The 5 Most Common SEO Mistakes - Unnecessary Framesets
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The Error:It is now rare that I will see a framed website and believe that the use of frames in anyway enhances the site, or that it is a practical necessity for a webmaster. It isn't so much that framed sites generally rank lower, it is that few webmasters know how to correctly optimize them.
The majority of those 697,000 websites require search engine optimization as to be honest, their current optimization stinks. Not many of those sites are going to rank in the top 10 of anywhere.
Just to have in your noframe tag "...browser does not support frames" Is a great way to never get your website found on a search engine.
The Solution:
Treat the noframe tag content as if it was a text version of your home page and optimize it as you would a normal website. Very important also is to link to your framed pages from your noframe area. Also for your framed pages consider javascript that will call the frame set should it be found orphaned in a search engine. Normally framed pages without the frameset, mean no navigation and not displayed as was initially intended. The following code placed in all framed pages is one solution and works on the majority of browsers'
<BODY onLoad="if (parent.frames.length==0) top.location='http://www.yoursite.com/frameset.html';">
There are more complex / better solutions which really wouldn't fit in the space I have here. Try http://www.netmechanic.com/news/vol5/javascript_no7.htm for a more complete solution.
Also be aware that you can achieve what a frameset does through the use of CSS layer positioning, iframes and other methods. Only use frames if you really, really have to.
Summary:
If you must use frames, make sure you optimize them properly. Use the noframe tag properly and thoroughly link to framed pages. On your framed pages use JavaScript to prevent them being called without the frameset.
Next: Splash / Flash Sites >>
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