3 clues of what your site may be missing.

I have a buddy who once had a crush on a girl friend of mine. But in all honesty, he simply did not deserve her due to some bad decisions and a rough personal history. So I found myself trying to explain to him that to be with a girl of that caliber, he had to be the kind of man she would want to be with. He had to “deserve” her.

No, this is not a lesson on relationships. However, the idea of attracting website visitors is similar. In search engine optimization, and with our websites in general, we do things with the intent of deserving a good ranking. We use a number of methods to target a specific market and we seek for quality links to link back to our sites. But do our sites really deserve it? Do our sites really deserve to rank well? Unfortunately, we live in an age of entitlement, and all too often people think they deserve things without having to do the work to merit the prize. Sometimes we make bad site decisions, or sometimes we do nothing at all, and yet how many of us still entertain an expectation that we deserve better rankings, or that people should notice us?

Think about it for a minute or two, and forget about what matters most to the Search engines. What attracts you personally to a website? A need or a want of some kind? The design? Images? Usability? Obviously a good website will satisfy the individual in some way and entices them to return. So do we really care how poorly designed a website is as long as it satisfies our needs, offers a certain level of enjoyment, or does not require much effort on our part?

I am not advocating poorly designed sites. Search engines may not care specifically about what your site looks like on the surface, but people do. And perhaps this is where my concern comes to light. If we are not careful, we can get warped into a paradigm of search engine optimization which tends to optimize solely for search engines and not for the people who use them. So I think it is fair to ask whether our SEO efforts are as much for humans as they are for search engines. Maybe we blame the search engines or maybe we blame ourselves for the tunnel vision; but either way we are not going to deserve high conversion rates or a return on investment (ROI).

It is often easier to market a site through paid links, submitted links, and advertisements than to produce a well-optimized website that naturally attracts attention. But perhaps we create a false sense of “optimized security” when we run a PPC campaign, or a link building campaign. Are we merely trying to compensate for our site’s shortcomings by using superficial antics to build up links or paying to try and woo the good rankings? Sure, you can generate a lot of links and maybe even drive a lot of traffic but if those high bounce rate statistics are any indicator, your site likely needs some work to retain your audience and entice people to keep coming back.

So what is the solution? We should remember that SEO is not a dichotomy of search engines and site design. Nor should it be. Good site design is an inseparable part of SEO. So what can you do to help your site deserve more attention?

1)    Site Redesign or Facelift? Think Simple.

Does your site still look the same as it did 10 years ago? And if your site is not that old, does it look like a website from the 90s? A complete site redesign may not always be plausible for some businesses, but you should consider those things that can be done to give your site a modern digital facelift.

Making your site more “current” does not mean adding every bell and whistle known to modern Web technology. Small site upgrades done right can fit in naturally and go a long way to upgrade your online image. Just look at the DrudgeReport.com, it has had practically the same simple design for the past 10 years and it still receives droves of traffic in the millions. On the other hand, design changes done wrong can be quite noticeable, – have you ever seen someone with bad or overdone plastic surgery? Of course there are other factors that determine whether or not you receive traffic, but investing in your website design is a key part of the equation.

2)    Write Great Content

Why does great content on your site make a difference? It has been shown that a majority of people respond primarily to web site looks and visuals, but great content keeps your visitors coming back for more.  This might include such things as interesting articles, blogs, videos and other media.  Incorporate something unique and intriguing to make your site stand out.

Equally important to the type of content on the site is the manner in which it is presented. Is your content high quality? Does it offer something of value? Is your blog article readable and easy to understand, or full of grammatical errors?

3)    Establish Trust

Trust. You often hear this word a lot in regards to the online presence of websites. Establishing a good reputation requires hard work and a lot of time, and doing what is ethically necessary to make your website stand out as something exceptional and credible.  With the exception of a few lucky sites, the status quo might not cut it anymore.

On another note, get active in social networking. Get to know others in the business and your industry, and use social networking tools to promote your online presence.

I fail to understand how some people who have badly designed or outdated sites will pay for SEO services, but all they want to do is build links. I suppose if that works for them then so be it, but there is more to SEO than just link building. You can put as much makeup and cologne on a stinky rotten fish as you want, and link to it from a thousand locations; but a painted rotten fish with links is still a rotten fish.

