines page reveals the big secret - produce compelling content. Okay, so what if good, relevant content is still not showing up in a search engine? There are a few potential technical problems that can prevent a website from being indexed - that is, being included in a search engine's database.

To test whether a site is indexed or not, simply copy a multi-word phrase from one of the site's pages (copy a set of words that are likely to be unique to that page) then paste them into the search engine. But before you click the "search" button, put the phrase in quotes. If the page comes up, the site is indexed. The problem then is ranking - not indexing - and ranking has to do with a page's relevancy, in which case we suggest reading up on some of our newsletters to the left, especially "How People Search."

However, if the page doesn't show up at all, there's probably a technical problem. Here are the most common:

Flash – Flash based sites don't show up in search engines. Flash is a wonderful technology for animation, sound, and interactivity. However, one major limitation of Flash sites is that they are not indexed by search engines. There are techniques that can enable some Flash content to be indexed, but even so, Flash obscures almost all site content from search engines.

Splash Pages – In our newsletter Splash is Dead, we discuss the negative impact of using splash screens on site traffic. Often there is a loss of up to 25% of visitors from the home page. Flash based splash pages compound this problem. Since search engines don't see into Flash, they can't follow a "skip intro" link, and so, they never get into the site at all.

Resizing Browser Windows Using JavaScript – There is a technique used to control the exact size of a browser window using JavaScript. In effect the home page automatically re-launches a new browser window to the exact size specified by the script. Because this technique is terribly abused by certain disreputable sites, most search engines do not follow such JavaScript links. This technique tends to keep search engines out of a website.

Overuse of Graphic Text – Some sites suffer in search engines due to the overuse of graphical text. While such graphics are to be expected for navigation and maybe even page titles, to use graphic text for main body copy (usually to control design and typography) keeps search engines from reading and indexing content. We suggest avoiding graphics for titles, too, because titles are among the most heavily weighted pieces of content search engines use to determine relevance. Using a lot of graphic text removes many of the factors that search engines use to determine relevancy on a web page.


The Secret to Search: Relevant Content
Organic Search Engine Optimization Tips
Long Tail Search Engine Strategy
Search Engine Optimization Website Development Partnerships