虽然从理论上说,我们很难真正知道主要的搜索引擎如Google, Yahoo 和 MSN产生搜索引擎排名结果的潜在规则，我还是经常尝试将我自己置于搜索蜘蛛的地位来考虑问题。如果你能看见一个搜索引擎从你的网站上可能“看到的”是什么，那么你就可以做出判断和调整，并将提高你的网站排名。
While it is impossible to know the underlying algorithms that produce the search engine results in the major engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN, I often try to put myself in the spider's shoes, theoretically speaking. If you can visualize your website the way a search engine might "see" it, then you can make adjustments and tweaks that will help your site rank well.
与Google 蜘蛛的对话
A conversation with Google
与Google的自动爬行软件（或“蜘蛛”,也称为Googlebot）的一次对话，很可能是这样的。
A conversation with Google's automated crawling software (or "spider"), otherwise known as the Googlebot, might sound something like this.
你：对不起，Googlebot,为什么我的站点mysite.com对于关键字"help me?"的排名不好呢？
You: Excuse me, Googlebot, why doesn't mysite.com rank well in Google for the keyword "help me?"
Googlebot: (竖起眉毛且看起来很生气) 我该从何说起呢？首先，你的代码很乱。相对你的实际文本，你有很多冗余代码，还有很多嵌套的表格，这使我头很晕。
Googlebot: (raises a harried eyebrow and looks annoyed) Where shall I begin? First of all, your code is a mess. You have more lines of code than actual text and so many nested tables it makes my head spin.
你主页的关键字密度是24%，这比我数据库里排名最好的网站（这些网站平均只有约7%）高出许多，所以很可疑。你是不是关键字堆叠？你知道，我不喜欢门页！
Your home page has a keyword density of 24 percent, which is suspiciously high compared with the top-ranking sites in my database, all of which average about seven percent. Are you keyword stuffing? You know I don't like doorway pages!
你的主页仅有12个反向链接，而且其中有6个来自你自己站点的链接。我数据库中排名前十的网站平均有300个反向链接，而且在Yahoo和MSN上还有数千个链接(但这不是我关心的)。
You only have 12 backlinks going to your home page that I recognize, and six of them are from within your domain. The top ten sites have an average of 300 backlinks in my database and literally thousands of backlinks in Yahoo and MSN (not that I care about those hacks).
我已经因为你的重复内容而惩罚并打击了你，因为我注意到www.anysite.com站点的主页与你的主页完全一样。不要如此惊讶—我并不在意这是谁的错！平均起来，你的网站下载速度比我数据库中其他60%的站点慢，而且你的动态URL让我很头痛。坦白地说，你真的需要这么多动态页面吗？
I've slapped you with a duplicate content penalty because I noticed that www.anysite.com has the same exact home page copy as you. Don't look so surprised - I don't care whose fault it is! On average, your site is 60 percent slower to download than every other site in my database and all your dynamic URLs are giving me a headache. Honestly, do you really need so many variables?
你没有网站地图，所以我很难爬行你网站的所有页面，而且你的全部导航都是图片，还没有ALT标签。所以，当我离开你的主页时我不知道我在哪里。你的反向链接站点也很糟糕—不是上下文相关的链接（这让我觉得很可疑），而且你在链接文本中重复使用相同的关键字，这让我觉得你在使用自动链接交换技术。过去一个月中，我已经三次访问你的站点，可是你的网站内容一点也没更新。我不敢再打扰你和你陈旧的和过度优化的内容了。我将在本世纪的某个时间再次访问你的网站。
You don't have a site map so I can't easily crawl through the pages of your site, and all of your navigation is represented in images without meaningful ALT tags, so I don't know where I am when I click away from the home page. Your link partners are abysmal - they are not contextually relevant (which makes me suspicious) and you repeat the same exact words in the linking text, which makes me think you're doing automated link swapping. I've been here three times in the past month and your content has not been refreshed once. I can't be bothered with you and your stale, over-optimized content. I will be back to crawl you again sometime this century.
你: (哭泣)
You: (sobbing)
所以，你已经被Googlebot抛弃了。给你自己一品脱Rocky Road并加入这个俱乐部吧。
So you've been dismissed by the Googlebot. Get yourself a pint of Rocky Road and join the club.
SEO Tools that Can Help You
我对Googlebot的理论思考是基于我作为一个SEO以及通过免费的在线工具分析一个站点所观察到的综合因素。很明显，Google对你站点的评价是单方面的，但是当你的网站遇到麻烦或者如果你想在Google上获得更好的排名时，就需要做些工作了。这些工作在SEO圈子中都是常识。让我们来做些回应。
My theoretical response from Googlebot is based on a combination of things that I look at as an SEO, and tools that are freely available online to help me analyze a site. Google's assessment of your site is obviously proprietary, but there are certain things you can look for when your site is in trouble and/or if you want to get a better ranking on Google. These matters are fairly common knowledge in SEO circles. Let's break down the response a little.