Become the site that truly deserves the good ranking. What good is being number one on Google when no one wants to stay on your site because it stinks?

Does Your Website Deserve to be Ranked? is a post by SEO expert Jon Cuevas. For information about our SEO services or more great SEO tips and tricks, visit the SEO.com blog.

In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring(CMS) to rule them all, One Ring(CMS) to find them,
One Ring(CMS) to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

Recently I worked with a fellow employee on implementing SEO site optimizations for several clients. To our frustration, we found that the Content Management Systems (CMS) they were using never seemed to have passed SEO kindergarten. Obviously, every system has a certain learning curve involved but it was like trying to floss and brush the teeth of a cave troll.

While not all Content Management Systems serve the same purposes, many aspire to SEO greatness and do a fairly good job. But where is that one perfect, all-encompassing SEO Content Management System? Does one exist? Is it hiding somewhere in a reclusive programmer’s basement cave, waiting to emerge at the right time? Well now would be a pretty good time. If you are familiar with the Lord of the Rings, then you might agree that we need an SEO Sauron to create one CMS to rule them all.

A web Content Management System aims to provide a simple application wherein the average user can create and manage website content. Therefore, the CMS should be user friendly and make it easy for non-technical people to manage the web content. How many CMS offerings truly accomplish this? In addition, many claim to be SEO friendly, but how many actually could be considered as such, and what does that even mean?

In certain terms, any Content Management System that could be considered SEO friendly should allow for, and accommodate any changes necessary to make the site SEO compliant. Any CMS that prevents or lacks that ability falters in its search engine friendliness. Furthermore, the term SEO friendly CMS may be a bit misleading since there are so many facets to search engine optimization. A CMS may possess features which can appease certain SEO factors, and miss others, yet they often prove to be anything but friendly to use even for experienced users. Of course with the right skills and time one can usually customize things as they please.

Perhaps you have already found that one Content Management System to serve all your needs. Great. It is not my intent to promote any one CMS, or generate a specific list of recommendations at this time; but with SEO in mind, let us consider several ideas that may help when looking for a CMS:

a.    Built-in Management to Prevent Duplicate Page Content

I recently worked on a site using a particular Content Management System which used a template system that literally created multiple URLs for every page due to the various templates. Nothing was built-in to correct the problem.

This issue creates an SEO nightmare of duplicate content and possible duplicate URLs; not to mention the headaches when trying to implement fixes using redirects and base tags. It is like looking out the window and noticing tens of thousands of threatening, dirty orcs at your doorstep.

b.    Customized URL Structures/Redirects

The ability to customize or define your own URL name and structures is a must. In addition, many users are not familiar with mod_rewrite or similar redirect tools so it is nice when a CMS provides user friendly solutions for implementing redirects where needed.

1)    Do I Really Need a Content Management System?

Consider the purpose and goals for your website and maybe begin by asking some honest questions. Will you be updating the site content frequently, maybe more than once a month, at least? Are non-technical users going to be updating site content? Ask yourself, what do I really need? What can I do without?

You may discover after answering some of these questions that a Content Management System might not make sense. On the other hand, system preferences are generally relative to different business structures, goals, and markets, hence the choice of a certain CMS becomes very subjective, if not relative, to each individual. What one business website may require, another can do without. For example, a Wal-Mart site requires a completely different system than Joe Schmo’s Football Card Shack, based out of his garage.

2)    CMS Inherently Implements Good SEO Practices

A Content Management System designed with SEO in mind should cover the basics, by default: customizable titles, headings, and meta tags for individual pages, implementing correct tags in general, and allowing for them to be customized if necessary, among other basic things.

How many systems really provide common SEO friendly features out of the box? Many require add-on modules just to accommodate the numerous demands of an optimized site. With that said, “add-on modules” offer a great structure for anyone that does not desire a full-fledged solution, but would rather prefer to modify the system according to their needs. So when we discuss a one-and-all CMS solution, perhaps it is important to keep this “module” concept in mind.
At present, two of the biggest problems I have run across with several CMS based sites include the following:

3)    Blogging Functionality

Many, if not all, Content Management Systems I have come across support some type of blogging functionality. Search for something which enables you to setup a blog and also provides options to incorporate RSS and social media tools.

