As a Web designer, Webmaster and inhouse SEO/SEM, I was THRILLED when Google announced that its Webmaster Tools had added a “Linked From” feature. This new feature finally allowed Web site owners to find out which URLs were linking to “not found” pages on their site.
For example, let’s say you did a redesign and in the process, renamed some of your URLs. If another Web site was linking to your old URL and you move it or rename it, the link from that other site is now broken and you’re not getting credit for that link because the search engines aren’t finding anything when they follow that link. Booo!
How do we fix this? Well, for starters, I would suggest keeping the old URLs and creating a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new one. This preserves any ‘link juice’ your older URL had acquired and transfers it to the new one. It also prevents “Not Found” links from appearing in your Google Webmaster Tools > Diagnostics > Web Crawl > Not Found list because anyone still linking to the outdated URL will automatically be directed to the new one and you don’t have to do a thing.
The “Linked From” function was going to make my life, and the lives of many SEO/SEMs, much easier because it could save us the time of trying to find out who was linking to our “Not Found” URLs. Alas, you can imagine my supreme disappointment when I logged in to use the new feature and 95 percent of the time I get is this error message.
This kind of tool is invaluable to SEOs, especially inhouse SEOs, who are trying to make the most of their limited time and budgets. By identifying sites that have outdated links to our site, we can contact their Webmaster and provide the updated link, thus increasing our link juice. Of course, IF Google’s Webmaster Tools’ “Linked From” feature worked, it’d be even better.
I’ve been reading up on the history of the “nofollow” tag as well as countless blogs preaching both the pros and cons, trying to decide when best to use it, and if I should use it at all. I won’t bore you with the background of the nofollow attribute; if you really want to read about it check out Wikipedia’s entry (for the record, I added the nofollow tag to the previous link - take that Wikipedia!). In a nutshell, the nofollow tag is designed to instruct search engine (SE) robots/spiders to not follow a link that includes the tag, and to not allow the linked-to page to receive a boost in page rank because of the link. Essentially, you’re telling the SEs that while you are linking to a site, you don’t want that site’s ranking to be influenced by your link.
The nofollow tag was originally intended to reduce certain types of SE spam. Though a non-standard HTML attribute, all four major SE (Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask) support it, but interpret it differently. Again, if you want more details, click on the aforementioned link to Wikipedia.
So, should I use nofollow tags? Well, here’s what I’ve decided to do with my sites: I plan to use the nofollow tag for internal links to non-relevant (to my intended audience) pages such as the “terms of use” page, the “site map” page and the in some cases, the “about us” page. This use is encouraged by Google’s Matt Cutts, who is the co-creator of the nofollow tag. And, well, if Google says jump, we all say how high … uh, not so much. But, in this case, I agree.
I have no problem allowing the SE’s to count my link in the linked-to page’s ranking. I kind of thought that was the point of linking? You link to a page because it is relevant to the topic on which you are writing, so why would you want the SEs to ignore the relationship? For example, I write for a couple of Virginia Tech sports-related blogs because I’m a big Hokie fan (class of ‘97 baby!), so if I’m writing for the football site and I add a link to the box score found on another Web site, I wouldn’t want to use the nofollow tag on that link because the information on that linked-to page is relevant to my topic and I want the SEs to know it.
Now, I could see an example, though rare, in which you would want to add a nofollow to a site, that while relevant to your discussion or article, may contain content you find objectionable, or that you do not agree with. This is an extreme example, but say you are a new reporter, or you blog about race relations in the U.S., and you are writing about a hate site that posted a particularly offensive article - well, you may want your readers to see for themselves what you are objecting to, but you definitely don’t want the Web site’s ranking to be positively influenced by your link, so in that example (rare as it may be), I would certainly add a nofollow tag.
Please keep in mind, I’m not talking about the comments people leave on your blog or site. For example, SEOMoz.org automatically adds nofollow tags to all comments left on their site and I completely support that decision because it makes sense. You don’t want some SEO celebrity wannabe spamming your comments with links to his/her blog or Web site trying to build up their ranking from a credible and legit site like SEOMoz. The nofollow tag was intended to prevent this type of abuse, though the argument has been made by many SEOs that it isn’t working because Google misinterpreted the intent of spammers in that they don’t necessarily care as much about their site’s ranking as much as they care about blasting as many people as they can with their crap in the hopes that a few clueless individuals will actually click on their links.
