An SEO / Page Hierarchy Question...

[AutoEvo]

Sorry for the long posting but, I think it's important to understand the background and observation to understand my question on this one...

BackGround: Like anyone with a website, I want to get it as high as possible on the search findings without paying for advertising. I have a big website. So to help my sanity as well as the Xara program, I split it up and uploaded it to the sub-folder 'Ecu Remapping' [not sub-directory] of my host. All is OK. Also, when creating my website, I have what I call the top level [horizontal] menu for my site's clients and the sub level [vertical menu] for my sites clients all showing on the same webpage. If you look at the link provided http://www.auto-evolution.co.uk/auto..._cambridge.htm you'll see what I mean.

1st Observation: Let's say you're on the page above and decide to click on the 'Alloy Wheels' button. The URL at the top won't become http://www.auto-evolution.co.uk/auto...el_repairs.htm It will just change to www.auto-evolution.co.uk/alloy_wheel_repairs.htm

So the above shows that what I have placed as a sub menu, isn't actually a sub menu but is a menu that is on the same level as what I call my top level menu.

2nd Observation: If I do a search for 'auto evolution chip tuning'.. the 2nd returned result is auto-evolution.co.uk/ecu_remapping/chip_tuning_car_brands_m-z.htm but... if I search for 'auto evolution ecu remapping' then the above result doesn't appear at all... even though 'ecu remapping' [which is my sub-folder's name] for auto evolution is higher up the pecking order than 'chip tuning' is!

My Questions:

1 - within the navigation bar properties dialog box, if I double click on 'add menu' and publish that change, will that new button be a 1st [higher] level menu button or a 2nd [sub] level - the 2nd level being what I need for SEO purposes?

2 - It appears to me that for SEO purposes, sub folders are not taken into consideration [otherwise I'm sure I wouldn't have observed my 2nd observation above] so... does anyone know if sub domains are taken into account for seo purposes rather than sub folders?

3 - perhaps this might be a question for my host company I don't know... but, if you create a sub folder as I've done, once you've uploaded your files to that sub folder, can you then move those files to the main folder within your host so that every sublevel of your site is taken into account for seo purposes rather than it skipping a part [namely the subfolder itself]?

4 - I've just observed as I've been typing this that my 'main' horizontal menu buttons [home, about, repairs etc] aren't showing as navigation bars when I right click on them but, my 'sub' menu [the vertical ones] do show as navigation bars when I right click on them... how do I therefore convert my horizontal buttons into a navigation bar?

thanks all!
Autoevo

[pauland]

None of your button images have alt tags or a title, so the text on them is not readable by a SEO spider. That's an obvious thing to address. Your "Testimonial" button is mis-spelt.

I have never heard that sub-folders or hierarchy is a barrier to SEO, though shallower is better than deeper for navigation.

Site map?

SEO is also about far more than what is on your site, it's also about incoming, relevant links elsewhere that refer to your site and indicate it is important.

[AutoEvo]

None of your button images have alt tags or a title, so the text on them is not readable by a SEO spider. That's an obvious thing to address. Your "Testimonial" button is mis-spelt.

Thanks for this! You're the first person to spot that Testimonials was spelt wrong! I'm slowly working through adding tags and titles to all images... takes a while though!

I have never heard that sub-folders or hierarchy is a barrier to SEO, though shallower is better than deeper for navigation.

I agree. Shallower is better than deeper for navigation, but i've been informed and have read that it's the other way around for SEO...

Site map?

It is there... the program inserts it automatically when published... just that it doesn't visibly show on any of the pages.

SEO is also about far more than what is on your site, it's also about incoming, relevant links elsewhere that refer to your site and indicate it is important.

Very very true... I agree. I'm working on this too... it just takes a while and I've got to get the content and hierarchy right to maximise the SEO opportunity for this site.