Don`t Make These Common SEO Mistakes! - Customer Service?
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It’s not too unusual for me to get lost – but I don’t appreciate being insulted when I do get lost, especially if it’s not even my fault. I mention this by way of introducing an online staple that I really hope is dead: the insulting 404 error page. I can certainly understand why a company might want to customize its error page. If the site can’t find the URL that a visitor used, then a custom-built error page might be able to steer him or her in the right direction. But will they even want to be bothered if they encounter an error page that says something like this:
“404 Error. You’ve obviously typed in the wrong URL. Either that or the page you are looking for no longer exists.”
Excuse me?! That was the actual text of at least one custom-designed 404 page. Jordan notes that the page contained “No apology for the missing page, no recommendation to use the navigation to find what they were looking for, just an insulting message that accuses the user of being an idiot.” If I ever encountered that error page, you can bet I wouldn’t be returning to that site any time soon.
Another matter to consider is your site’s general usability. How easy is it for a visitor to navigate your web site? Do the links on your site describe where they lead well enough? Do you use breadcrumbs so that they know where they are at all times?
Furthermore, does your site’s hierarchy or information architecture make sense? You can certainly have a link leading off the home page called “Products,” but if you have a lot of products you might even want to group them under logical subheadings: “Home Widgets,” “Automotive Widgets,” “Office Widgets,” or whatever kinds of subheadings make sense. If your site navigation and architecture is poorly constructed, your users can’t find what they’re looking for, and neither can the search engines.
As bad as all this sounds, I’ve only scratched the surface when it comes to SEO mistakes. I may write a second article covering mistakes that concern specific on-page and off-page optimization issues. In the meantime, now that you’re informed, you can avoid making a lot of potentially costly missteps with your site’s SEO.
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AT&T devCentral & BlackBerry(r) Webcast Series: BlackBerry and GPS -Build Location Awareness into your BlackBerry Applications, July 10th -1:00PM EST. 
