May

17

Transfer page rank with 301 redirect

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If you have created a new page and want to transfer the Page Rank of the old page to this new one, you must be in the lookout of some visitor or spider friendly method of doing it. Redirecting viewers from the old page to the new one is done best with the help of 301 Redirect. However, there are various other types of redirects that can serve the same purpose like 302, JavaScript, and Meta Refresh.

Why 301 Redirect?

If you are using a client-side meta-refresh or a JavaScript redirect, the search engine may mistakenly conclude that you are using doorway pages. This is because often the client-side redirects make use of doorway creators in order to feed one version of a page to the visitors and the other version to the search engine spider. In the case of a 302 Temporary Redirect, the Page Rank and other authority factors are not transferred to the new page. This is because the search engine assumes that after a certain period of time, the page will be returned to its original location. Therefore, “301” is the safest method to redirect old pages to new ones.

When to Use 301 Redirects?

In most cases, the “301 Redirect” is used by site owners to transfer their site from “non-www” version of the URL of the site to “www” version. Suppose, your site name is xyz.com. You need to use the 301 Redirect method to redirect the site name to www.xyz.com. This process is a must as it not only prevents 302 hijacking, but also blends the link popularity of the two and restricts duplicate content filter.

This is certainly not the only case when you require using the 301 Redirect method. Multi domains were secured to increase link popularity of certain domains and gain more traffic. But, the content in each of the domains remained the same. Since search engines are extremely sensitive to duplicate content, all of the sites can be booted and banned. The way out is to redirect all the spare domains to a single main domain using the 301 Redirect. This process has made securing more and more domain names easier, some even with the misspelled version of the site. In this way, if someone types in the wrong spelling in the browser, he/she will be automatically redirected to the main page.

You may even want to move certain articles from an old site to a new one. In this case you need to use a 301 Redirect on a per page basis. The 301 redirect method is considered ethical and white hat. Now that you know that 301 Redirect is the acceptable and best way to redirect files, pages and even domains, you may be curious to know how it works. Implementing a 301 Redirect is really easy and fast.

Technical Requirements for 301 Redirect in .htaccess

You require an Apache server and the .htaccess file. Most of the hosting services that you use has Apache server. The .htaccess file is important as the web checks for it after receiving request from a search engine spider. They add the Redirect to your server’s root command. If done improperly, it may result your site to fail totally, making it unreachable to the users. The 301 is the safest way to Redirect files and also preserve Page Ranks. When the next spidering occurs, the search engine robot obeys the rule that you indicated in .htaccess file. It is not that the search engine spiders actually read .htaccess files, but it identifies the response given by the server as valid.

How to Implement a 301 Redirect?

Redirecting pages become easier once you know the way to apply the .htaccess file. In order to use the .htaccess file, you need to open your FTP and login to the site. Search for the .htaccess file in the root web folder. In case there is no .htaccess file; you will have to create one. You can use a Notepad to create a .htaccess file. Make sure you insert a period before the file name and use no extensions. It should look like this – “.htaccess”

You need to create a code to make .htaccess work. Usually it reads like this:

Redirect Permanent / http://www.sitename.com/
Or

Redirect 301 / http://www.sitename.com/

Redirect Permanent or Redirect 301 tells the server to redirect the site permanently. The “/” indicates that everything in the site from top to bottom need to be redirected. In this process, all the present pages and links in the search engine results that are there for the old site, will be redirected to the top level of the current site.

In case you already have the .htaccess file on your server, check for the codes by opening it in any code editor or HTML editor like the TextPad. To redirect multiple domains to a single one, you need to first enter the URL of the unused domain, insert a space, and then type in the new domain URL. Make sure to save the .htaccess file in the root directory. Once it is saved, upload it on the server. To be sure that there has been no error in the codes, it is best to try it out by typing the URL of the old site. If you are redirected immediately to the new website address, you have successfully implemented 301 Redirect in .htaccess. If it shows error message in the page, you need to edit the .htaccess file again.

Redirecting Web Page in .htaccess

You may sometimes want to redirect a changed web page without altering the Page Rank of the old page. For this, you need to write a different code in the .htaccess file. It should be as follows:

Redirect 301 /old/old.htm http:/www.currentpath.com/new.htm

The original file name and path is represented by “/old/old.htm”. The file name and the new path are indicated by “http://www.currentpath.com/new.htm”. With this code, when the search engine visits your old web page, it will be automatically redirected to the new web page.

How to Avoid Errors?

The search engine indexes not only the site, but also the Page Rank. Transferring files from one site to another may cause you to lose traffic. It leaves the visitors of your site with the message: “Error 404 – File Not Found”. You may create a custom error page to avoid this, but even in that case, the Page Rank will be will be lost as the file will appear as non-existent during the next search engine update. Moreover, the viewers may also feel reluctant to search through the site to find relevant information. To avoid such a thing from happening, you require using the 301 Redirect method since it is both visitor and spider friendly.

