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Posted by Vikram Rathod
October 16, 2013
It was discovered earlier this year that there were some problems faced by Google while crawling Apple’s website. Things were sorted out later, however this has proven to be a very bad example to demonstrate to the website owners and developers that sooner or later they are going to be a victim of the same.
There are a number of site owners and SEO clients we have come across, who feel that integrating the latest technology into their website will help the SEO of their website and soon bring them up on Google’s SERPs. However, the bitter truth is that the things never had, never have and never will work like that. In the recent years, in order to make the web more interesting with things like JavaScript and Ajax, many developers have failed in their attempt. With Google’s algorithms constantly evolving, it could have serious negative effects for the hardwork of publishers and website owners. Websites should have a fool-proof information architecture for implementation.
The real problem lies in Google’s treatment for websites of big brands. Some time ago Google changed the way it handled URL’s which were blocked by robots.txt. The URL is shown by Google now, but not the content that lies in it. Google’s point of view is understandable, however the whole process of blocking a page becomes very restrictive.
It is not recommended that everyone take that giant step and make a mediocre website, however it is smart not to dress up your website with all the things in the world and just wonder why the world is not noticing you. Don’t take chances with the critical components of your website such as the products page and the eCommerce page.
It is always better for you if there is less to be anxious about on your website. As a webmaster to efficiently manage your SEO hard work and make things happen in the real sense, it is recommended to have a simple website. You get more time to think about the SEO factors to help the website perform well, and it is easier for Google to crawl simple websites.
There are basically two main reasons behind the fair performance of simple websites in SEO as compared with the complicated ones:
* Google Isn’t Keeping Up: Besides the actual SEO efforts, which are the most basic ones, Google’s bots are not very well updated with the latest in technology and design. Yes, it’s hard to believe this, however this is not the first thing that Google has in it’s agenda. Google’s spiders’ ability to crawl and understand all the new things isn’t as quick as the rate in which the changes occur.
* Google’s View on Big Brands: Many a times Google would make changes as big brands figure a way in their system, or they are not getting the rank that Google thinks they deserve because of their popularity. Thus, it is vital for big brands’ webmasters to adapt to the changes made by Google. Google has it’s own set of guidelines for webmasters and SEO’s which should be followed and the website should look something similar to it.
From where does this debate on simple vs. complicated websites get it’s base? Apple is one of the major brands and a website with the highest visibility on Google. However, it wasn’t very long ago that Google was facing trouble while crawling Apple’s website. This lead to missing direct links to apps from the SERPs. Many people were left wondering how this could happen. This is how the debate on complicated vs. simple had arisen.
It is still to be decided as to what qualifies as a simple website. Having a simple website doesn’t really mean that it shouldn’t have any colors in it or cool fonts or some high quality traffic. The rule of the thumb is that you shouldn’t be doing experiments on those pages which are bound to get you more conversions. Tons of videos and flash players might not work. Be the best judge of the rest of the pages. Put yourself in the the audience’s shoe and imagine what is it that they would like the most.
