10 minute SEO check
Tue, 28 February, 2006 – 11:35 pm
The minute a client or future client asks for a check on their site I load it up in Firefox and run a few tests over it. During a meeting a client asked me what I do and so I showed him. Besides the confusion for him as I had all these little addons in my browser compared to his plain Internet Explorer, he still couldn't grasp what it told me. Of course understanding how spiders and search engines perceive these pages helps too.
So what do I do? Well a 5 minute check requires the use of the web developer toolbar which is a firefox extension. This is a great tool that let's you gain information about a site without having to hunt through the code. Open up any web site in firefox and try the following:
1. Disable CSS
If you go to the CSS menu -> Disable Styles -> All Styles. Alternatively press Ctrl + Shift + S. This will turn off all of the CSS styling. It's not fully known if spiders pay attention to inline styles however they will most likely ignore external stylesheets.
What to look for
Hidden Text – be it intentional or not this will often show up any hidden text on the page.
List Usage – lists should be used for listing information. Often used for navigation, afterall it is a list of links, however lists can be abused at times as they are thought to be given slightly more relevance than plain text.
2. Disable Images
Images -> Disable Images -> All Images. This is an important issue for both SEO and Accessibility. Spiders cannot read images so it's often interesting to see how a site looks without them.
What to look for
Missing alt attributes – this is what the spiders will read. This is also what screenreaders read for partially sighted visitors.
Keyword stuffing – similar to hidden text, the art of placing all your keywords/phrases into the alt attributes on the page – very unhelpful to anyone relying on that text to tell them about the image, that's hardly fair is it?
3. Outline headers
Outline -> Headings. This will put boxes around all heading tags on the page. If you've got Show Element Names when Outlining ticked it will also tell you which type of heading it is. H1, H2, H3 etc.
What to look for
Header Styling – People are beginning to realise that header tags are given more relevance than plain body text and of course headers can be styled using CSS. However some shady developers tend to style their headers to make them look like plain text to the average visitor.
Number of headings – An extension of the above, headings should be used but not overused, however some people tend to believe that if every heading on the page is a H1 then it will fare better in the search engines. A good rule of thumb is to use H1 once, H2 twice, H3 three times. Note that's for an average business page of around 250-350 words.
4. Disable JavaScript
Disable -> JavaScript. This will switch off any javascript or DHTML code. Spiders do not read JavaScript so cannot follow links generated by JavaScript.
What to look for
Inactive links, various text disappearing, certain areas not working.
These are the quick checks. Take any page and try them out. You'll soon start to spot hidden text, keyword stuffing in alt attributes, inactive menus and overuse of headers. A client of mine has a competitor who ranks highly for a particular phrase. When you visit their site there are around 50 words in the top alt attribute. The H1 header has a paragraph in it styled as normal size text, and on one page is a very faint paragraph of key phrases. It's simple and quick to see when you know how!
Or just run it in lynx
By Khalid on Thu, 2 March, 2006
Nice post Sarah – Your blog is becoming essential reading – its probably the most schooling I have had in ages
Just one thought – You say that the competitors page had 50 words packed in the top alt attribute and a paragrah desguised as an H1 header – Would you recommend your client tries the same?
Personally I know how many of my competitors use slightly "grey-hat" tactics – I wouldnt use them on my main gift shop site, I gotta keep that legit but when you know how they do it, it just makes it worse to know they get away with it and it beomes very tempting to employ the same methods.
Whats your views?
Cheers,
Rich
By richandzhaoyan on Fri, 3 March, 2006
Khalid – I have a Lynx viewer as well however whilst that's another option that I do tend to run, it doesn't give me the information I need. Take for example a web site that has the background set in the body tag as black. The text is white when you reach the page. The white text is styled using CSS. Turn the CSS off and the text disappears into the black background. However in Lynx you would see readable text. This is usually an unintentional case of hidden text with a developer not realising the issue they've created. Plus by doing things in steps you can see the difference hence the "10 minutes"
But on writing a proper report yes I'd also use the Lynx viewer as well as read the source code 
By Sarah on Fri, 3 March, 2006
Rich – No I would never use spamming techniques. Most sites I work on fare well just with decent on page SEO. The only reason the client isn't in Google is because their last designer put a flash splash page up with no text link into the actual site. However his site was one mentioned in my other reply to Khalid. White text on a black background until you turn the CSS off and the text disappeared. So it's probably a good thing that he wasn't picked up by Google!
As for getting away with spamming. The constant algo changes in Google are slowly getting rid of these spam sites plus of course you can always report a site at Google for spamming. Yes it does get tempting to employ the same methods however I also think about the people who rely on decent and correct coding methods for their visit such as screenreader users. Imagine them having to sit through all the keyword stuffed images. Also the headers can be used in page navigation by screenreaders which by creating a spammy site you're not being fair to some people. I don't know what's worse, having a badly coded inaccessible web site or spamming the site.
By Sarah on Fri, 3 March, 2006
Thank you for a very informative post. I will be using your tips in the future. I have the developer toolbar installed but until now have not fully understood how to utilize it.
By Ray on Sun, 25 May, 2008
Hi Sarah,
Thanks for the post, this serves for some useful information and techniques to use when developing sites and obviously checking them for search engine friendliness.
Cheers, Im sure to be back!
By Robert on Tue, 27 May, 2008
Hi both, no problem. The post is a little outdated now but I think the main points still stand. I still do the same on new client sites anyway!
By Sarah on Fri, 30 May, 2008