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Search Engine Optimization Health Care Study

Case Studies: Ineffective SEO

Our search engine optimization firm selected 10 of the web sites that scored the worst in terms of SEO. Here's a closer look at what they may be doing wrong on their home pages (company names are removed).

Case Study No. 1

<html>
<head>
<title>Company name.com</title>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="/includes/style.css">
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript">
</head>

ANALYSIS: Title lacks keywords, page doesn't include META data, nor does the entire site attempt to include any META data.

Case Study No. 2

<head>
<title>Company name, Inc. keyword phrase</title>
<meta name="Description" content=" Company name, Inc. keyword phrase "/>
<meta name="Keywords" content="Home Page"/>

ANALYSIS: META title is buried below over 12 pages of HTML code and only includes one search term with the company name, META description repeats the title, META keywords tag lacks keywords and only says "Home Page."

Case Study No. 3

<html>
<head>
<title>search term 1, search term 2, search term 3 - Company name</TITLE>
<meta http-equiv=www.companyname.com content="search term 1,search term 2,search term 3,search term 4,search term 5,search term 6,search term 7,search term 8" name=keywords>
<meta http-equiv=www.companyname.com content="search term 1, search term 2 and regulation, and search term 3 by company name. Company name servicing 4 different cities listed." name=description>
</head>

ANALYSIS: META title includes some search terms with a company name, META description and META keywords tag is incorrectly written with "name=description" and "name=keywords" at the end of the code rather than the beginning. Keywords are broad and irrelevant with commas in between but no spacing between commas.

Case Study No. 4

<html>
<head>
<META NAME="Author" CONTENT="Webmaster Name">
<META NAME="KEYWORDS" CONTENT="Includes 191 keywords and search terms that are too broad.">
<META NAME="DESCRIPTION" CONTENT="Features a 34-word description without keywords.">
<META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="ALL" >
<META NAME="Revisit-After" CONTENT="30 days">
<title>Company name, Inc., search term for Physicians</TITLE>
</head>

ANALYSIS: META title only includes company name with no search terms and is incorrectly placed buried below a lengthy META data set, META description only describes the company's services and history with no search terms, META keywords tag is too long with 191 words and 1,666 characters. Search terms are too broad and irrelevant. META author tag should be below META data set. META robots tag is OK but shouldn't list a set timeframe of when the search engines should spider the site, the spiders should be allowed to visit your site naturally and randomly.

Case Study No. 5

<html>
<head>
<title>Business Name</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css">
<script language="JavaScript" type="text/JavaScript">

ANALYSIS: Title lacks keywords, page doesn't include META data.

Case Study No. 6

<html>
<head>
<title>Welcome to company name, your source for two search phrases</title>
</head>
<frameset rows="xxx,xxx,*" border="0">
</frameset>
<noframes>
<body bgcolor="#ffffff">
<p></p>
</body>
</noframes>

ANALYSIS: There doesn't seem to be a web site marketing plan in place here. Title fails to give keywords prominence and search terms aren't separated by commas; page doesn't include META data. The frames format discourages search engines. The <noframes> tag could allow for some search engine guidance, keywords, but it's not used.

Case Study No. 7

<html>
<head>
<title>Company Name, Inc. - Specializing in – one search term</title>
<META Name="keywords" Content="20 keywords and phrases">
</head>

ANALYSIS: Title lacks keywords - limited to one potential search phrase. The page doesn't include META description, much more critical than the META keyword set. A better web site marketing policy could be put into place here.

Case Study No. 8

<html>
<head>
<meta name="description" content="Company name">
<meta name="KEYWORDS" content="5 individual keywords without commas, not a search phrase">
<meta name="robots" content="index">
<meta name="robots" content="follow">
<title>Home</title>

ANALYSIS: Title with the "home" reference is buried below a poor META description and equally ineffective META keyword set.

Case Study No. 9

<html>
<head>
<meta name="keywords" content="12 broad keywords">
<title>Welcome to Company name - Associates</title>
</head>

ANALYSIS: Title without search terms is buried below an ineffective META keyword set that lacks realistic search terms; META data doesn't feature a META description.

Case Study No. 10

<html>
<head>
<META NAME=DESCRIPTION CONTENT="Company name, the first manufacturer of a keyword and search phrase description.">
<META NAME=KEYWORDS CONTENT="22 keywords and search phrases">
<title>Company name</title>

ANALYSIS: Title displayed too low below META description and keywords. META description is useful, although it takes six words before the first keyword appears.

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