Many industrial company web sites are not implementing effective web marketing techniques, despite search engine optimization (SEO) practices’ availability for approximately 10 years, according to a recent study.
The study, conducted by Search Circus Inc., was completed by randomly selecting 500 companies in a variety of industries and examining the site’s SEO. Industries included chemicals, motion control technologies, and material handling, among others.
According to the study, only 26 percent of sites reviewed scored “excellent” overall.
Many of the sites in the study were found to have poor keyword to content ration and have very low link popularity. Another major issue was the lack of site maps, which help search engines effectively crawl web pages for indexing.
Industrial companies should consider implementing a formal SEO strategy, which would allow for improved online visibility, increased traffic and ultimately could lead to better sales results.
Strategies suggested in the study for building a search engine friendly website include:
* Keep HTML code simple and easy to navigate
* Reduce images sizes whenever possible
* Place text links at the bottom of each web page for more effective crawling
* Try to avoid cookies whenever possible
* Do not use frames
* Do not place your entire site in flash
* Include meaningful content on each page
* Do not create doorway or “fake” pages
According to the study findings, the industrial sector has more to gain than other business areas because companies typically have offices in various parts of the world, allowing for a global marketing opportunity by improving SEO strategies.
