Bad Web Design and Shit Websites

Shit Website from an SEO Perspective

For today’s shit, I have chosen a very pretty website. The site is indeed very pleasing to the eye – an exceptional good design. Usability is perfect and so is the coding. The site was recently relaunched and compared to the old site (which certainly would have qualified for the shit of year award ) its a major improvement.

See here the previous site: archive.org

So why does it qualify for shitwebsites.net then ? Because it’s shit from an SEO and marketing perspective, hence a perfect example why even a very pretty website can be totally useless. I will in this article explain step by step why this site does not rank well in search engines.

1. No inbound Links

The quality and quantity of Inbound links are the single most important factors for good rankings in search engines. Good websites get naturally links over time. Because of the sites content, other websites link to it to provide their visitors additional information, or they use the information provided on their own websites and link to the site, indicating the source. Another way of getting links is a listing in web directories.

The domain discussed here, is online since April 2001 and has not gotten any links yet. Why is that? I tell you why:

There is no reason to link to it.

The site provides not a single piece of interesting content which someone might be willing to show on his own site by linking to it. The only information provided on the site is, their product (properties), what a great company they are, a resume of the buying process and some stuff they call “interesting facts about Spain”.

So what are these interesting facts? The capital of Spain is Madrid!! And: The currency is Euro!! Oh really, what clever guys you are, I always wondered about these things, finally someone enlightens me. There is more of this shit on the site, have a look its actually quite funny.

Let me explain why this ooncept is so crucial: People that bought a drill did not want a drill the wanted a hole. This is why, if you want to sell drills on the web you have to explain how to make holes. That gains you a status of whole-making-expert or whole-making-authority which then gives you the credibility necessary to make statements like: The drill from XYZ-Drill-Factory is the best on the market.

Do you get the concept? It is called topic authority or information marketing.

I often talk to people (especially estate agents) answering this one with : I disagree!. I think people do this and that….This is my standard answer: Mr. XYZ Estate Agent, with the greatest respect but, you sell houses, I do online marketing about the later you have no fucking clue, so don’t tell me, an SEO expert, what people do on the web.

next:

2. What is the site about?

If a user can not figuer out what a website is about within five seconds he will leave the site. Thats a fact!. This website must have a bounce rate (percentage of users leaving the site without clicking anywhere) of at least 50 % if not more. My estimation is 60%….

A good site starts with an explicit text header. This is not only important for the user but search engines do give the heading of a page a lot of value. This is where you put in a few words what the page is all about. For a better understanding  what I mean, here an example: Bars for sale in spain.

Now, what have these anoying flash movies to do with buying property? The visitors is not on that site to look at pictures or movies about the Costa del Sol  and no, you don’t have to “put him in a mood” or entice and seduce him or any of that bullshit. Web design is not like sex: foreplay is not required as  the user is there for a reason and the quicker you give him what he was looking for, the better.

There  comes the next typical online rubbish: Welcome to the Inter Invest Marbella. Sorry mate, I figured  out by now on which website I am I am not that thick.  People do not need to be welcomed on a website, they simply dont care. This is the place where you should have another keyword rich heading as that would improve your rankings and would show people what the site is all about – there and then.

Be explicit, write what your site is about in big letters on the top of your pages. This site should start with:

PROPERTY INVESTMENTS IN MARBELLA AND ESTEPONA (or similar)

3. Title tags

The title tag is one of the most important ingredients of good SEO. The title is what you see in the blue bar top of your browser window. It is also what the search engine display first when they show your website in the SERPS (search engine results pages). The title tag should ideally not have more then 100 (ish) characters in it.

This site has the following title tag on all pages:
<title> Home : Inter Invest Marbella – Property spain, villas, apartments, townhouses </title>

Whats wrong with that? Simply that every page should target a different set of keywords. A search engine will never list all your pages under the same terms – why should they? Therefore this site wasts a lot of ranking potential. In addition there is no point in having the company name in the title, its just wasting space that should be used for keywords.

4. No description tag

The meta-description tag is the only meta tag that can make a difference to your site. Search engines often display the content of such tag in the SERPS (Search engine results pages). A well written description can be useful to increase your click rate.

These are the meta tags on the site:

<meta name=”Description” content=”"/>
<meta name=”Keywords” content=”"/>

They are there but empty. The first one should contain a brief description what the site is all about. The second one doesnt matter its pretty useless.

Maybe something like this:
Looking for a property in Estepona or Marbella? This site provides a choice of properties in stunning locations of the Spanish  Costa del Sol. Specialised on quality homes we satisfy even the most discerning customer.

Ok , I think we learned enough from this site for today here a resume:

1. Content is King
2. No content no links
3. Webdesign is not sex
4. Titles and descriptions are important

I am off to look for some more shit….

Best regards

Wolfgang Brand
SEO services in Spain