Advice on website please

[durhamwebsites]

Hi ive made a business directory for the county durham area and am offering slots for a one off payment of £25 which when marketed i think is an excellent offer. the site is ranking about page 4 google, page 1 on yahoo but as im new to this and havent had anyone look at the site id like your opinion on the seo and pages if you could please.
the site is durhamwebsites dot co dot uk
thanks in advance

 

[chalkie99]

I don't really understand that.

You are asking for opinions on the SEO of your site and yet you are offering SEO as a standard service to others on your own website. :|

 

[durhamwebsites]

yes i am as a side line but that is providing i have done it myself correctly first, if not i will be subbing it out to others and trying to get a little piece of the pie for doing so

 

[fisicx]

The SEO is appaling. The site builder software you are using is really naff (hope you got it for free) and has generated some ugly code none of which is going to help your ranking. Sorry to be so negative but if you are offering SEO services then you should at least follow the guidelines published by the search engines.

 

[chalkie99]

But you are offering it as a free service so whatever slice of the pie you get will always add up to zilch.

This page contains your important text as an image and is fuzzy at that.

 

[Encompass]

The code is some of the worst I have seen, the usability of the site is appalling. This is not what SEO is about.

 

[rich06]

<B> tags? Whatever happened to <strong> tags? That's the most basic SEO flaw.

 

[fisicx]

<B> tags? Whatever happened to <strong> tags? That's the most basic SEO flaw.

Google treats <b> and <strong> exactly the same way: it ignores them both. There is no SEO advantage in using these tags.

 

[JustOneUK]

<B> tags? Whatever happened to <strong> tags? That's the most basic SEO flaw.

Nah.. that's no big deal.
However NOT having an h1 tag at all is WAAAAY up there

 

[rich06]

For W3C standards you would choose <strong> over <b> any day though?

 

[fisicx]

For W3C standards you would choose <strong> over <b> any day though?

If you really want to. I personally couldn't give a toss. Your visitors don't care, google doesn't care and valid code proves nothing.

 

[rich06]

lol!

Well I couldn't give a toss if you couldn't give a toss....grr.

I suppose it's a matter of opinion. Personally I would use <strong> because I think it's good practice.

I smell a hijack!

 

[computerservices]

lol!

Well I couldn't give a toss if you couldn't give a toss....grr.

I suppose it's a matter of opinion. Personally I would use <strong> because I think it's good practice.

I smell a hijack!

As fisicx says - makes no SEO difference and nobody cares. But If I remember rightly <strong> is the W3C standard over <b> so you were right on that call.

 

[rich06]

SEO = accessibility+standards

 

[computerservices]

Personal opinion on the standards.
http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?p=691007

 

[rich06]

Looking at this thread it seems like it is entirely down to what you believe. I've seen articles arguing for and against it.

You know where I stand at least

 

[Delicious Webdesign]

i am sure that even if there isnt an SEO benefit for W3C compliant sites now there will be in the future, additionally W3C standards puts your website on the right path to become viable for all web browsers (apart from Internet Explorer 6.0 which seems to be causing us loads of hassle recently)

 

[fisicx]

But if you go down the W3C compilance route you have to take accessibility into account. You can't just ensure valid code without ensuring compliance with the WAI guidelines. So this means only using websafe colours, resizable texts, no structural tables and so on. At present you could have valid code that fauils the WAI guidelines (using pixels font sizes for example).

Whilst it it good practice to have valid code I don't think it's ever going to have much impact on ranking.

 

[zoezoe]

Hi, sorry to be negative but you did ask.

The site is rubbish, the colours, layout, font, menu's, navigation - all rubbish.

And sorry to echo some of the other posters but the source code is just apauling - not even optimised in the slightest.

Did you really think you were on to a winner here? If so what *did* you do?

 

[durhamwebsites]

i didnt think i was onto anything, as im new to all this i wanted some thoughts and advice, the comments although negative are somewhat helpful in helping me understand things, the web design part of the site will be removed as that is going to another server.
i thought i would have also recieved some useful tips to make it better but i guess i must be in the wrong place for that.

 

[fisicx]

If you want a review of the site then you need to sign up as a full member. You have specifically asked about SEO which although part of the overall design is somewhat different to a review of (for example) usability and accessibility or even the directory itself.

If you want SEO help then the Google SEO starter or seo-moz beginners guide will put your on the right path:

http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2008/11/googles-seo-starter-guide.html

http://www.seomoz.org/article/beginners-1-page