4)    Open-source or Proprietary?

While a proprietary CMS can be specifically tailored to any one site, keep in mind that any modifications you may need at a later time can be costly. You may not have the resources or ability to make the needed changes to the system once it has been implemented.

Open source systems generally can be found for free and they receive wide support from a large open source community. They also will often provide a number of modules and templates to accommodate your SEO needs and changes, including documentation that can be quite helpful.

In my experience, people tend to over complicate things, including websites.  I am not without fault here.  Why build a boat when you can simply swim across the water? Likewise with websites, why use an extremely robust Content Management System when something simple will do the job just as well and avoid all the overhead.

So if you conclude that you require a Content Management System, which one do you choose? It would be wise to research and find out what others generally have to say about a particular system; keeping in mind that everyone has their own opinions. But usually you can get a good feel for the features and overall issues that a CMS might have with SEO. You can then select several that seem to fit your purposes and try them out, if possible, to see if any make the cut.

So is there one CMS to rule them all? Perhaps I may be too neutral here, but I would suggest it is mostly subjective and that each CMS really is relative to each individual. Understand that not every CMS can be everything to everyone. One CMS might be everything to one person, while another works just as well for the needs of someone else. So with that said, I conclude with an invitation for others to share their CMS experiences. What CMS has worked, or not worked, for you and why?

Lord of the SEO Friendly CMS is a post by SEO expert Jon Cuevas. For information about our SEO services or more great SEO tips and tricks, visit the SEO.com blog.

The URL discussion has been absolutely beaten to a pulp regarding best practices for SEO and you will get varying opinions from different SEO companies. Are absolute URLs better for SEO than relative URLs? What is all the fuss about? I will get straight to the point. Relative URLs carry the same effectiveness as absolute URLs, and vice-versa. There is no difference regarding their impact with SEO. However, the general consensus suggests that absolute URLs are the accepted practice for SEO in place of relative links primarily on the basis that it is better to be safe than sorry. What reasons support this statement?

In its simplicity, a URL really is just an address to the location of a file on a server. When setting up URL links within a site, you can choose between two basic options: absolute URLs or relative.

Absolute URLs

Absolute URLs, as the name suggests, constitute a URL in its entirety.  It defines the complete, designated path to a website file. For example, this would be like using a complete street address to locate someone’s home. The person’s name, street address, city, state, zip code, and country, all direct you to a specific location. Therefore, it is important to understand that each URL should be entirely unique. While URL patterns can be similar, and duplicate content can occur on different pages, absolute URLs are distinct. To illustrate, consider the URL below:

http://mydomain.com/myfolder/mypage.html

The designated domain in the URL structure, mydomain.com, maps to an IP address, which in turn directs to a specific server on a network. This might be like providing the city, state, or country in a street address. Next, the   /myfolder/mypage.html portion of the URL details the rest of the path to the specific file location on the server. Again, we can compare this to the street address and zip code of a location. Therefore, this URL cannot point to one designated server location and path, and then also point to another server location simultaneously. This would be like an individual trying to use one address and be in two different places at once. Keep in mind that unethical and malicious means exist which can imitate URLs falsely, but that is for another discussion. The web server handles all the behind the scenes associations to locate the file on the server.

Let us consider the difference of a relative URL.

Relative

In a relative URL, the link is simply relative to the current document location. For example, the link below does not contain a full path by including the domain:

<a href=” /myfolder/mypage.html”>

The browser will construct this link with whatever “host,” or domain name has been passed in the page header. In other words, if you are on a page with the domain “www.cheapdomain.com,” the link would translate to

http://www.cheapdomain.com/myfolder/mypage.html

Relative links are convenient since they can easily accommodate domain changes, and are easy to implement. So what is the problem with relative links? In a perfect world nothing is wrong, but relative links, or URLs, can become ambiguous and no longer possess the same, definitive uniqueness involved with the use of an absolute URL. Consider the street address example once more. Imagine that you are only given the street address to find someone’s home, but you do not know the state, city, or zip code. How would you locate the house? Unless you are already in the correct state and city the address is ambiguous. It could be anywhere and you would be lost as to how to find the house.

