Personal preference-wise, as a user, I dislike it when a site creates a horizontal scrollbar at 1024px width. I find it annoying because I usually have multiple windows open at 1024, and when one demands more, I find it so annoying that if I'm a first-time visitor, I'm likely to click out of it.
Yes, screen resolutions and sizes have increased, but the benefit of that is diminished when every window wants to grow to fill it.
SEO-wise, your page titles could bear improvement. They're not horrible. I'd use the pipe as a separator rather than the dashes and add a more precise location (the city and/or airport codes).
Your description tags (at least some of them) are completely missing, which is a cardinal sin. That'll kill your search rankings. The description tags need to accurately summarize a page in a way that corresponds as closely as possible to the way people search for your service, without being spammy. for example:
Code:
meta name="description" content="Nebraska Flight, a flight school in Lincoln, Nebraska operating out of KLNK"
You also need the keywords metas. They're pretty much ignored except for abuse, but they should still be there. Some search engines and directories still use them, but they're also a source of penalties if they're "spammed." I usually include the tag and just use the three or four most relevant keywords, making sure that they appear in the page content. That seems to keep everyone happy. So possibly:
Code:
meta name="keywords" content="flight, instruction, lincoln, nebraska, klnk"
Your ALT tags could use
a lot of work, too. This one requires great sensitivity. It's very valuable SEO-wise, but is also a good way to be penalized. Here's why.
The ALT tag's purpose is to provide input to screen readers for the blind which describe the images for them. The tags are factored into rankings by the algos, so they do have SEO value. But they also are frequently abused by SEO whores, which is considered a serious enough offense by search engines that it can get a site delisted if it's caught on manual review (and rightfully so).
I've found that the best way to craft ALT tags is to remember their primary purpose and write them thoughtfully, making sure that they accurately and helpfully describe the image for the blind. If within that primary context you can include wording that SEO-relevant
and improves the tag's usefulness for the blind, then do so. If not, then don't. Spamming the blind for SEO purposes, aside from being a scummy thing to do, can easily get your site penalized or delisted on manual review.
Good ALT tags can still have SEO value, however. I aim for object, description, context, and reason for relevance when writing an ALT tag, all of which are parts of what make an ALT tag useful, but also are things that have SEO value.
In your case, you have pictures of airplanes, and presumably you will be adding more. You can improve your site's SEO
and make it more useful to the blind by writing good ALT tags that provide object, description, context, and reason for relevance.
For example, let's suppose you have a picture of a Cessna 172 that you use for flight instruction. The most basic ALT tag you could use would be
Perfectly factual, but not sufficient. It's lazy coding that insults the blind. A slightly better one would be
Code:
alt="A small, single-engine airplane"
That would fulfill the most rudimentary requirements as far as the blind are concerned. It's still lazy and not especially helpful, but it's barely adequate.
A much better description that would also help SEO-wise without moving into spam territory might be:
Code:
alt="A Cessna 172, which is a small, single-engine airplane, parked outside its hangar at a Nebraska flight school."
That's an excellent ALT tag. It provides the object, description, context, and reason for relevance in a way that is helpful, not spammy, and will easily pass manual review. The tag tells a blind visitor that the object in the image:
- Is an airplane, the most basic information, and that it is a Cessna 172, for those who may know about airplanes. Blind people can be airplane buffs, some blind people were once sighted people, and some blind people are seeking flight instruction for their sighted children;
- Is a small, single-engine airplane, for those who are not familiar with the model (description);
- Is in front of a hangar (context); and
- That it is used by a flight school (relevance).
SEO-wise, the tag also has a lot of value. It tells search engines that a Cessna 172 is available for flight instruction in Nebraska. Combined with the rest of the information on the page, that will help you in searches for flight instruction as well as those who especially want to learn in or rent a Cessna 172.
A bad ALT tag would be
Code:
alt="A Cessna 172, which is a small, single-engine airplane, parked outside its hangar at Nebraska Flight, the gosh-darned best flight school in America."
That tag moves into spam territory and will get you penalized if you're caught.
Other than that, beef up the content a bit. Good content is the most important thing for both users and robots. But I'm sure you're working on that. The site is still new.
Rich
