Every now and then I like to do quick site reviews for search engine optimization. Most sites suffer from the same problems — lack of semantic structure, poor information architecture and using images in place of text-based titles.

CardroomSupply is a perfect example of one such site. They were thinking about redesigning their site and paid Sitening to do a quick site review for them.

The first thing I did was run their site through our SEO Analyzer tool. They ended up with a score of 45 out of 100.

The most notable problem was an absence of semantic structure. For example, their code was missing header elements (e.g. H1, h2, etc…). Headers provide semantic structure and meaning to web pages, and search engines, like Google, give preferential treatment to web design that use headers properly.

The second problem I found was that they were using nested tables. Nested tables are often used to improperly control the layout of a web page, and are no longer used in modern web design. All layouts should be controlled by CSS. Furthermore, nested tables can break up the semantic order of a web page, and also unnecessarily increase the page size.

The remaining issues included the use of images for titles and an information architecture that could be more robust. Overall, the site is easy to use and navigate, but it has a lot of room for improvement in regards to search engine optimization.