你的代码很乱
Your Code is a Mess
与你的实际文本相比，你有很多冗余代码（如嵌套的表格，JavaScript脚本）
You have a lot of code compared with actual text (e.g., nested tables, JavaScript)
你的关键字密度和你的竞争对手比太高
Your keyword density is high compared with your competitors
你的关键字堆叠
You're keyword stuffing
你的主页看起来像一个门页
Your home page looks like a doorway page
你的反向链接比你的竞争对手少
You have fewer backlinks than your competitors
你的反向链接站点质量很差
You have poor link partners
你链接到一个非法的站点
You're linking to a site that's banned
你使用重复的反向链接文字
Your backlink text is repetitive
你的内容很久没有更新
You have no fresh content
你的内容与其他站点重复
You have duplicate content
与你的竞争对手相比，你的网站的下载速度比较慢
Your site is slower to download compared to your competitors
你使用了动态URL
You have dynamic URLs
你没有网站地图
You don't have a site map
你的导航都是图片
Your navigation is image-based
你没有使用ALT标签或使用的ALT标签没有意义
You have no ALT tags or meaningless ALT tags
上面所列的是能影响你在Google上的排名的综合变量。但这并不是搜索引擎透露的会被粗心的或无知的WEB站点管理员所犯的全部错误 (例如, 此处没有提到框架和Flash 动画)。但这是一个好的开始。简单地诊断出问题所在对获得好的排名事半功倍，而且上述信息可以使用工具免费获得。这些工具不是基于web的就是浏览器软件的一个组成部分。
The above list represents an amalgamation of variables that can affect your positioning in Google. It does not represent the full list of search engine faux pas that can be committed by unwary or unknowing webmasters (e.g., frames and Flash are not mentioned here). It's a good start though. Simply diagnosing the problem is half the battle toward getting better rankings ,and all of the above information is freely available using tools that are either Web-based or part of your browser software.
Diagnostic Tools for Achieving a Better Ranking
问题：
Problems:
你的代码很乱
Your code is a mess
与你的实际文本相比，你有很多冗余代码（如嵌套的表格，JavaScript脚本）
You have a lot of code compared with actual text (e.g., nested tables, JavaScript)
Google查看网页的方式与你不同。Google只看到代码。大多数浏览器都有查看网页源代码的功能。例如，IE和Firefox都允许你单击右键“查看源文件”。在网页上的任意位置单击右键试试这个功能（避免将鼠标指针放在一个图像上）。
Google doesn't see your Web page the way you do. Google sees the code. Most browsers have a function that allows you to view the source code of the page at which you are looking. Internet Explorer and Firefox, for example, enable you to right click on the page and "view source." Pick a spot on any Web page and give it a try (make sure the mouse pointer isn't on an image).
不是很完美，不是吗? 代码很乱或过长会影响你的搜索排名。清除冗余代码的一个好的方法就是使用HTML 网页减肥工具（点击下载）, 如HTML Tidy（点击下载），一个开放源码的程序，由Dave Raggett 创建。HTML Tidy 可以清除由所见即所得的编辑器或不好的编码器（如myself）产生的冗余代码，并且是完全免费的。
Not too pretty, is it? Code that is messy or profuse can hinder your search positioning. A good way to clean it up is via HTML Tidy, an open source program created by Dave Raggett and available via download from Sourceforge.net (http://sourceforge.net/projects/tidy). HTML Tidy cleans up the code produced by WYSIWYG editors or poor coders (like myself), and it's completely free.
查看HTML 代码时，你同样希望能计算代码和实际文本的数量。搜索引擎如Google似乎非常重视HTML 文件中关键字的数量。如果你的文本隐藏在几百行的代码中，那么你与排名前列优化良好的网站相比将处于劣势。有很多方法可以做到这一点，首要的和最重要的是明智地选择编程语言。我不是一个程序员，所以我不能推荐用于SEO的最好的编程语言。我仅能提出这是一个问题，即你在分析你的网页进行SEO时需要考虑的一个问题。
When viewing HTML code you'll also want to evaluate the quantity of code versus actual text. Search engines like Google seem to put more weight on keywords the higher they are in the HTML document. If your text is buried under hundreds of lines of code, then you'll be at a disadvantage compared to the top-ranking and well-optimized websites that compete for your keyword. There are many ways to get around this; first and foremost is to choose your programming language wisely. I'm not a programmer, so I can't recommend the best programming language to use for SEO. I can only flag this as an issue, as it is something to consider when analyzing your Web page for SEO.