In Brief - 301 Redirect in .htaccess

If you want to permanently relocate a page, file or domain to a new location, the 301 Redirect is the best method for it. Even though you can use a JavaScript redirect, a 302 Temporary Redirect or a client-side meta-refresh redirect for the purpose, they are not search engine friendly means. The above ways of redirection can not only hamper the Page Rank of your site, but can also have your site being banned by the duplicate content sensitive search engines. The 302 Redirect works on a temporary basis and the search engine does not transfer the authority factors and link popularity to the new location. This is because the search engines assume that the new page will be returned to its original location after some period of time as 302 Redirect works temporarily. Thus, when you want to permanently redirect new pages, files and domains to a new location, you require a method that will be search engine friendly and at the same time preserve your Page rank. This is when the 301 Redirect comes handy.

The three basic things needed for 301 Redirect in the .htaccess file are - an Apache server, the .htaccess file, and knowledge on how to use the file. The .htaccess file, also known to be the control file, permits changes in server configuration on a per-directory basis. The .htaccess file is located in the root web folder. To redirect your desired file or pages, you need to begin the code with the command “Redirect Permanent” or “Redirect 301”. In the .htaccess file, after placing the 301 Redirect command, you need to place the path of the old file, followed by the URL of the current location. By using 301 Redirect in the .htaccess file, you can transfer a file, page or the whole domain to a new location.

Among the various search engines, Google handles 301 Redirect best. Yahoo is yet to overcome some technical difficulties in this matter. Even though there are situations when the search engines lose 301 – related information, during major updates, but as far as redirection is concerned, the 301 Redirect method is the acceptable method by the search engines and so far the best one.

May

16

On Page Optimization - How to optimize your website for a certain keyword or phrase

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This guide will walk you through the process of optimising your website for your target word or phrase. There are various ways of doing this: -

  • - Meta tags
  • - Title Tag
  • - Body Text
  • - Headings
  • - Image alt text

Meta Tags

Meta tags were used extensively by search engines in order to rank websites in the results, but nowadays they have very little or zero power in determining your ranking. So why use them you might well ask. Well, usually the search engines display a short description of each web page listed in the results. If you enter a meta description tag then the search engines sometimes use this as the description displayed in the search engines result pages (SERPs). I personally would like to be able to enter a description for my site, rather than the search engine create one using the body text of my website.

Meta tags are placed in the <head></head> section of your web page. The two meta tags that are concerned with SEO are the meta description and meta keywords tags. You should try to enter your target word or phrase in the keywords and description meta tags.

The Title Tag

The title tag is a very important. Why? Because you only enter one title tag, and it’s quite short in length, so it can be deemed to be an accurate representation of what the web page topic is.

From an SEO perspective you should always enter your keyword as close to the beginning of the title tag as possible, this will give the keyword more ‘prominence’. You should also try to keep your title tag as short as possible, this will give each word in the title tag more ‘weight’.

Body Text

The actual content, or body text of your web page is an important factor of on-page optimization. To optimize your body text you should try to use your keyword frequently throughout so that it accounts for 4-5% of all of the words on your website. It is also a good idea to try to include your keyword in bold or italics to give additional weight to the keyword. You should also try to place your keyword as close to the beginning of your body text as possible, certainly in the first paragraph of text. Ideally your keyword will be the first word in your body text.

One important thing to remember is not to go overboard and mention your keyword every other word. This is known as keyword stuffing, and the search engines certainly don’t like this as it is seen as an attempt to spam and your site could actually be penalised, or even worse – banned! You should also never use text which is the same colour as the background of your web page (so that it is invisible or hidden), nor should you ever use tiny text, both of these can also be seen as an attempt to spam the search engine and could lead to a ban.

Headings

HTML headings, e.g. <h1>, <h2>, <h3> are important when it comes to on page optimization. The headings carry special weight with many search engines. The same rules apply to the headings as applies to the <title> tag: -

  • Ensure your keyword is present in the heading
  • Try to get your keyword as near the beginning of the heading as possible
  • Keep the heading as short as possible to ensure maximum weight is given to your keyword

It is generally good practice to only have one <h1> tag per page, so in some respects this is the most important heading to be optimized for your keyword.

A common mistake I see is that people use graphics for their headings – don’t! Sure they might look pretty, but they mean zip to the search engines – they can’t interpret graphics or read what they say. If you want to make your headings look more attractive then by all means use CSS to make the heading look more aesthetically pleasing, but do not use graphics, it’s a waste of an opportunity!


Image Alt Text

Image alt (alternate) text is an attribute of the HTML <img> tag. The alt text can be entered when creating an image: -

<img src=”ferrari.jpg” alt=”Ferrari sports car” />

It is used by text viewers (web browsers that only display text – no images) rather than displaying the image itself. So in the example above it will say “Ferrari sports car” rather than display the image. In case you’re wondering, a visually impaired person might use a text viewer when browsing the web.

It is important that if you have any images on your web page, that you include your keyword or phrase in the alt text of a few of the images.

Piecing It All Together

When doing keyword optimization it is important to maintain a balance between what is ‘optimized’ and what is ‘useful’. I’ve seen on many websites where the Webmaster has gone way over the top when optimizing the page for their keyword, that the content was incoherent drivel.

