Optimizing Frames

If your site uses frames, you've got problems - as far as the search engines are concerned anyway!

The problem is that search engines do not index framed sites very well. In fact, the search engines do such a poor job of indexing frames that we recommend redesigning your site without them if you want to get good listings in the search engines.

Now, if your site must use frames there are some tips we recommend you implement to make sure that you get the best listings you can even with frames.

The problem:

A frame is exactly what the name conveys - they are an HTML page that "frames" other HTML pages. Now, the problem arises when you go to submit. In most cases a framed site will only have one page you can submit, the home page. Since your site uses frames the home page actually has nothing that the search engine can use to determine how to list your site. Why? Because your home page is actually a frameset which does not have any real content. Here's an example that should help you see what we mean. Keep in mind this code is what the search engines see:

Example Code of a Site Using Frames

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Example Framed Site</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<FRAMESET cols="150,*">
<FRAME name="contents" target="main">
<FRAME name="main">
</FRAMESET>
</HTML>

We can't explain everything about frames here, but you should easily be able to see in the above example that their is no real content for the search engine to use to determine how to list your site. All that is there is HTML code. The result is a framed site will often not get listed at all, and if it does it will usually be listed very poorly.

The solution:

Not really a "solution" (the solution would be to get rid of the frames!), but the best thing you can do to improve your results is to use the <noframes> tag within your frameset. This tag was originally used for displaying content to people using older web browsers that did not support viewing frames. While just about all web browsers now support frames the <noframes> tag can still be used for content that will help your framed site get listed. In addition, you should also implement the best title tag, and meta tags that you can.

Where it belongs:

The <noframes> tag belongs just before the </frameset> tag for your frameset, as you can see below in red.

Example Code of a Site Using Frames with <NOFRAMES> Tag

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Example Framed Site</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<FRAMESET cols="150,*">
<FRAME name="contents" target="main">
<FRAME name="main">
<NOFRAMES>
Optimized page content goes here for best results.
</NOFRAMES>
</FRAMESET>
</HTML>

Tag tips:

Place optimized content within the <body> tags that you see above within the <noframes> tag. An easy way to do this is to create a new regular (not framed) home page for your site that describes your site, products & services. Often the content can be taken directly from one of your existing framed pages. Once you have the page created view the HTML of the page and copy everything from within the <body> and </body> tags. Then paste the new content within the <body> and </body> tags found within the <noframes> tags of your frameset. A complete page (including all the HTML) can be placed within the body tags.
Search engines like simple HTML pages, so since it is very unlikely anyone will ever see this <noframes> content we recommend keeping it very simple and text based for best results.
Make sure all your <noframes> content is optimized following all our tips. If it is not optimized, it is not going to help you very much.
Include links in the <noframes> content to all of the other important pages on your site so that the search engine will crawl and index them too.
Implement the best title tag, and meta tags that you can on the frameset page.

Drop Down Wizard
Easily create drop down menus! Unbelievable and super easy to use software makes creating drop down menus a breeze! Create drop down menus that perfectly match your website!

Sites That Use Dynamic URLs
Most search engines cannot or will not list any dynamic URLs. Dynamic URLs are most commonly used on database driven sites, or sites that are running scripts. They commonly look something like this one from MSN Search:

http://search.msn.com/results.asp?q=dynamic+url

If your URL contains any of the following elements it is considered a Dynamic URL as far as the search engines are concerned:

?, &, %, +, =, $, cgi-bin, .cgi
(commas above are just used as a separator)

If your URL contains any of the above elements it is very unlikely that it will get listed at any of the major search engines. We recommend that you submitting a different URL that is not dynamic if possible. If all of your URLs are dynamic you should probably consider making static pages (i.e. not dynamic) with URLs that do not contain any of the elements noted above so that you can get listed in the search engines.

Sites That Use Flash

Flash itself is not the problem. The problem is how it is used. The 2 largest problems with how Flash is used are:

Flash is often used on home pages as a "splash" page. The problem with these splash pages is that many times they are made entirely from Flash, which the search engines can't index. That means your splash page will not get listed. Your best bet search engine wise is to avoid submitting any page that is made mostly of Flash. If you must submit a page that is mostly Flash you can improve your chances of getting listed by to adding as much page copy to the page that you can. You should also make sure you have good meta tags and title tag.
Hyperlinks made with Flash can't be spidered by the search engines. Normally, when you submit a page to a search engine you can expect the search engine to follow the links on the page you submitted and spider the rest of your site, which is a good thing. Unfortunately, unless you have (or add) standard HTML hyperlinks to the other pages of your site none of your other pages will be able to get spidered by the search engines, which is a bad thing. An easy way fix this problem is to create a site map page uses standard HTML links to link to every page on your site. Then add a standard HTML link on each page of your site that links to the site map.

Sites That Use Image Maps for Navigation

Due to the code that makes up an image map search engines often get trapped in them and can't spider your site.

If you use image maps for your main site navigation you should consider switching to standard HTML hyperlinks or your site will most likely not get spidered. If you want to keep the image maps you can, but you should add another navigation scheme to your site that uses only standard HTML hyperlinks so that your site will get spidered. An easy way to do this is to create a site map page uses standard HTML links to link to every page on your site. Then add a standard HTML link on each page of your site that links to the site map.

Sites That Use JavaScript for Navigation

Search engines can't follow links that are within JavaScript, so your site will not get spidered unless you also have some form standard HTML hyperlinks that they can follow. You should add some form standard HTML hyperlinks to all of your pages on each of your pages so that your site will be spidered properly. An easy way to do this is to create a site map page uses standard HTML links to link to every page on your site. Then add a standard HTML link on each page of your site that links to the site map.

HTML Fast Track
Stop putting up with the hassles of learning web design. This set of over 35 fantastic tools and tutorials will help you learn how to create profitable web sites instantly with ease!