Thoughts on optimal page structure ???

OK... here is something I have been tossing around and would like to have your thoughts. It is in regards to page structure and what is best for "crawling" and PR distribution. Im using a CSS-P layout and the <div> order is as follows:

<div>navigation</div>
<div>content</div>
<div>sub-navigation</div>
<div>other misc divs</div>

You can look at the pages here (in lieu of typing everything out)
Basically - the main navigation div has absolute links, the content div ends with absolute text links that duplicate the main navigation links. The content text is sprinkled with text links pointing to appropriate sub-pages as applicable.

What do you think of this order? Will spiders hit the nav and skip the content or at least not get to the end of the content where the text links are? If I were to move the content layer to the top, followed by the nav layer, does that present a problem in that the text links at the end of the content layer are immediately followed by the same links contained within the nav layer?

hmmmmm...
~MC
ION Web Design

 

I like the style

But why is the title:

"Website Design Houston - web development and graphics solutions"

The first Text [Navigation]:

" Design Services "
"Design Portfolio"
"Resources"
" FAQ / TIPS"

and the first H1:

"Website Design ~ Website Optimization ~ Custom Graphics Design "

Why don't you have the title as the H1?
and the Navigation as the H1?

BTW look at the examples taken from your site above and notice the spaces after the "s and before the "s - this will affect things spatially for the robot as "Design Services" is different from " Design Services "

 

Hi Foxy - thanks for chiming in

To make sure I am following this correctly - are you suggesting that the title and H1 tag should be identical? I guess my concern was to avoid "spammy" text and decided to change them a bit, but still keeping the main KW. If they CAN be the same without penalty, I can certainly change them back.

Now, I am not sure I follow you on the "navigation as H1" You are referring to the navigation in the content layer?? And... are you saying enclose them in H! rather than P ? ...

Also, the reason the first text nav is design services is for navigation purposes. If you browse the othe pages, the link is removed from whatever page it is on - in this case, you are on the home page so that link is disabled. It is just a little thing I do to let people know where they are in the site.

Oh.. and thanks for the heads up on the spacing issue - I had not noticed that I will fix it - thank you!

~MC
ION Web Design

 

You are not [at least in my view] spamming if you have the title and the first H1 text the same - afterall that is what the page is about!

Similarly if you have your navigation to the same as the title to the page surely that is a Heading and a relevant link to that page is it not?

If you then go on and place content that is relevant to the Heading and title you have answered all the queries.

Go to G and type in "ski apartments france" it should be no 8 http://www.world-ok.com/ski-world/ski-france-aparts.htm - now this used to be a frame page where the only content on it, in the noframes, was "ski apartments france" and I have changed it to this format to test [ps don't worry about the rest of this site as I try various ideas out on it and it gets messy]

 

LOL - you should have seen when I was tweaking my CSS-P ... that was messy

I agree on the title, H1, content and spam(or lack thereof) issues. I also agree with the text links using keywords in the body text pointing to the relevant page and that is done throughout the site. Technically I could call the link to the home page something like "website design home" but then I would think I am writing for SE's and not readers?? Am I on target with what you were saying or am I missing your point

~MC

 

I have to ask why do we use Home as a link?

Are we going home? What does it mean to mr business man?

You may as well use your business name as it has more relevance and you get a marketing bonus as well.

But if your first/home page is about "website design" then link it like that - you may think that the index page of your site is where people come in but they don't, they come in all over so what is the difference other than in our heads?

If you still want a "home page" use your logo for that on each page.

 

I agree - "HOME" has no KW relevance unless you are in real estate

I actually named it "website design home" at one point but changed it back for the reason that website design has a separate page (as seen in the services menu). My thought process is that people think of "home" as the starting point to get to where you want to go.

You are right - often times visitors may come in on a different page. Myself, when I come into a site a level or two deep, I will click the "home" link in order to start at the beginning to see what is offered on the rest of the site - to orientate myself where I am. In other words - make it obvious to the reader where the starting point is.

BTW, the logo is already linked to the home page on every page
I guess I could add a quicklink up top somewhere that says "HOME" and change the text in the nav link... assuming that alone will weigh enough to do so.

~MC
ION Web Design

 

Well said - that was really a knife in the ribs!!! I hadn't thought of that one with our real estate bits!!!!

