Clients

Ignorance and Compensating this

[brotherhood of LAN]

Hello people,

As you no doubt know, some people you create a web site for havent the faintest idea what half of it is all about

In this scenario, the client is in charge of updating the stock on the site (7 page site) where one page is an ASP page allowing access to the DB of cars.

The client has decided that car descriptions look nice in block caps!! I was just wondering if this was penalised in any way by the engines

Thanks! ;)

[Filipe]

I would think so - the best way, I find, to target the search engines is to think to yourself, "Would a human like to look at this?" because of course, search engine spiders are trying to simulate a human looking over a page (and finding SPAM in a way only humans can). So I wouldn't leave it in caps.

As far as dealing with the client, don't be afraid to tell them that it will hurt their traffic and user base. I used to be afraid to tell them beforehand (i.e., I would make the change, let it screw up the site, and then fix it later). The most annoying part is where they say "We shouldn't have put that all in caps," and you tear your hair out thinking "THATS WHAT I TOLD YOU!!!" Remember that *you're* the professional, not them, and let them know it.

[Black Knight]

On the bright side, it may actually help them to get better results by searchers who also think caps are cool and constantly have the Caps Lock on. There are a lot of those out there.

It's really a matter of which engines you are targeting, and how they handle case matching.

[brotherhood of LAN]

yep,

in between my post and now I was down at their office talking to them :) I said it looks ugly, and mentioned that SE's might not like it (IMO caps are abused on the web in general - ie im shouting at you etc)

Its a garage site, so im persuading them to leave the make of the car in CAPS, and the rest of the description in lower case. Looks much nicer eh? :)

on the flip side, its nice to be able to type 100% caps, no need for the shift key :)

[bmcgee]

It's really a matter of which engines you are targeting, and how they handle case matching

I didn't think any of the majors were case sensitive these days.

[Filipe]

They may not be case sensitive in general, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're blind to pages that make excessive use of caps.

Think of it this way:
1. Humans don't like to read pages all in caps
2. Spiders try to emulate a human trying to read
3. Spiders rank sites that humans will like to read high on search engines
----------------------
Therefore, 4. Spiders will not rank pages all in caps well

[brotherhood of LAN]

Filipe

>Humans don't like to read pages all in caps

The prob I have with that is your opinion. From one persons point of view, caps are eye catching and easy to read, another person would say they are spammy, another would say they are unsightly

The thing is, I said to them, personally, I think its the wrong way to go. As my responsibility, I had to think about the SE's

So hmm not sure. Basically most of the caps will be removed, but the question remains :) Well it has been answered, but I wonder if anyone has had direct experience :)

[Crazy_Fool]

>>I didn't think any of the majors were case sensitive
>>these days.

altavista is (i think). they used to have something in their search help pages that said LONDON is different to london.

>>so im persuading them to leave the make of the car in
>>CAPS, and the rest of the description in lower case.
>>Looks much nicer eh?

might look even nicer if you use format the pages so that makes of car could be highlighted in another way - maybe bold and slightly larger font size?

[caine]

I find using caps to highlight key points or more to the point key terms (seo-wise), is very eye catching and allows the searcher/reader, a chance to gain a very quick over veiw of the topic, if need be rather than reading the entire text, when all the want to know are facts.

BOL, you said cars.

bold / caps > Engine: 4200cc, Top Speed: 187mph, Acceleration > 0-100kpm (62mph): 4.3 seconds, etc

The important points of the description, i would advise to use bold and caps, for quick factual reading.

[4eyes]

altavista is (i think)

Used to be completely case sensitive, but now is 'partially'.

It is case sensitive only if you use quotes.

eg.
NEW CARS gives same result as new cars
but
"NEW CARS" gives different results from "new cars"

..which personally I find irritating, but then I find AV irritating anyway.

Now if I ruled the world....

...every day would be the first day of spring..mutter, mutter...

[brotherhood of LAN]

..mutter mutter....yes, thats exactly where Im coming from :)

Thanks for all the advice guys, now that im on my own PC again, I can say thanks :)