I took the liberty of adjusting Joost de Valk’s Nofollow Display Greasemonkey script to highlight links on pages that use a nofollow Meta tag. As always, Joost’s tool is really great but it only shows nofollow links when the rel=”nofollow” attribute is used (skipping links that are nofollow due to the robots Meta nofollow tag).
Posts Tagged ‘SEO’
(Modified) Nofollow Greasemonkey Script
Friday, January 23rd, 2009How to 301 Redirect the Non-WWW to WWW
Saturday, January 3rd, 2009Tutorial: Redirecting non-WWW to WWW
I have seen a lot of clients get frustrated quickly after I tell them to set up a 301 Permanent Redirect from the non-WWW version of their website to the WWW version.
Example: Redirect http://domainname.com to http://www.domainname.com
It is important to note that this method only applies to servers running Apache. Be very careful when you change the .htaccess file because it can cause your entire site to fail with a simple typo. I recommend hiring an experienced web designer to do this for you.
First: open your .htaccess file. It should be in the root folder of your website (usually www). If it doesn’t exist, create a new file named .htaccess – that is the entire file name, so don’t add a .txt extension or add anything in front of the period.
Add the following lines (if there are already some code in the file, add these lines above them):
RewriteEngine onRewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^domainname\.comRewriteRule (.*) http://www.domainname.com/$1 [R=301,L]
REMEMBER: Be extremely careful, and make sure you know what you are doing. Depending on the structure of your website, adding these lines in the wrong place can break your website.
I am working on a large post explaining what the .htaccess file is and now to use 301 Permanent Redirects for many reasons – I will publish it as soon as possible.
Website Changes, Redesigns and SEO
Friday, January 2nd, 2009If you just made significant changes to your website design, or are thinking about giving your website a face lift/some major on-site SEO optimizations, you are probably wondering what kind of impact those changes will have on your search engine rankings.
Several of my SEO clients have seen some serious fluctuation after making major changes to the copy or structure of their website, and come to me asking, “Those changes are supposed to help my rankings – but I just dropped out of site! What’s going on?”
Watching search engine rankings decline after paying a bundle on SEO and web design changes can be painful, and you will likely see a temporary decrease in site traffic, but if you can stomach the temporary set-back, you will be better off for it in the long run.
Changing your website may temporarily hurt your rankings, but it will come out on top after some fluctuation.
If you see some fluctuation, don’t let it surprise you. Search engines are just re-evaluating the new content on your site – it has changed a lot since the last time they visited your site, and have to make sure that your site is still relevant to those keywords.
You’ll see some fluctuation – your website rankings will probably drop at first, then shoot up and down for a few weeks like a Californian seismograph, but in my experience, you can count on it coming out on top in the end – with much higher rankings than the website had before.
The good news: it won’t hurt for long. It will usually take between 30 and 60 days to see the improvement you are looking for, but think of what you’ve gained:
- You now have a SE-Optimized website, so you are going to see more traffic in the future for keywords on all of your pages.
- New content will be ready for search engines
- Your website is more user friendly and useful for your visitors
- The optimized content on your website will bring relevant traffic for a very long time – SEO has to be part of your long-term marketing strategy
Tips for redesigning your website without losing SEO value:
- Use 301 Permanent Redirects to redirect users who may be visiting the former pages on your site via bookmark links, old marketing material, or various links around the web. Redirect them to their new equivalents or to relevant pages. Using a 301 Permanent Redirect will preserve the SEO value of the former web pages, and channel them to the proper destination. Links and search engine rankings that pointed to old pages on your site will still be relevant, and the new pages will rank for the same keywords as the previous page did.
- Keep the content that worked for you. And throw out the rest. Keeping the content that your visitors (and search engines) liked will keep them coming, and will reduce the negative fluctuation that will follow the redesign.
- Take advantage of the redesign to do everything right. Make sure your title and meta tags are unique, look over your navigation structure, make sure you are using text links, and proper semantic XHTML structure to aid search engines in determining the structure and heirarchy of your website.
