Google is blind.
Nothing I could say about the benefits of converting to web-standards (separating the layout from the content of your site) is more important than this: Google is blind. So is MSN and Yahoo and AltaVista. To varying degrees, they all miss your message if it is buried under graphics files, markup language and flash movies. You're reduced to 30 words or less in a metatag at the top of your page.
And I just lost half the audience. Because as a business owner you don't WANT to know about metatags and markup and how it works, you just want your page to work. Here is the news: the most powerful force on the face of the planet (Google) visits your pages to see what you've been up to lately. Updated material gets points. People linking to your site gets points. Being able to read and decipher your content gets you double points. Separating content from the computer code helps a lot, because the program (or bot) that Google deploys to 'read' your pages is blind to everything else.
Google reads your sites linearly -- that is to say, exactly as the code is sent to the browser -- and then tries to interpret what it "sees." Separating design and layout elements with a cascading style sheet (a css file) from the content (the who, what, when, where and how much of your business) helps the blind 'bot see.
Google couldn't care less about how pretty your page looks in Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Safari, or any other browser. Google cares about content, links to your site, ALT attributes (the description attached to any artwork or logos) and TITLE tags (those nifty little tool tips that appear when you hover over a link). An entire industry has grown out of the desire to learn how to make Google happy. But what a search engine optimization (SEO) company won't tell you is this: if you want better search engine results, update regularly and provide substance over style. And if you're doing your own business web publishing, make absolutely sure you get the i's dotted and the t's crossed in your HTML (... Google REALLY likes code that validates.)
Where SEO reps and 'solutions' providers fail business owners is in the notion that peppering your pages with the right keywords is going to help. Or that making your pages accessible and semantically correct is the 'only way' to ensure results. Short of buying space or having a completely unique product of service, there is no way to guarantee results. You can improve them substantially by following the rules. Update your site to 'web standards' because it makes your pages faster. Update because the information will be clear for customers and for the 'blind' computer programs: make your web pages Google-friendly and you get a higher page ranking.
The short course on Google
There is nothing, I repeat, NOTHING you can do to get the top spot at Google. You can buy ads based on keywords. You can purchase results and limit the ads to people in your region or even your city. But there is nothing you can do, save having a tremendous or completely unique site, to get the top spot.
Content is king.
Filling your pages with garbage just for the sake of having a larger site is not the point here. Having something useful and unique to share are key. Sites that grab the top spots have done something incredibly difficult. They have created a content-rich site that has a lot to say and keeps things fresh and interesting for visitors.
Business sites don't update as often as other sites do. That's just the way it is. Blogs tend to do well with search engines because they are constantly getting new material. And it's material that isn't found anywhere else, because most of the blogging is personal opinion. Does that make them more useful? Hardly.
Consider a news feature
Introduce your new employee. Update office or store hours for holidays. Discuss a new industry trend. Do something unique that can change on a regular basis. Don't resist change. Change is good.
Hiding the code from Google is a good step. Not using pictures for the words on your site is another. (For the record, yes, some of the headings on this page are graphics files, but the code READS exactly as you see it. CSS allows me to swap images for text and still present the headlines that search engines, or those with older browsers, can see.) Move to a css-based layout and you separate computer code from content, making it easier for search engines to tell the world what they "saw" at your site.
When you're ready to get started, call, write or click. There are many advantages to rebuild, redesign or retool your website. Today would be a great day to start.