这是一个工具，可以模拟一个搜索蜘蛛在访问你的站点时所“看到”的东西：http://www.stargeek.com/crawler_sim.php。如果你输入你的网址时没有看到很多文本，则搜索引擎蜘蛛看到的也与你一样，是时候添加点内容了。
Here is a tool that simulates what a spider "sees" when it visits your site: http://www.stargeek.com/crawler_sim.php. If you're not seeing a lot of text when you enter your Web page's URL, then neither is the search engine spider. It's time to add some.
问题：
Problems:
你的关键字密度和你的竞争对手比太高
Your keyword density is high compared with your competitors
你的关键字堆叠
You're keyword stuffing
你的主页看起来像一个门页
Your home page looks like a doorway page
上面是三个相关的问题。如果你的关键字密度太高，Google会认为这是一个欺骗策略，称为“关键字堆叠”。同样地，Google可能会将一个关键字密度特高的网页视为门页。一个门页被Google清除是由于这个页面优化了许多的关键字而互相缺乏联系，或者根本就与对该站点的主题毫不相干。
The above three problems are related. If your keyword density is too high, Google may interpret this as a spam tactic called "keyword stuffing." Likewise, Google may interpret a page with very high keyword density as a doorway page. A doorway page sticks out to Google in that it is optimized for a number of terms that are only loosely connected, or not connected at all, to a site's main theme.
判断你的关键字密度是否太高，最好的方法就是使用一个关键字密度分析工具。我使用GoRank.com或者SEOChat.com的关键字密度工具来分析我优化的关键字在Google排名前10的网页。我通常计算出这些网页关键字密度的平均值，然后将其与我自己的网页进行比较。如果我的关键字密度比排名前十的网站高出许多，我将修改我的文本和标签（ALT, Title, Meta），并降低被怀疑的关键字出现的频率。
The best way to find out whether your keyword density is too high compared to your competitors is through a keyword density analyzer tool. I use GoRank.com or SEOChat.com's own keyword density tool to analyze the top ten ranking pages in Google for my desired keyword. I generally take an average of the keyword density of the top page and compare it to my own page. If my page is much higher than the top-ranked pages, I will revise the copy and tags (ALT, Title, Meta) and tone down the frequency of the keyword in question.
问题：
Problems:
你的反向链接比你的竞争对手少
You have fewer backlinks than your competitors
你的反向链接站点质量很差
You have poor link partners
你链接到一个非法的站点
You're linking to a site that's banned
你使用重复的反向链接文字
Your backlink text is repetitive
你的内容很久没有更新
You have no fresh content
诊断上述问题，Google是最好的工具。使用Google 的运算符号"link:"，你可以检查你的反向链接数量并评价链入你的网页的站点。使用"site:"运算符查看URL是否在Google的索引中，你可以识别其是否被Google惩罚。
Google is the best tool to use to diagnose the above problems. The Google "link:" operator allows you to check your backlinks and evaluate the sites that link to your page. You can tell whether Google has banned a site, if the URL is not in their index at all. Use the "site:" operator for this.
你或许知道你网站的内容是否新鲜，但是如果你想知道Google想什么，则可以点击“网页快照”查看Google最近一次访问你的网站时抓取的快照。如果是一个星期以前的，则表明Google已经对缺乏新鲜的内容失去兴趣。是时候添加一些新内容了。你也可以使用"cache:"运算符获得快照信息。这是Google运算符命令的完整列表，包括他们的含义和如何使用他们。你也可以下载并使用Google工具条来查看PR值和反向链接。
You probably know whether the content on your site is fresh or not, but if you want to know what Google thinks, then click on the "cache" link next to your listing to see the last time Google paid your site a visit. If it was over a week ago, Google got bored and wandered to greener content pastures. It's time to add some new content. You can also use the "cache:" operator to get cache information. Here's a complete list of Google's operator commands (what they mean and how to use them). You can also download and utilize the Google Toolbar to check PageRank and view your backlinks.
如果你有几千个反向链接，则Google仅显示少数的链接。这个问题的原因不是很确定，但是它确实反映了Google是如何根据链接广泛度和相关性来衡量引入链接的。根据这种理解，我推荐一个可以在线免费使用的链接广泛度（link popularity）工具。我最喜欢的几个链接广泛度工具是Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com，MarketLeap的Link Popularity Checker和SEOChat.com的链接广泛度工具。如果你有很多反向链接，则你很快就会厌烦不断检查内容相同的链接文字。我发现的这类最好的工具是SEO Elite，它不是免费的但是可以节省你的时间（时间就是金钱呀，朋友！）
Google may only show a handful of backlinks, when you have thousands. The reasons for this are not entirely certain, though it may have to do with how Google weighs each incoming link in terms of popularity and/or relevancy. With this in mind, I recommend using one of the free link popularity tools available online. A couple of my favorites include the link popularity tool on Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com, MarketLeap's Link Popularity Checker and SEOChat.com's own tool to evaluate link popularity. If you have a lot of backlinks it will quickly get tedious to try and read all the link text to check for duplicity in language. The best tool I've found to do this is SEO Elite, which isn't free but will save your hours of time (and time is money, folks!)