SEO Tips for Small Business Websites
Wednesday, July 16th, 2008
Simple techniques that will put you ahead of the competition.
Every day I help dozens of small businesses optimize their websites to improve their visibility and rankings on search engines, and every day, I ask one client to make many of the same changes as the last.
Small business websites generally face some major obstacles to ranking well on Google, and competition is rarely one of those obstacles – at least not in this stage in the game as most small business owners still seem oblivious to the potential in being ranked first in search engine rankings – of course, competition varies within industries (apologies to all the real estate agents that are reading this). In my experience, once these obstacles are out of the way, small business websites (for auto repair shops, day spas, shooting ranges, etc.) climb very quickly to the top spots on search engines.
So what does it take to step ahead of the competition?
1. Design it right – the first time
Small business websites have two inherent enemies: the owner, and his/her budget. I wish I had recorded (because I promise you’d be surprised) all the times I’ve heard:
I made this site myself with Dreamweaver/SiteBuilder/[an online tool] but it doesn’t seem to be appear in search engines
or
I can’t make the changes you asked for because the tool I built my website with doesn’t give me access to the HTML/my web designer says that those changes are just too hard (web designer is inadequate)
The best advice I can give (and as a web designer you’ll hear this from me again and again) is to find a professional web designer. Small business owners often either look for the cheapest, most affordable solution and sacrifice quality and the ability to test and improve their website, or they try to do it themselves, thinking that the FrontPage 2000 class they took in High School qualifies them to make the company website – besides, it saves money, right?
There are plenty of affordable web designers (no I’m not talking about the friend of your nephew’s girlfriend) that will work with you to make a website that reflects your brand, product, and customer base.
Don’t forget – websites are promotional. You wouldn’t pay for a cookie-cutter mailer or pay for billboards on roads with no traffic (see where I’m going with this?) - so don’t expect that using the cheapest/simplest web builder or template is going to be a smart investment.
When it comes to building a website, think in the long-run. A website that can’t be found is a waste of money; same with a website that doesn’t sell effectively. You shouldn’t have to pay a lot for a well-built website, but you’ll be paying more if it is built in a non search-engine-friendly way or in a way that doesn’t allow you or your designer to make changes to the HTML code on your site.
2. Use keywords
Please – include keywords on your site. The copy (text not contained in images) on your site is the only indicator that search engines have in determining what your site is about and what keywords it should rank for.
If your site doesn’t say “Plumber in Reno, NV” anywhere on your site, then it will never rank for that keyword.
When determining keywords to target, think of what you would type to find a similar service/company/product in your area. When you are searching for Pizza in Athens, GA, you will probably type something along the lines of “Pizza Athens GA” – this works with nearly every industry. The “[industry/category/product] [area]” keyword model is a good example to follow.
Where to place keywords: Once you have chosen a few keywords to target, use them in an intuitive, relevant way in your body copy. It shouldn’t be hard to include them if you talk about your area and industry right on your home page (which is the page you should focus on the most – none of those “Enter Here” pages that waste users’ time and tell search engines that your site is about “Enter Here”).
3. Avoid using Flash
As a designer, this has always been a difficult recommendation to make. I love Flash – I think it’s pretty, and it is also (especially the latest version) versatile, interactive, and makes for some great applications (see jooce.com). But until July 1, 2008 it has not been search-engine-friendly. Google just began indexing Flash, but its SEO value has yet to be tested and determined so my advice is still to only use Flash for logos, banners, and other small graphical calls to action that don’t need a lot of text.
4. Take advantage of title tags
You don’t have to be familiar with HTML to master this one (very) helpful technique: using title tags correctly. Title <title> tags are found towards the beginning of your HTML and all you have to worry about is the text between the opening <title> tag and the closing </title> tag.
Too many websites don’t take advantage of the SEO value that Title tags have to offer; they use titles like “Home,” their domain name, or their business name. I recently read a very good article that discusses using your business name in title tags – it is certainly worth re-thinking.
Research has shown – and the experts agree – that title tags are one of the most important factors that search engines take into account when they index your website.
