Image Button Links Not Spiderable...?

no wonder i wasnt doing that well...!

[Harley_m]

I've have just read somewhere that spiders are incapable of following graphical button links...is this true...so all spiders will just be going to the page i submitted and then stopping...? That would explain alot! is this true of all search engines? if you look at the site : <snip url> then you will see my problem...ive just added text links down the bottom of each page, which should take all spiders through at least to pages with only text links...is this the proper solution, and could it be improved...?

I have tried hard with SEO, but it has been slow to pick up, now i know why! Has anyone got any other tips i could use...? I know the frames are a problem, but they are nessesary really, and the frontpage is awkward, as its really a doorway, with no bodytext (now ive put some in)

[edited by: tedster at 9:46 pm (utc) on June 27, 2002]
[edit reason] remove url [/edit]

[Knowles]

Welcome to the WWM Harley_m!

No they do not much care for graphical links they prefer the text links. So that should help some.

Just a suggestion you might want to remove the URL from the post other wise a Mod will they dont like URL dropping here. Also you might read Welcome to Webmaster World [webmasterworld.com]

[mahlon]

Welcome to Webmaster World Harley_m:) As far as I know that is correct for all SE's. It is very important to have text links for the spiders to follow. Also if someone tries to translate your site, it will not translate your graphic links, only the Alt tags if there are any.

[tedster]

That is not my experience - spiders can and do index graphic links. But with an image link there is no link text, so a lot of the value and power a link can give you is thrown away.

As long as a link is in the form <a href="[a valid url]"></a> it can be spidered, no matter what is enclosed in the tag. But those text links are a really good idea - don't get rid of them.

[Harley_m]

thanks very mich for what youve said, and thank you for being so welcoming...i hope i can bring ting into the forum as well, rather than just ask questions...

sorry about the link, but as its there, what did you mean by image and graphical links...the buttons on the site are rollover images with the link enclosed...and from what i can see from my positions in the engines, they have not been properly followed...

Thanks again for all your help...

Harley

[mivox]

An image link is this:

<a href="link/url.htm"><img src="image/file.jpg"></a>

That's what you're using if your links are little picture buttons.

A text link is this:

<a href="link/url.htm">Link Text Here</a>

That would produce underlined, linked words on your page.

When a search engine spider follows a link, the only part it needs to follow it is <a href="link/url.htm">. Whether that code is attached to a picture or some text doesn't matter... the spider will follow it or not either way.

Text links give some advantage because you can use the text itself to describe the page it links to, which gives the spider a better idea how to categorize the page it finds.

If spiders have not been following your button links, I would tend to think they might be javascript links rather than simple graphic button links. Not all spiders can follow javascript links...

...and there are many reasons beside that to explain why you may not be ranking well. ;) This forum is filled with people who do nothing but try to rank well for a living, so hunt around and do some reading... they really know what they're talking about!

[papabaer]

Hey Harley_m! Welcome aboard!

Descriptive URL names and TITLE attributes can help as well:

<a href="motorcycles/classic_harley_photos.htm" title="Photos of Classic Harleys image gallery"><img src="image/file.jpg" alt="1987 Harley
Heritage Soft Tail" /></a>

- papabaer