Unfortunately, in an imperfect Internet world mistakes and weird things do occur. And relative links are no exception. Like the street address example, relative URLs run the risk of becoming incomplete links – lost and unable to find their intended location; incapable of asking for directions like the stereotypical male.

If you do opt for a relative URL setup, however, then highly consider implementing a base tag into the page headers of your website. For example:

<base href=”http://www.mydomain.com” />

A base tag will assure that all relative links on your site will resolve to the appropriate domain that you designate within the tag. Furthermore, since relative links can also be more susceptible to hijacking, and can be the cause of duplicate content, base tags will likewise help to safeguard against these issues.

So how does this choice of URL structure affect SEO? Is one better than the other or is it all just relative (no pun intended)? There does not seem to be any empirical evidence to support one usage or the other, or suggest that there is a definitive right way. Either work for SEO purposes, but again the consensus suggests absolute URLs as a good SEO practice on the basis of “just in case,” as it is better to be safe than sorry. As Google suggests, on the topic of “canonical” links, but applying to all links, “…we recommend using absolute links to minimize potential confusion or difficulties. If your document specifies a base link, any relative links will be relative to that base link.”

You don’t leave your doors unlocked at night, just in case someone does decide to break in. You don’t drive around without car or health insurance in case a random accident happens. Likewise with relative links, you may do everything right, but you cannot always count on external events or people. A certain ambiguity exists with relative links, which denotes uncertainty and doubt. Why not be certain and follow an absolute structure, “just in case.” It is better to be safe than sorry.

Absolute URLs – Better Safe Than Sorry? is a post by SEO expert Jon Cuevas. For information about our SEO services or more great SEO tips and tricks, visit the SEO.com blog.

When first introduced to the world of SEO, I began scouring the Internet for information to become familiar with current topics and ideas. I had a lot of questions. Some were impractical and merely amusing, like: “Is there an SEO God and do they really care about my PageRank?” “Why do bad rankings happen to good SEOs?” However, one question in particular interested me. It can be formulated in so many ways, but basically it translates into, “Who, or what, defines the rules for the SEO world?”

If you are familiar with the text of Ayn Rand’s classic Atlas Shrugged you may recognize the infamous question, “Who is John Galt?” This phrase carries a deeper meaning than that of a simple question but it also provides a subtle introduction to a heroic, yet elusive figure named John Galt. Suffice it to say, his labors and influence impact the world and society as a whole as he threatens to bring the “motor” of the world to a halt. So what does this have to do with Matt Cutts and SEO? I will expound upon this shortly.

During my online reading I continually encountered a name everywhere in statements like, “Matt Cutts said this,” “no, Matt Cutts says that,” and “we are waiting to hear what Matt Cutts says.” And as a newbie in the industry I wondered, “Who is Matt Cutts?” I would not endeavor to construct a profile on Mr. Cutts. Nor would I pretend for that matter, to answer all of the questions posed here. Who is Matt Cutts? Well, I can easily know what any Internet search will tell me. But oddly enough, asking this question triggered a comparison to Ayn Rand’s iconic phrase, and cultivated my earlier thoughts, “Who, or what, defines the rules for the SEO world? Does Mr. Cutts determine and control what is good SEO? Is he the motor of the SEO world?” You can draw your own comparisons here as well, but while this post may not be as instructional as it is inquisitive in nature, I would like to share several ideas concerning these questions.

Search Engines are the Key are They Not?

I know I am preaching to the choir, but obviously search engines determine page rankings through their algorithms. However, I wonder if said algorithms are really so simple anymore. We have the tendency to think that we feed the data into one end and receive a magic page score out the other. It seems that there is a lot more to it than that. Regardless, surely if we only knew Google’s algorithm, we could then perform excellent SEO based upon that knowledge, right? As great as this might sound, however, I guarantee the major search engines are not about to spill all their inner algorithm beans and guidelines. Does this mean we are left to swing in the dark only hoping to land a correct SEO hit every now and then? Not entirely.

We can acquire valuable SEO information from various sources. Individuals constantly strive to reverse engineer and piece together the puzzles of search engines. Through trial and error experimentations, and industry experts closely tied to algorithms themselves, we can discover further bits of information and insight into what search engines are looking for. You be the judge on what is credible and what is not.

