Target Marketing Magazine – How Friendly Is Your SEM?

TopRank’s CEO was recently featured in a July 2008 Target Marketing Magazine cover story by Kate DeBevois and Hallie Mummert, “How Friendly Is Your SEM? Take the test: SEO/PPC best practices revealed”

Editors at Target Marketing Magazine reached out to several industry experts on search engine optimization and pay per click marketing to formulate a quiz for readers. TopRank’s Lee Odden, offered advice on Flash/Ajax/JavaScript optimization:

When using Flash, Java or AJAX, optimize search by?
Answer: b) providing text descriptions for all rich media

Lee Odden, CEO of Spring Park, Minn.-based SEO firm TopRank Online Marketing, says when used incorrectly, Flash, Java and AJAX can present an obstacle for search engines. To avoid SEO glitches when using these programs, never create the entire Web site, including navigation and content, entirely within Flash or AJAX. These tools can work to boost your brand image, he notes, it’s just a matter of formatting them correctly when building the Web site so they don’t damage your natural search efforts. For example, Odden says, “Navigation should be external to any Flash movies. If navigation is handled with Flash, JavaScript or AJAX, then alternative text links to important pages should be published so search engines can find and follow those links.”

Read the full article and take the quiz yourself at Target Marketing.

TopRank provides Fortune 1000 companies with tier one search engine optimization, digital public relations and social media marketing services.