What Is Search Engine Optimization explained by Common Craft in collaboration with Search Engine Land.
All posts in SEO
File Naming Best Practices: Dashes vs Underscores
When naming file for use on your website, try to use all lowercase and dashes in the file name.
- Good: filename-using-lowercase-and-dashes.pdf
- Not so Good: Filename-Using-Lowercase-And-Dashes.pdf
There is nothing wrong with using upper case in file names – but using all lowercase is good for consistency and it looks much cleaner. Also “file-name.pdf” is different from “File-Name.pdf.”
Google treats dashes as spaces. So to a GoogleBot this file name “filename-using-lowercase-and-dashes.pdf” looks like “filename using lowercase and dashes.pdf”
and ” Filename-Using-Lowercase_And_Dashes.pdf” looks like “filenameusinglowercaseanddashes.pdf.”
Further Reading:
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-underscores-hyphens/6010/
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/dashes-vs-underscores/
Should I add nofollow to banner ads
If someone buys a text link from your website, should you add the nofollow tag so Google knows it’s a paid link? Answer = Yes!
Google +1 Your Website
+1 buttons let people who love your content recommend it on Google search
Link: http://www.google.com/webmasters/+1/button/
Create a custom +1 button
<!-- Place this tag in your head or just before your close body tag --> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js"></script> <!-- Place this tag where you want the +1 button to render --> <g:plusone size="medium"></g:plusone>
The +1 button comes in 4 sizes.
- Small – 15px
- Medium – 20px
- Standard 24px
- Tall – 60px
Improve your SEO by getting links from scrapers.
If you’re having a problem with site scrapers stealing your content, you now have a way to make sure search engines know you are the source of the post.
If you have Yoasts WordPress SEO Plugin installed http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordpress-seo/
Go to > Dashboard > SEO > RSS
Look for the box called “Content of your RSS Feed”
Content to put before each post in the feed:
You can enter %%BLOGLINK%% in this box. This will display a link to your site, with your site’s name as anchor text.
Content to put after each post:
You can enter %%POSTLINK%% + some custom text or simply include %%BLOGDESCLINK%% which will display a link to your site, with your site’s name and description as anchor text.
If you do not have WordPress SEO Installed you can use the solution by Blogstorm SEO
Find your feed-rss2.php file in the wp-includes folder and add the following code to line 39 (in WP 2.3.1). The code needs to be added just after where it says <!–?php the_content() ?–>
<p><a href=”<?php the_guid(); ?>”>Permalink + Comments</a></p>
More guidance on building high-quality sites
Google’s mindset, the questions below provide some guidance on how we’ve been looking at the issue:
- Would you trust the information presented in this article?
- Is this article written by an expert or enthusiast who knows the topic well, or is it more shallow in nature?
- Does the site have duplicate, overlapping, or redundant articles on the same or similar topics with slightly different keyword variations?
- Would you be comfortable giving your credit card information to this site?
- Does this article have spelling, stylistic, or factual errors?
- Are the topics driven by genuine interests of readers of the site, or does the site generate content by attempting to guess what might rank well in search engines?
- Does the article provide original content or information, original reporting, original research, or original analysis?
- Does the page provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results?
- How much quality control is done on content?
- Does the article describe both sides of a story?
- Is the site a recognized authority on its topic?
- Is the content mass-produced by or outsourced to a large number of creators, or spread across a large network of sites, so that individual pages or sites don’t get as much attention or care?
- Was the article edited well, or does it appear sloppy or hastily produced?
- For a health related query, would you trust information from this site?
- Would you recognize this site as an authoritative source when mentioned by name?
- Does this article provide a complete or comprehensive description of the topic?
- Does this article contain insightful analysis or interesting information that is beyond obvious?
- Is this the sort of page you’d want to bookmark, share with a friend, or recommend?
- Does this article have an excessive amount of ads that distract from or interfere with the main content?
- Would you expect to see this article in a printed magazine, encyclopedia or book?
- Are the articles short, unsubstantial, or otherwise lacking in helpful specifics?
- Are the pages produced with great care and attention to detail vs. less attention to detail?
- Would users complain when they see pages from this site?
WordPress SEO & Optimization Strategies
DESCRIPTION
Joost De Valk’s presentation on SEO and optimization strategies for your installation of WordPress. Check out the accompanying slides here.
Hein Behrens: Easier method add this to theme liquid replace current title tag:
{% ...
Laura E. Kelly: Somehow I came across your site and this info. It's very timely since ...
Declan O'Neill: Hi Adam, yes your email will stop working. The Bluehost support team h...
Adam H: Thanks for your easy walk through. Are you able to elaborate on "Don’t...