问题：
Problems:
你的内容与其他站点重复
You have duplicate content
与你的竞争对手相比，你的网站的下载速度比较慢
Your site is slower to download compared to your competitors
你使用了动态URL
You have dynamic URLs
你没有网站地图
You don't have a site map
你的导航都是图片
Your navigation is image-based
你没有使用ALT标签或使用的ALT标签没有意义
You have no ALT tags or meaningless ALT tags
面是可以使用下面的方法进行诊断的其他问题。检查重复内容的CopyScape （重复比例）或者在你要评估的网页上搜索一行具体的文字。Alexa.com 可以告诉你，相对于你优化的关键词，你的站点访问速度与竞争对手的比较速度。(假设你的站点已经在Alexa 数据库中)。你也许知道你的网站是否使用了动态URL，但是如果你不确定的话，则点击进入一个内部页面，并检查URKL中是否包含变量，如问号或等号。使用任何一种浏览器都可以查看你网站中任何一个网页的URL字符串。Google已经可以索引动态URL，但是如果URL字符串太长，或者变量特别多，则Google可能不会索引整个站点。不过如果动态URL对搜索引擎友好或者没有包含太多变量的话，则Google就会收录整个站点。
The above is a miscellaneous list of problems that can be diagnosed as follows. Check CopyScape for duplicate content or perform a search for an exact line of text on the page you are evaluating. Alexa.com will tell you how fast your website downloads compared with others competing for your key term (assuming you are in the Alexa database). You probably know whether your site uses dynamic URLs, but if you're not sure, click into an interior page and check for odd characters in the URL, such as question marks or equal signs. You can use any browser to see the URL string of a particular page in your site. Google has been indexing dynamic URLs, but if the string is particularly long and the variables particularly profuse, Google may not index the entire site as well as it would if the URLs are search engine friendly and/or do not contain as many variables.
网站地图是不言自明的，即列出你网站上所有页面链接的页面。如果你还没有网站地图，则建立一个网站地图，这样Google就可以很轻松地找到所有相关的页面。
A site map is self-explanatory. It's a page that lists links to all the pages of your site. If you don't have one, create one so that Google can find all of your relevant pages easily.
如果你使用图片作为站点导航而没有在ALT标签中使用有意义的文字，那么一个网站地图就显得特别重要了。Googlebot不能识别图片；它只能看到代码。如果你把鼠标放在一个图片导航上时没有显示文字，则表示该图片没有使用ALT标签。你也可以通过查看源代码来检查你图片是否使用了ALT标签。在图片中使用有意义的ALT标签可以增强可用性以及搜索引擎友好度（例如，人们在网速很慢或者关闭浏览器图片显示功能时，ALT标签就可以发挥作用。）然而，最好的方法还是使用基于文本的导航代替基于图片的导航。
If you use images for all of your navigation and don't assign meaningful ALT tags to them, a site map is especially critical. Googlebot can't read images; it just sees code. If you scroll over a navigation image and no text appears, it means that you have not assigned an ALT tag to that image. You can also view the source code and review your images that way. Assigning meaningful ALT tags to images helps with usability as well as search engine friendliness (for people with slow connections or browsers that have images turned off, for example), though the best case scenario is to use text-based navigation in place of image-based navigation.
结论
用于分析站点搜索引擎友好度的工具很多而且通常是免费的。本仅对现有的工具做了简单的介绍。你可以到论坛去看看专家们使用的是什么工具，并试用一下，以找到最适合你用的工具。正确诊断搜索引擎友好度是创造一个全面的、符合要求的搜索引擎优化战略的积木理论。毫无疑问，这将为你获得竞争优势。
The tools that are available to help you analyze your search engine friendliness are profuse and often free. This article just scrapes the surface of what's out there. Read forums to see what the experts use and try out the tools yourself to find your favorites. Proper diagnosis of search engine friendliness is the building block for creating a comprehensive, competent search engine optimization strategy that will definitely give you an edge over the competition.
切记，虽然从搜索引擎的角度对接近SEO很有帮助，但是你并不是为了搜索引擎而写作，而是为了你的访问者而写。因此，不要做得太过火了。
Keep in mind that while it is helpful to approach SEO from the search engine's perspective, you are not writing for the search engines. You are writing for your visitors. So don't overdo it.