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Search Engine Optimization Study: 350 Manufacturers

Case Studies: Ineffective Web Site Marketing

We selected 10 of the web sites that scored the worst in terms of web site marketing. Here's a closer look at what they may be doing wrong on their home pages (company names are removed).

Case Study No. 1

<title>Business Name</title>
<script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript">

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

Case Study No. 2

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Company name followed by corporate attribute</TITLE>
<meta name="description" content="Features a 20-word description without keywords.">
<meta name="keywords" content="Includes 30 keywords and search terms with no real focus.">
</HEAD>

ANALYSIS: Title may have one keyword at the most after several non-keywords; META data poorly used for web site marketing strategy. Flash page with "skip intro" button won't perform well because it lacks text.

Case Study No. 3

<html>
<head>
<title>Welcome to Business Name</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<script language="JavaScript">

ANALYSIS: Title lacks keywords, page doesn't even attempt to include META data as part of their web site marketing efforts.

Case Study No. 4

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Company name followed by one search phrase</TITLE>
<META NAME="description" CONTENT="corporate domain name www.xxxxxxxxx.com">
<META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="">
</HEAD>
<FRAMESET border=0 rows="100%,*" frameborder="no" marginleft=0 margintop=0

ANALYSIS: Title has potential keywords, but they're trapped inside a long phrase without comma separation, META description features corporate domain name and the META keywords weren't used. Doesn't seem like this company utilized any web site marketing tactics. The Frames format may discourage spiders from indexing the web site, especially since this main page doesn't give them much guidance.

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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