Websites 'should cater for visitors and bots'

19 September 2007

Optimisation efforts should bear in mind the difference between the desires of a website's visitors and the functionality of search engine robots, it has been advised.

WebProNews editor Jason Lee Miller argues that as robots work textually, rather than cognitively, there are inevitable discrepancies between them and human web users.

Focusing on catering for one without considering the other could harm search engine optimisation (SEO) efforts, he purports.

"One such conundrum involves anchor text and links," Mr Miller writes.

"For SEO purposes, spiders dig it when the anchor text - for example, when you link to an article about bears - the text matches what it's linking to."

By also providing a link with a call to action - such as "click here" - human visitors can also be catered for, he concludes.

The Chartered Institute of Marketing recently claimed that businesses should consider it "vital" to invest in SEO as search engines are now the "near-universal" way for web users to find relevant content.

Category: Natural search