HTML Errors stop spiders

Each of us feel just horrible when we make a mistake typing in a URL link or find a misspelled word on our website copy. Seldom, if ever, do we consider the actual html source code errors. Some of our webpage editing programs like DreamweaverMX automatically add the html source code as we design and write. When we make changes to the layout, move tables, add and remove bold highlighting, etc the program does a poor job of removing and changing source codes. After making just a few changes to a web page there could be several html syntax errors in the code. Too many errors and the search engine spider will become confused and leave your site.

Search engine spiders or bots as they are sometimes called, have very low-end browser capability. If you design your website for Internet Explorer 6.X browsers you should never expect that a spider is going to see your page with that level of sophistication. Think of a spider along the same level of the first release of Internet Explorer back in 1994 – 1995. There have been a few upgrades above this, but not many. It is very easy to confuse a spider and if you have errors in the source code it’s a sure bet the spider is going to loose its appetite for your web.

Some of the misconceptions that I run into with work at home business owners are the source code in their websites must be good because the page loads without error. Or, they have a skilled – well qualified webmaster who could never make mistakes in source code. Both of which are not bad thinking but certainly misinformed thinking. Just because a page will load up in IE without error doesn't’t mean there are no source code errors. The webmaster is likely a very skilled html editor and page designer but it doesn't’t take a conscious effort to make code errors. It’s easy to forget to add and ALT tag to an image here and there on a page, or to forget to place quotes around font colors or page margins etc. These are not errors that anyone would do on purpose nor will these errors prevent the page from looking perfect in an IE browser. To the spider they are errors despite how the page looks. The spider isn't’t looking for what kind of errors or measuring the critical error ratios and/or type. The spider is there to gather your page information and follow links so the information can be loaded into a database for sort and ranking functions. When the spider finds errors in the source code it simply counts the number of errors and at some count, the spider will leave your site. Your business will loose customers because your site is not getting indexed or at least not completely indexed.

For an example of html syntax errors that were prepared for a business owner, click here.

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Source Code Errors Meta Tags For Search Engines Broken Links Search Engine Indexing Link Exchanges
Inbound Links Keyword Analysis Copy Density Analysis

Sources:
seo jobs
search guild
work on internet
search engine writing
sling code
net mechanic