Search Engine Optimisation Tips

Madlib Spam - SEO Tip December 2009

Madlib spam is a web page or web pages written purely for the Search Engines . These pages work as Doorway or Entrance pages to the website . A typical example of Madlib Spam is a web site which has duplicated pages the only difference being the name of town which is being mentioned eg Chimney sweep in Bury St Edmunds, Chimney sweep in Ipswich etc. Google Webmaster Guidelines clearly says :

• Don't create multiple pages, with substantially duplicate content
• Avoid "doorway" pages created just for search engines,

Unfortunately Madlib Spam does work, to a degree anyway, though why compromise your website by adopting an SEO strategy which is SEO No No as clearly pointed out by Google.

Search Engine Tip (December 2009)

Site maps are used to assist the visitor in navigating your web site. XML sitemaps are submitted to Google to assist them in spidering your website. This post has a different use for a site map !! Try using a site map generator on a competitor website as it can be very useful and provide insight into their search engine strategy. Firstly you will see clearly how many pages there are plus the Title Tag strategy which is very valuable especially if the competitor has higher rangings than you . The site might look like a site with less than 20 pages and could well turn out to have 100 pages or more, the extra pages written clearly for the search engines . Personally I doubt this strategy is effective or worthwhile, there might be temporary boosts in Search Engine positioning but in my opinion Google will soon work out what's going on. You can get a free Site Map Generator at www.xml-sitemaps.com and simply add the domain. Reported results will follow any you need to check out the HTML version. This free version only tracks up to 500 pages, but should be ok for the majority of websites

Search Engine Facts (December 2009)

When you check search phrases ,  (key phrases) using Google, don't assume that the ranks you see for your site are the same as what your customers are seeing. To turn off personalised search, opt out, or add the tag &pws=0 to the end of the Google page URL.

To explain , take a search phrase like "email marketing services in Suffolk" you will receive a set of results which will be influenced by your search preferences over the last 180 days of your search activity. This is great when researching products BUT if this just an exercise to see how your own search phrases are performing then you need to add  "&pws=0" without the quotes at the end of the search url . The interpretation of this is simply "and turn personalised web search off.

Search Engine Facts (December 2009)

Percentage of U.S. searches among leading search engine provider for November 2009

• Google.com 70.60%

• Yahoo.com 16.14%

• Bing.com 9.57%

• Ask.com 2.62%

SEO Tip (December 2009)

Looking to add to your Google listings , try to achieve a double listing. The second listing is indented . The approach is to create a second page which has the same keyword phrases though the text is completely different together with differing title & heading tags. With a double listing especially in the top 10 of Google you increase the space you have plus start to block out your competition

SEO Tip (December 2009)

If you are concerned about your search engine positioning and that Google might have "sandboxed" ( removed ) your site from its listings just try this . Type in cache:www.yoursite.co.uk into the Google search box .
If your results appear your site is ok and ready for SEO work to improve your rankings

SEO Tip (November 2009)

Several Customers have made contact asking if we know about BT Customer Street - Its a BT company so it should be credible ???? They offer SEO services with unbelievable claims which from our experience they probably are . The sales technique is high pressure and we urge you to Google search BT Customer Street before committing your hard earned monies . Here is just one link you have to read http://www.btcomplaint.com/2009/01/bt-customerstreet.html . The BT Customer website has a blog which hasn't been updated for over a year and some of the testimonials are incredible , one in particular claimed a top placement in Google , Yahoo  Msn, within 4 days !