OK - I’ve given my thoughts, what about yours? Am I way off? Am I missing something? Help me out here - it’s the only way we get better!
By Gary Cope
President
In an earlier CWI Connection, we showed you how to add your business to Google Local for free. To start off the new year, we want to help you get your business listed on yet another free service - Yahoo! Local. The term “Local” for both Google and Yahoo essentially refers to each search engine’s map search feature. For example, if I do a “find business” Google search for “coffee” in “pulaski va” the first result I get is Coffee Buy The Book at 10 W. Main Street in downtown Pulaski.
To see if your business is listed on Yahoo! Local, go to http://local.yahoo.com, enter your zip code and then search for your business. If it is not listed, go to http://listings.local.yahoo.com/csubmit/index.php and complete the form to submit your business to Yahoo! Local. This will help people find your business and it may improve your Web site’s SEO; assuming you have a Web site. If you have questions, e-mail me at gary@cwimedia.com.
By Gary Cope
President
Link building or link “campaigning” is vital to the success of your Web site. Whether you are running an e-commerce site (selling products online), want to drive traffic to your site to increase your profits from ad revenue, or you just want more people to see yoru site; you need to get quality links to your site from other Web sites that are related to yours.
How do you get those links? It takes time and patience. One of the best way to spread the news about your site is to get bloggers to link to your site. This means doing your research and finding the blogs related to your business. Then, you must develop a strategy for contacting them, whether it is a phone call (if you can find a phone number) or send them a well written e-mail. In most cases, it will be an e-mail.
Once you get in touch with them, either ask for a link to your site, or maybe they will even be willing to write a review about your business and/or services and post it on their blog. In return, you can provide a link back to their site - this is called reciprocal linking.
If you would like to learn more about link building, send an e-mail to gary@cwimedia.com.
By Gary Cope
President
Yes. You read correctly. Do you know who can hear your Web site? If not, you may be neglecting potential clients…who are visually impaired. Most of take for granted the ability to surf the Web and see all of the cool (and not so cool) Web sites on the World Wide Web. But the information superhighway is not exclusively for the sighted. Visually impaired Web surfers are out there and they have considerable spending power.
So, how do they “view” your Web site? Synthesized speech software reads the content of Web sites through a speaker, while Braille software outputs to a retractable display. There are several things you can do to make your site accessible to the visually impaired:
These changes are pretty easy to make and will help build good will among the growing number of visually impaired Web surfers. For more information, e-mail me at gary@cwimedia.com.
By Gary Cope
It boggles my mind that there are still businesses out there that do not have a Web site. That being said, I realize there are some businesses that are happy with their current client base and probably do not need a Web site. Case in point: my barber shop probably wouldn’t benefit from having a Web site - of course, having a Web site certainly wouldn’t hurt. But, they have been in business for decades and have a very loyal client base that keeps them busy.
If you are a new kid on the block, however, and you are looking to grow and promote your business, or you want to attract new customers, having a Web site is one of the most effective and affordable means of marketing yourself. Having a Web site allow you to control the information available about your business to the public, announce sales and specials, and provide detailed contact information so that potential clients can reach you. If you have thought about getting a Web site, but thought it was too expensive, call us at 540.522.1122, or send an e-mail to info@cwimedia.com to schedule a free Web site consultation.
By Gary Cope
President
Link building is one of the single most important ways to increase your organic search rankings. But anyone who has heard my shpiel on on link building knows that it’s about the quality of the links, not quantity. Having fewers links from highly trusted (by the search engines) sites counts for more than a thousand links from sketchy sites, which often times are link farms (a major SEO no-no!) If you can get a link from a .gov or .edu site, “that’s GOLD Jerry! Gold!” (Obscure Seinfeld reference…). So, how does one build links to one’s Web site? It takes a lot of time and effort to build quality links. First, you have to find trusted sites that are preferrably related to your business or industry. For example, if you belong to a professional membership that has a Web site, check to see if they will link to your site. And remember to offer to return the favor by adding a link to their site from yours (called reciprocal linking).