There is a tool in WebLink SEO, which is the software I use, which allows you to enter the URL of a web page, and the keyword(s) you would like to optimize that page for. It will then suggest different enhancements that can be made in order for your web page to be better optimized, including all of the optimization methods I have mentioned above. This makes the whole optimization task much quicker, and also takes the guesswork out of what needs to be done. I certainly recommend checking it out.

SEO

I hope this guide has helped you understand how to optimize your web page for a particular keyword

May

16

The Google Sandbox

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The Google Sandbox

One of the most common questions I get asked is ‘what is the Google sandbox?’ or ‘How can I get out of the sandbox?’, so in this guide I’ll aim to dispel some of the myths about what the Sandbox is, why it’s there, and how you get out of it.

What is the Google sandbox?

To begin with I must say that the Google sandbox is a ‘theory’. Google has never confirmed its existence, so until they do, it will remain a theory. The Google sandbox theory is extremely simple. Around February of 2004 Webmasters of new websites started to notice that their websites were not ranking well in the Google results for their targeted keywords, but they were seeing good results in Yahoo! and MSN, or they found that their site ranked well for a couple of weeks and were then dropped to the 8th page of the results.

The reason for Google doing this is not known for sure, but there are a couple of theories:

The first theory is that Google may delay the inclusion of brand-new websites to encourage Webmasters to build quality, content-based websites instead of building poor quality sites providing information that is available on countless other websites. The delay might encourage webmasters to focus on the content of their main website instead of building useless mini sites. So in essence, rather than the search engines being full of poor quality but heavily SEO’d (search engine optimized) websites, they would get a better quality of website prevailing for the more popular keywords.

The second, more under-handed theory is that Google makes most of it profits from its sponsored listings, so if your site gets relegated to the 8th page of Google, then the only way you can get listed is by paying for a sponsored listing. Obviously if Google sandboxes every new website, and a company has a large advertising budget then they will have no qualms paying 20p to get people to access their website. Since the Sandbox was introduced Google has announced record profits from its AdSense advertising program.
Regardless of the actual reason behind the introduction of the sandbox, it has had advantages and disadvatages. The advatage is for the users of Google; they can now be assured that for any popular keywords they enter, they will be seeing quality websites, not just websites that are good at search engine optimization. The disadvantage is for the search engine optimizers and producers of new websites as it means all their efforts will not be rewarded for eight months.

How do I know if I’m in the Sandbox?

Perhaps the easiest way is simply by looking at the age of your site. Most websites come out of the sandbox after 8 months or so, so if you have a website that more than a year old that is fully optimized and has a lot of quality backlinks and you are still listed on the 8th page of the results, then chances are your website is receiving some kind of penalty.

What can you do to get out of the sandbox?

If you have a new website, then you can expect that it will be fully listed within 6-8 months in Google from the time when Google first indexed your website. While you are waiting, don’t just sit a twidle your thumbs, add content to your web site, get good incoming links and make sure that your web pages are optimized for Google. But be careful not to over-optimize or you could end up doing more harm than good! See the Avoid Getting Banned tutorial to check you aren’t over optimizing your website.

In order to reduce your waiting time in the Sandbox, as soon as you have registered your domain name create a few temporary pages and link to it from a couple of other websitse to make Google index your website. The 6-8 month delay seems to start with Google’s first contact with your website. The sooner Google knows about your website, the sooner it will be listed.

Remember, Google isn’t the only search engine on the Internet, Yahoo and MSN don’t have such a delay so don’t focus all your efforts on Google alone but also optimize your web pages for these search engines.

Can you speed up the whole process?

It seems that there’s nothing or very little that can be done to speed up the sandbox process. Some webmasters advocate that getting inbound links that point to different web pages of your website ( not just to your index page) can speed your your time spent in the Sandbox. Others suggest trying to get quality links from .edu or .gov websites.

The sandbox is Google’s attempt to prevent spammers from creating web sites that are just after quick gains. Google aims to return high quality web sites with good content in its result pages. So while you’re waiting for your site to emerge you might as well spend your time productively; write good content for your website, and try to get good quality, one-way backlinks, and before you know it the 6-8months will be up.

May

12

Google’s ‘Anti Paid Link Campaign’

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While surfing the web, i found this at Matt Cutt’s Blog

Looks like google is hunting for paid text link sites. They are specifically looking for sites who buy paid links just to increase their PR.

Google now wants you to report them paid link sites so that they can probably stop the increase in PR due to that link or they might even not index your page.

Google may provide a special form for paid link reports at some point, but in the mean time, here’s a couple of ways that anyone can use to report paid links:- Sign in to Google’s webmaster console and use the authenticated spam report form, then include the word “paidlink” (all one word) in the text area of the spam report. If you use the authenticated form, you’ll need to sign in with a Google Account, but your report will carry more weight.
- Use the unauthenticated spam report form and make sure to include the word “paidlink” (all one word) in the text area of the spam report.

As far as the details, it can be pretty short. Something like “Example.com is selling links; here’s a page on example.com that demonstrates that” or “www.shadyseo.com is buying links. You can see the paid links on www.example.com/path/page.html” is all you need to mention.