BT Customer Street relies on cold calling and with this type of telephone selling remember to NEVER give out your card details over the phone to cold callers. If the deal sounds interesting ask for a web address + an email explaining the services and check out the terms and conditions before parting with monies - Incidentally the T&C for this company is 18 pages long . Last but not least Google the company and see what entries there are

SEO Tip - Directory registration (November 2009)

Submit your site to Hot Frog . This is a UK based directory offering a free entry - apart from the potential of visitor hits direct from Hot Frog you might get a boost on your own SEO rankings as Hot Frog has a credible page rank and this will help in your offsite search engine optimisation programme . You can monitor your visits from Hot Frog using Google Analytics under the section Traffic Sources , Referring Sites - If you haven't got Google Analytics set up for your web site you are missing out on the best web analytic programme on the web , and its free -  If you need any assistance with Google Analytics just contact us . Hot Frog link

SEO Tip - Google Search (November 2009)

When checking on your site's ranking in Google make sure you are logged out of your Google account - eg Google Mail . If you dont you are likely to receive "personalised" results . Your positioning is likely to be much higher than it is in real life

CuteRank Website Ranking Checker (SEO) November 2009

We like this one, although keyword positioning in the search engines is important , don't get too hung up about it as in the end its what visitor hits you get and a great number 1 position for a keyword with no clicks is of no use . CuteRank is free and the licence covers one web site - what are you waiting for
Download Rank Checker

SEO Tip - Siloing (November 2009)

Siloing is now an accepted SEO (Search engine optimisation) jargon and based on Silos as used in agriculture – In simple terms Silos will store wheat or barley but not both in the same bin, this is the concept of Siloing – Think of a silo as theme, sector, group, page or whatever. 
full article on siloing

Computer Tip (November 2009)

Computer slow ? Check your broadband speed - Click here to check your speed

SEO Tip - Hyphens or Underscores in web pages (SEO) November 2009

Example: Is www.designaweb.biz/search-engine-optimisation.html more search engine friendly than www.designaweb.biz/search_engine_optimisation.html

For the answer, read Matt Cutts Blog: - its an old entry but still relevant today
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/dashes-vs-underscore

Google Caffeine roll out due soon (SEO) November 2009

By all accounts Google Caffeine has completed its beta testing and will be rolled out by data centre by data centre  in the coming months. Organic search positions will no doubt change  with no guarantees that existing rankings will be maintained. If you adopt current best practices you should be ok though if your site does need a check over please call us on 01359 231739  to discuss or visit our SEO Search Engine Optimisation page

SEO Tip - Has your page been indexed by Google ? (SEO) November 2009

If you want to check if a single Web page of your site has been indexed by Google go to Google.com and enter the "info:" command with your Web page URL, for example info:www.designaweb.biz/blog.html

 If your Web page is in the Google index, Google will show you to show the cached version of the page,

How many pages of your site are indexed by Google ? (SEO) November 2009

Simple to find out just Google search " site:www.yoursite.co.uk " without the quotes

Search Engine Optimisation  ( SEO) - October 2009

A client sent this in 8 years ago - It was relevant then and still is - Its well worth reading

In the beginning there was a website... . . . . . and the Marketing manager looked at the web site and liked what she had created! Proud of her creation and the hard work of the web site developers the web site was shown to the Managing Director, the Managing Director looked at the web site and also liked what he saw!

The web site was uploaded with much ceremony and great rejoicing, the whole company and even a few customers saw the web site, all agreed that this was a wonderful web site. And there the web site was

 . . . . . and in three months the web site was still looking good, the Marketing Manager was still proud of her creation.

. . . . . . And after a year a great meeting of the board was held and a share holder said "I have seen the web site and I can see that it is a wonderful creation, please Marketing Manager tell me how many new customers this has brought to our company? for surely there must be a multitude of new wealth from such a wonderful web site"

. . . . . And the Marketing Manager looked at the share holder and she looked at the Managing Director and she looked at the wonderful website and she realised that no new customers had been brought to the company by the web site. But why was this the case? everyone agreed this was a wonderful web site

. . . . . and the shareholder said, "Marketing Manager I am happy with your work for our web site, it is a wonderful creation 

. . . . . but when I heard about our new web site I did not know its address, I looked on the internet for our site but I could not find it

 . . . . . I looked in the search engines but I could not find it

. . . . . I wonder Marketing Manager what is the point of our wonderful web site when no-one can find it?"

Although its light hearted, the message is clear, Designaweb will make sure your web site can be seen - Why not contact us to see what SEO Search engine Optimisation services we can offer you - A good start is our  FREE OFFER just  pick up the phone 01359 231739