Ye...es but not really necessary - just make your navigation the same on each page - however you do it - make people comfortable in the way they know where every thing is!

If you keep the navigation right all else follows - they need to know the page by its name ie the link they used, and was confirmed by the title and the H1

Forget Home err...unless you're in the Real estate biz!

 

LOL - hmmm... come to think of it I guess you are right - I just now noticed your real estate bits! Sorry 'bout that

I think the navigation is pretty clear as it is and it is duplicated on every page - the only exception is that the "link" is highlighted for whatever page they are on (see main nav menu change highlights as different pages are loaded)

My question still remains though as to logical order (perhaps I should say behind the scenes) with regards to the coding. What is going to be more beneficial for little bots Referring back to original post, which format order is better for crawling and indexing?

~MC
ION Web Design

 

Your question:

I'm not sure of the exact way that G works - but basically in the beginning it is Freshbot that hits and picks up the first relevant details and links on the page that is found. It does not follow - it is the deepcrawlers that come and follow the rest of the links at a later date - So you can get a site up and searched and SERPed in a day [as I did this week - Monday - site purchased Sunday, pages put down went DNS live Monday morning - crawled 10.46pm - 12 hours later from 5 links placed - and no4 for the phrase, today no2 and showing one back link]

So you don't need to worry about the info and the position except you want what you are putting forward as important text in the top left corner which means you may need to run it through a Spider tester to see how the spider sees it, and....

This is your source code:

here is your title:

<title>Website Design Houston - web development and graphics solutions</title>

here is your first text H1:

<h1>Website Design Houston - Web Development &amp; Graphics Solutions</h1>

and the next in a link:

<strong>Website Design</strong></a> clear and focused.
<strong>ION Web Design</strong> is a full-service <strong>Houston website design</strong>

each is different - why?

The first two should be the same at least and a linked H1 carries more weight than just a link so why don't you link the H1?

Does that answer your original question?

BTW - I just had to laugh over the Home thing - its amazing when its so close you miss a trick!!

 

Morning FW,

ummm... do I get credit for the "home" thing once you reap benefits from having a home link? LOL

OK..... Last night I moved the MAIN navigation <div> below the content <div>
If you look at any other page in the site - the navigation <div> is first.
This is the focus of my question. Which one is optimal for full spidering or not only links, but content. This spider tester you mention may be just what I need to answer the question. Empirical data is a wonderful thing

The title and H1 are identical (aside from the & vs. and) so I am not seeing what you are saying there unless you are referring to the "&" character??

With regards to the main body text, would it not look funny if the first line in the paragraph repeated exactly what is listed right above it in the H1 tag? My target KW are website design houston so I am trying to "sprinkle" them in while still making it readable for visitors. Now, I did not think about making the H1 text a link - but I guess I can do that - where would you suggest the link point to? The website design page? Or... would another alternative be to make it an anchor with another keyword at the bottom of the page?

~MC
ION Web Design and home link purveyor

 

Exactly they are not the same!

No not really, that is a subjective value

The page that has the correct and same title

As for the spider tester - I can't remember the address but will look for it - there are plenty - perhaps do a search

 

G'day FW,

Touche... you got me back for the "home" reference
Now, I seem to remember an issue with using special characters but I can not remember the consensus - obviously "and" is not a keyword - but does the presence of "&" cause problem in a KW string?

Well that was my point actually - perhaps I asked the wrong question
The H1 is the main title on the page in which it resides yes? That being the case, it will link to itself based on what you said. Unless you are saying to use multiple H1's to link to other pages which I always considered a no-no. In such case it is better to use H2's... perhaps I am full of water here?

~MC
ION Web Design

PS... have not found a spider test yet but did see some good reading on a book at Amazon and a Ferrari test page

**Update*** www.spidertest.com (not much detail but tested ok) - is this the one you were talking about FW??

 

Its a spatial thing

and is xxx

& is x

The robot sees them differently - its a bit like putting spaces in -

well I wouldn't call it a no no - a heading is a heading afterall and an H1 carries more weight than an H2 and you have to use a bit of commonsense here in the way you use them as it does get a bit OTT if you use too many....but if you can use them do so and if you can not then use H2 or anything else for that matter - it is the link that is important.

[BTW I do have quite a few of H1s linked back to the same page and it doesnt seem to be a problem....touch wood ]