How to use Title Tags correctly:
Do:
- Make the title tag on each page of your website unique
- Try to keep it under 65 characters (that is all that is visible on search engine results pages)
- Include keywords that are specific to the respective page, and describe the theme of the content on that page
Don’t:
- repeat keywords
- repeat the name of the page (instead of “About Us,” write “About [Company Name] – San Diego Dentist”)
- worry about fitting in every keyword you want to rank for – just add the most important one, or – if there is plenty of room and it makes sense – two
- forget that this is what users see in search engine results – so make it relevant for users (not just for search engines)
5. Promote your site
I am always surprised that my clients want to be found on Google, Yahoo!, and MSN, they are willing to pay me for it, but they haven’t spent the time to add their business profile on Google Local, Yahoo! Local, or MSN Local. Here are the links to these business profiles (this gets you on Maps and business directories for all three search engines:)
- Google Local – Gets you in local listings and Google Maps
- Yahoo! Local – Gets you in the Yahoo! business directory and maps
- Live Search (MSN) Local Listing Center – Adds your business to MSN Live maps
It is also helpful to add your business to these directories:
- Dmoz Open Directory Project – adds your site to hundreds of online directories.
- InLocal.com Local Business Directory – there is a free version, and the paid version gets you into over 70 directories.
- YellowPages.com
- SuperPages.com
This is Part I of the Web Design Guide for Small Businesses Series.
Note: Here is the PDF Version of this post: Web Design Guide – Part I: SEO Tips for Small Business Websites.
Branding Isn’t Dead
Wednesday, May 14th, 2008… it just can’t survive without SEO.
This is in response to Matt Ellsworth’s post Branding is Dead; Long Live SEO because his blog comments are either turned off or dysfunctional.
I completely agree with the huge (and rarely understood, at least by business owners) impact good SEO can have on business, but I disagree completely that branding is in any way dead, or dying. The fact that Google recently opened its Website Optimizer to all users proves that branding (a significant part of website optimization), not just SEO, will continue to play an important role in the future.
A significant part of website optimization is reducing the unease that many internet users still feel about giving out their personal information and giving out CC numbers; and what can beat the influence of a recognizable brand like Amazon or Walmart when shopping on the web?
Today, [finding products] is quite different. Looking to buy a new MP3 player in 2008? With a search engine, that’s about all you need to know. A search in Google for “mp3 player” brings up C|Net’s MP3 Buying Guide. After reading some reviews, you decide on a flash memory player and then on the Creative Zen 16GB. You might then check out the prices quoted on C|Net, or search for “Creative Zen 16GB” in Google, or in a price comparison engine like Google Product Search or Shopping.com. And you’ll likely end up getting the Zen from whichever store has the best price and seems trustworthy.
Branding still matters somewhat. After all, you might recognize the names “C|Net,” “Creative” and “Zen.” But you didn’t find them based on their brand; you found them via search. In fact, the branding that matters the most were those of the tools you used: Google, Google Product Search and Shopping.com.
Matt is forgetting (the coveted) brand recognition. The Creative Zen mp3 player is ideal for shoppers whose top priority is price, but nobody (speaking generally here) is thinking about buying a Creative Zen when they start shopping. Shoppers that want to buy a mp3 player, realistically, aren’t thinking of anything but an Ipod. Whether or not that is what they actually end up buying, Apple has the corner on brand recognition when it comes to mp3 players – like it or not.
What does that mean for SEO? More users are just going to search for ‘ipod’ than for ‘mp3 player’ because the brand is what first comes to mind when a user wants to buy a mp3 player.
Proof: compare 14,514 daily searches for mp3 player vs 52,518 daily searches for ipod source.
My last point: a good, well-researched brand beats out the competition. We have all resorted to the trusty back button after a Search Engine Results link has sent us to a poorly designed site that a Jr. High Schooler likely put together for free – and we ended up using another site that looks professional, trustworthy, and as expected.
Brand isn’t everything (and it isn’t going anywhere), but neither is SEO. The only way to compete online is to win at both.
