You probably already know that in order to get good rankings in the search engines, your web site should incorporate SEO (Search Engine Optimization) elements to ensure that the pages can be read and indexed by the search engine spiders that visit your site. It can be confusing, though, since search engines are constantly updating their algorithms to provide better results to users, while weeding out the sites that are less relevant or violate the rules and “best practices” of SEO. By avoiding a few common SEO mistakes, you can protect your web site from dropping out of sight – or worse, being banned from the search engines altogether.

Here are some definite “don’ts” when optimizing your site for the search engines:

1.  DON’T use a Flash-based or Frames-based structure for your web site; these techniques are outdated and are basically invisible to the search engine spiders. Instead, use standards-based layouts that include CSS.

2.  DON’T use pre-canned templates to build your site; they limit your capability to incorporate SEO techniques and can also look like “duplicate content” to the search engines, since multiple sites have probably used the same code elsewhere on the web.

3.  DON’T put outbound links on your web site (like on a resources or links page) without using a “nofollow” attribute, unless the link is directly relevant to your business. Links that point to other sites that have little or nothing to do with yours can count as votes against you in the search engine algorithms.

4.  DON’T use temporary 302 redirects on your web site; instead always use 301 redirects if you must move your pages to another domain or location. 302 redirects can wipe out all the trust that has built up over time for your domain and cause your rankings to plummet.

5.  DON’T use image-based navigation elements on your web pages; images cannot be read by the search engines. Search engines need links in order to find the other pages on your site. Instead of an image-based system, use a text-based or CSS-based navigation system to make sure that the spiders have a clear, organized path to follow that leads them to every page of your site.