This process can be laborious and time-consuming, but if you want to increase your organic search rankings, it is well worth the time. However, if you are new to SEO, there are some other steps you’ll want to explore first before doing battle in the link-building arena. Some examples include doing your keyword research, making sure each page on your site has a unique and relavent page title (title tags), and include a site map. For more information about improving your site’s SEO, e-mail us at info@cwimedia.com.
By Gary Cope
President
As a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) professional, the most frequently asked question clients ask me is, “What is the most important thing I can do to make my Web site more search engine-friendly?” To which I respond, “The most important thing you can do is hire someone to do your SEO for you,” and then I go into my sales pitch for my company’s services…I keeeeed, I keeeeed!
To be honest, I actually encourage potential clients to try to do SEO on their own at first and then hire an outside firm if (more like when) they realize it requires more effort and time than they can afford to put into it. Most of our clients are Real Estate agents and Realtors who already work 12-14 hour days and don’t have the time to design their own print ads or do their own SEO, so they hire us.
I taught a course on the Basics of SEO to a group of real estate agents on June 1 and gave them a list of things they can probably do to get their Web sites going in the right direction SEOwise. Here are my top three
1) Title Tags - SEO professionals continuously debate just how important title tags (the title of this page you are reading “The Official Blog of CWI Media & Marketing”) are to a Web site’s search engine rankings; but we all agree that it is a must. Personally, like many other top SEO professionals, I feel that as a small business or organization with a limited marketing budget, it is the single most important thing you can do to improve your site’s SEO.
Here are some examples of bad title tags:
My Company Name
www.mycompanyname.com
Untitled
If you see any of those examples in the title tags of ANY of your site’s Web pages - fire whomever manages your Web site…well, that may be a bit harsh. Perhaps a good flogging would suffice!
Title tags are searchable, people! Check your Web stats … how many people search for your Web site name? If I’m looking for a company that sells widgets, I’m going to do a Web search for “buy widgets” or “who sells widgets?” I am not going to search for “www.yourcompanyname.com” to find widgets. Capiche?
Your title tags should tell visitors (both human and search engine robots) to your page what that page is about in 60 characters or less (some say 72). And every page of your site should have a unique and descriptive title.
2) Quality Links - Getting quality/reputable sites to link to your page is very important. It tells that search engine spiders/robots/crawlers that your site is considered legitimate by a reputable site. For example, if you a government Web site, such as the relocation page of a town Web site links to your business, that’s a quality link.
Just like anything in life quality is better than quantity (except when it comes to money). If fact, having too many links to and from less-than-reputable sites can actually hurt your search engine rankings. So be careful who you link to and be aware of who is linking to you. And if you’re not link building … what are you waiting for? Get out there and find those quality links!
3) Content - You have to provide great content that is reader friendly by both humans and robots. If you have the budget, hire a good writer to rewrite the content on your site. Also, don’t make visitors to your site work to get information. Don’t make them fill out forms to watch videos or view content. Don’t make them register to access portions of your site. These tactics are only alienating potential customers. If you don’t believe me, check the bounce rates of the pages where you make people fill out a form to access more of your site. I guarantee the bounce rate from those pages will be higher in most cases.
I’m not suggesting that you should completely do away with forms, because they do have their place. But, use them wisely and sparingly.
Give people content for free and they appreciate it. And if they have to choose between a company that gives them information for free and a company that makes them fill out a form; guess which business they will choose? Mmm hmm.
Conclusion
There are ton of things you can do on your own to improve your site’s SEO. Remember, every page is different and should have different content, title tags and meta data. No two snowflakes are the same and neither should any two Web pages.
Have more questions about SEO for your business? E-mail me at <a href=”mailto:gary@cwimedia.com” title=”E-mail Gary Cope”>gary@cwimedia.com</a>.