DIY Web Design Can Lead To SEO Trouble
To save money, many people, business people included, try a Do-It-Yourself website. And unless they are comfortable with HTML/XHTML, CSS and Photoshop, they usually end up using a What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get (WYSIWYG, pronounced “wi-zi-wig”) application. There are many out there and I’m not naming names.
Unfortunately, WYSIWYG is a misnomer, because you get way more than what you see, and it’s not good. (You can actually see the resultant source code from the browser. If using Firefox – Ctr-U. IE – View->Source.) Typically, WYSIWYG tools generate verbose code. Style declarations are repeated inline over and over. White space is created by inserting extra, empty paragraph tags or line break tags. Just a few simple carriage returns on the keyboard can generate a whole bunch of junk code.
The browser can display a good looking page as a result of parsing this verbose code. Browsers have historically been very lenient toward wayward markup. But like most things in life, discipline and skill have their advantages and on the web, that advantage is SEO.
Verbose code lessens the text/html ratio which has a negative impact on SEO. A text/html ratio of 15% or higher is recommended for good SEO. Check your website text/html ratio and more SEO elements.
Captivity is another detriment of WYSIWYG. When the WYSIWYG tool generates the web page, you’re pretty much trapped into using the tool to make any changes. WYSIWYG tool owners know this. It’s a cash cow for them. Many times businesses, longing for www liberty, approach a qualified web designer/developer to fix and/or redesign a site. Truth be told, it’s easier and less time consuming to create a new site rather than try to unravel the tangles generated by WYSIWYG. I have even seen so-called web design firms set up their clients with WYSIWYG tools.
Don’t fall into the WYSIWYG trap. Look for a qualified, skilled web designer to work on your site.