SEO Problem: WWW vs. Non-WWW URLs

This blog entry was posted on March 9, 2011.

Many websites today still allow visitors to enter from either the www or the non-www version of their URL. As far as the search engines are concerned these are two different URLs, each with their own link popularity and different rankings on the search engines. This is a definite rankings killer that is easy to fix.

Test your own website. Go to your site and it will either be http://www.yourwebsite.com or it will be http://yourwebsite.com. Try and go to the other version by typing it into your address bar. It should automatically redirect back to the original version. If it doesn’t, you have a canonicalization problem.

This is easy to fix using a simple 301 redirect.

The search engines will treat these www vs. non-www versions as separate URLs. Each will likely have a different number of indexed pages, a different number of back links and possible a different Google PageRank.

The real problem that occurs is that your back links will sometimes be to www version and sometimes be to the non-www versions. This divides up your link juice and lowers your website’s overall rankings.

Did I mention that this is easy to fix?

1. If your website is on an Apache Linux web server, then add a redirect into the HTaccess file. More instructions
2. If your website is on a Windows IIs web server: More instructions
3. Add a 301 redirect into your ASP code: More instructions

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Why Strong Brands Naturally Attract Links

This blog entry was posted on March 7, 2011.

Building a strong brand that people can emotionally connect with is an important part of building your online reputation. But this has nothing to do with search engine rankings… right? A good brand has good visual imagery and emotional impact. It has top of mind awareness.

Strong brands attract passionate and loyal users. They attract customers and even make it easier to recruit top talent. Top brands attract media attention. A top brand can be defined as a popular and prestigious brand. A strong brand attracts a community that interacts with it.

People are drawn to a simple and straight forward brand promise. When a brand lives up to or exceeds those promises, people are drawn to that brand. They will also reach out and recommend it to others. In today’s world, much of this word of mouth marketing is taking place in social media. As people discuss and talk about brands, linking is a natural outcome.

As you build your online reputation, you will find that your website is naturally attracting links. People will link to sites that they are aware of and interact with. The search engines and particularly Google, determines your online value based on the number of websites that link back to you.

As your website attracts links, it is naturally pushed up in importance in the search engine rankings.

SEO may not be a business’s motivation for creating a strong brand. But excellent search engine rankings are a natural outcome.

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Is Having 22,000 Site Wide Links Good or Bad?

This blog entry was posted on March 5, 2011.

You can buy your way onto some large websites and get links from every page on their site. These site wide links, do they help or hurt? How much ranking power can you expect when you have 22,000 links from a single Domain? Will this create a penalty from Google and cost me every ranking that I had earned?

Site wide links are where a link from every page in website A links to website B. Usually these are footer or sidebar links. These can also be blogroll links where every blog page links back to a recommended and trusted blog.

Will Google count these as 22,000 separate links and give you great rankings? Realistically these site links will be greatly depreciated and count as a single link. Site wide links are not going to be the breakthrough strategy to get top rankings, but at the same time they won’t be a ranking killer.

There are times that site wide links are normal and relevant link. This could be between a parent and subsidiary company websites. Blogrolls are normal links to blogs that are respected. Web design companies will frequently place site wide links on websites they design. None of these are sinister or something that would trigger a Google penalty.

Opinions vary about how much “link power” you will gain from site links, but estimates vary from being counted as a single link to getting as many as 5-10 links.

The best links are individual content links that link deep into the pages of your website.

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Filed under: Link Popularity

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How To SEO Secure HTTPS Pages

This blog entry was posted on March 3, 2011.

Have a website that is created in the secure protocol? Are you wondering whether you can optimize these pages? Secure https pages can be optimized like any other web pages. A web page that is “https” is just the encrypted version.

Paypal is an example of a high ranking https website. It ranks well for terms like “pay online”, “pay for goods” or “send money”

HTTPS (HyperText Transfer Protocol with Secure Sockets Layer) allows encrypted information to be transferred over the web. Https can be optimized with good results and even your analytics should work just fine. https pages are indexed easily by Google, and the content should be treated as normal.

Having an all https website may limit visitor access. Some mobile devices are unable to access https pages.

So what are the special things you need to keep in mind when optimizing these pages?

1. Page Load Speed: Https is very server intensive and this can greatly affect page load time. Slow loading pages will affect Google rankings. You need to make sure the website is hosted on a high performance server. Minimize image sizes and other files that could slow down page loading.
2. URL Canonicalization: http and https are treated as completely different sites by the search engines. This is just like the www and non-www versions. Be sure and set-up a 301 redirects from the http to the https versions of the site. Many times incoming links from external websites are mistakenly entered as http, the redirect will save this link.
3. XML Sitemaps: Use the https version of the URL in the sitemap for the secure pages. Some sitemap generators are not able to parse https pages.
4. Robot.txt must be placed within the https protocol in order to work. The same applies to images, iframes, etc.

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The Art of Messaging: What does Your Website Say About You?

This blog entry was posted on March 1, 2011.

Website messaging is about crafting a message that quickly and accurately communicates your value proposition. When someone arrives to your website and scans your home page, do they understand your business? Your website content is a direct reflection of your company. Do they understand what you offer?

1. Headings: The headings and sub-headings should communicate the essence of your message. They should be compelling and be able to be understood by the web surfer that arrives and gives your page the once over. After all, they just want to know: Am I in the right place? Use your headlines to grab attention and encapsulate your message.
2. Focus on them: Your website should be about solving your visitor’s problem. Don’t talk about your business and what you have accomplished. Instead of talking how great you are, talk about the solution to their pain or need. Save discussions about your company for the “About-Us” page.
3. Use Keywords: These are the phrases that people search with. By using the most common search phrases in your prominent content, visitors know they came to the right place. Keywords not only help get your website ranked on Google, it helps with your messaging.
4. What’s in it for me? People search for products that solve a problem. How will your visitor benefit from what you offer? People really care about what is in it for them. If it doesn’t make their life better, why would they buy it? The idea is create the “I have to have this feeling.”
5. Grammar: The visitor will judge your business by your website. Your content is a reflection of the quality of the products and services you offer. Spelling and grammar mistakes create a low quality perception of your company.

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Filed under: Internet Marketing

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