10 htaccess Hacks Every SEO Should Know | There’s a lot that you can do with an htaccess file, and of course, things can get pretty advanced in a hurry. Here, we’re going to keep things pretty simple. These are the 10 basic htaccess hacks that every webmaster should know. 1. Use: The following htaccess code won’t help the initial pageload, but it will significantly help subsequent pageloads by sending 304 status when requested elements haven’t been modified. FileETag MTime SizeExpiresActive on ExpiresDefault "access plus x seconds" I generally set the cache for one day (86400 seconds). ExpiresByType image/gif "access plus x seconds"ExpiresByType text/css "access plus x seconds" Simple! 2. Use: I think this one is self explantatory. ErrorDocument 404 /notfound.html 3. Use: If you have permanently changed the URL structure on your site (via either optimization change or CMS migration), you will want to implement 301 redirects from the old URL to the new URL. The syntax for a basic 301 redirect is: 4. 5. Removed. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
How-To Optimize Title Tags: Title Tag Best Practices - SEO Basics at SEOCipher.com Most people familiar with search engine optimization know that Title tags are important page elements for rankings. All of the search engines consider them in their ranking calculation. Although Title tags might not be as important as they once were, it is still crucial that your Web site utilize them effectively. What is a Title tag? Within the Head section of a page the Title is contained between the open and close tags of the <title> element. The Title tag content, unlike other parts of the Head section, is viewable without having to open the source HTML of the page. If you view the source of the page, then you will see the following: <title>How-To Optimize Title Tags: Search Engine Optimization Tips - SEO Cipher</title> On your pages you should see an open and close Title tag with words in between them. How do I update Title tags? Length and Keyword Usage Guidelines In general, Title tags should be no more than 12 words in length. Example: You own a site that sells golf clubs.
50 Resources for Getting the Most Out of Google Analytics Google Analytics is a very useful free tool for tracking site statistics. For most users, however, it never becomes more than just a pretty interface with interesting graphs. The resources below will help anyone, from the beginner to those who have been using Google Analytics for some time, learn how to get the most out of this great tool. For Beginners The following list of links will help you get started with Google Analytics from setup to understanding what data is being presented by Google Analytics. How to Use Google Analytics for Beginners – Mahalo’s how-to guide for beginners. Tips & Tricks If you’re already fairly familiar with Google Analytics and you’re ready to dig deeper and learn more about how to make use of the information that is available to you with Google Analytics, this list of tips & tricks is for you. Plugins, Hacks & Additions Want to learn how to get even more out of and extend Google Analytics by extending it with third party plugins, additions and hacks?
How to Write Perfect Title, Description & Keyword Meta Tags How to Write Perfect Title, Description & Keyword Meta Tags for Top Search Engine Rank The incredibly simple techniques discussed below have made hundreds of clients extremely happy by bringing them top ranking for their most important search phrases at the top three search engines after we implemented the 8 items discussed below on their sites. Use them well and make your site rank highly in search engine results for your chosen search phrases & terms! If you have your site designed by a web development company, don’t be surprised if they leave out this critical step to online success. Make certain that they do these things for you (they will charge you additional for this) OR make certain to hire an SEO firm to consult with them before and during construction of your site to be certain that these basic building blocks of web success are included in the architecture of your web site. META tags should appear between <HEAD> and </HEAD> tags and those for this page look like this:
Google Analytics Plugins, Hacks and Tips Collection | FutureNow's GrokDotCom / Marketing Optimization Blog Google Analytics provides some great information about what is happening on your website. But what if you want to take it to the next level? Thanks to the many smart people who have created these wonderful hacks and plugins to get you some powerful additions to Google Analytics. (*post updated 6/18/09) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. Auto press the “Access Analytics” button, if it is displayed Remembers settings you set when you switch between profiles, and allows you to open another profile in a new tab quickly. 24. 25. 26. Please help me maintain this list as the one place to find all the Google Analytics plugins, hacks and tricks.
The Internet Marketing Handbook New to SEO? Need to polish up your knowledge? The Beginner's Guide to SEO has been read over 3 million times and provides comprehensive information you need to get on the road to professional quality Search Engine Optimization, or SEO. What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)? SEO is a marketing discipline focused on growing visibility in organic (non-paid) search engine results. SEO isn't just about building search engine-friendly websites. This guide is designed to describe all areas of SEO—from finding the terms and phrases (keywords) that generate traffic to your website, to making your site friendly to search engines, to building links and marketing the unique value of your site. Why does my website need SEO? The majority of web traffic is driven by the major commercial search engines, Google, Bing, and Yahoo!. Search engines are unique in that they provide targeted traffic—people looking for what you offer. Why can't the search engines figure out my site without SEO?
A quick word about Googlebombs Co-written with Ryan Moulton and Kendra Carattini We wanted to give a quick update about "Googlebombs." By improving our analysis of the link structure of the web, Google has begun minimizing the impact of many Googlebombs. Now we will typically return commentary, discussions, and articles about the Googlebombs instead. First off, let's back up and give some background. People have asked about how we feel about Googlebombs, and we have talked about them in the past. The next natural question to ask is "Why doesn't Google just edit these search results by hand?" Again, the impact of this new algorithm is very limited in scope and impact, but we hope that the affected queries are more relevant for searchers.
The Secret to Ranking at the Search Engines (that's really no se How I despise those awful, cheesy pages promoting the "secrets" of search engine optimization. How I loathe the slick salesman pictured in fuzzy, 1980's-style photography promising you "the hidden tactics SEOs don't wan't you to know." When most search folks think of the "ultimate secret" in SEO," they probably think about one of these: Keywords in the Title Tag Spiderable Links & Content Anchor Text in Links Links from Quality Websites Those are all good pieces of advice, and important to high rankings, but even the last one (links from quality websites) doesn't convey the most important part of successful ranking campaigns. Simple? Let's walk through a brief history of search engines to see how this happened: No, Hotbot Monster, back in the early days, you really weren't. All of this algorithmic evolution means that sites wishing to rank at the top of the engines must have high quality, naturally given, topically relevant links. Why are these Linkerati so powerful?
40 Title Tag SEO for Google Ranking Factors & Optimization Techniques + Resources A few months ago one of my clients has changed platforms. The new platform changed almost everything we’ve optimized on-site for years. It even messed up the obvious SEO basics like title tags and we’re struggling with them to this day as the platform maker insisted that title tags “get assigned automatically” in their system. While title tag optimization is the daily bread of every SEO, for many people, like software vendorscontent creatorsbusiness leaders title tags appear to be completely random and negligible. title tags won’t get even really seen by the average user so why bother with them at all? They forget that title tags get displayed in search results on Google and elsewhere and that it’s still one of the most important ranking factors for Google. There at least around 30 signals from the title tag alone if you ask me. Not all title tag optimization techniques are ranking factors for Google but they need to be implemented as well in a thorough on-site SEO campaign.