And then we have Matt Cutts with an industry seemingly at his behest, throwing out SEO candy to eager ears awaiting further knowledge on how to improve their SEO efforts. In any case, I believe it is essential to learn all we can about the Search Engines and be able to adapt to the continual changes they present. Part of that process includes staying informed on present day topics.

Stay Current and Be Informed

I think it is safe to say that serious SEOs know what is happening in the industry today and not merely what happened yesterday. I confess that my browser is not set to auto refresh on Matt Cutts’s blog. Nor am I giddily awaiting his next revelation to clarify an aspect of SEO doctrine (no offense to anyone who might be). Regardless, whatever the methods, seeking out credible sources of SEO information to stay current is essential in understanding what works and what does not. One can then adapt accordingly using correct practices.

Use Good Time Tested Principles

Adherence to correct principles creates a foundation for success. We may not understand or know everything Search Engines might do to rank pages, yet we can exercise proven practices that we know to work. What exactly these principles consist of can be left for another discussion. Utilizing good and basic SEO principles can provide a foundation upon which to build. In this manner, as we incorporate other methods, we still have the confidence that at least the foundation is Search Engine friendly.

Will we ever be able to completely piece together the continually changing SEO puzzle? Perhaps not, and maybe we don’t really need to. But like the saying, “the hinge of a door that is constantly opened never rusts,” we cannot stop asking questions, searching for answers, and learning. Otherwise, one day we may come to find an SEO door rusted shut.

So who really determines the rules and directs the SEO world? Again I won’t pretend to answer, but if Matt Cutts announced that Google will penalize any site that doesn’t have “Google is the best” in the title, and “change your titles now,” I wonder how many would comply? And if one day Matt shrugs and says “I don’t know anymore,” what then? Does he or anyone else possess the influence to bring the SEO world to a halt?

Who is John Galt? I mean, who is Matt Cutts? is a post by SEO expert Jon Cuevas. For information about our SEO services or more great SEO tips and tricks, visit the SEO.com blog.

Looks can be deceiving. Have you ever seen a movie with a beautiful woman who turns out to be a less than beautiful on the inside? Something can look gorgeous on the surface, but underneath lies a complete mess. Websites are no different. How many websites visually display a superficial Hollywood makeover, but hide an absolute train wreck of code on the inside?

As a coder first and foremost, and now when considering SEO, I’ve come across many websites with great outward design and breathtaking visuals, and then cringe when I view the beastly page code. Flashy menus and buttons, unnecessary inline styling, abhorrent tables, and line after line of irrelevant code create a tangled disaster. Some might be tempted to think as long as the website looks good, why does it matter what goes on under the hood? Why should internal code design matter to SEO? A few simple ideas will help improve the inner SEO beauty of your site and address why CSS is important in your efforts. Perhaps we can first discuss what we call a little bit of a “weight problem.”

Clean Up Your Pages and Lose Some Weight

Statistics show that about 65% of Americans are overweight, and in terms of code diet, I fear that many of our websites are guilty of the same lifestyle. Website health suffers when gorged with unnecessary and insignificant code, saving the relevant content as a last priority. Well it’s time to lose some of that weight and clean up your act.

Remember, web crawlers and spiders crawl code and not pretty visuals. Imagine trying to climb a mountain by cutting through all the shrubbery, rock, and dense foliage instead of simply taking the trail. It would take much longer to reach your destination. Likewise, search engine spiders can do their job more efficiently when you establish a clean code path to your important content.

Think light

Clean up your web pages by using only pure html for content and moving all presentation related code to CSS. After all isn’t that what CSS is for?  Not only will the pages load faster, but light, clean code is easier for web spiders to crawl. After losing some pounds in code weight, what about the placement of content? CSS allows us to structure SEO friendly code without sacrificing presentation.

Content First

Unfortunately, in all the glim and glam of modern websites, actual, relevant content often takes the back seat to presentation within page code. We tend to place fancy menus and numerous other lines of code first and then finally get to the content. For example, take a look at the image displaying a nice standard page layout and then note what the code probably looks like underneath. The main content does not even show up until line 423. What does this say to Spiders about its importance? It must traverse numerous lines just to get there. Tables, in particular, can be a pain for web crawlers and take longer to search due to their structure. I’m an advocate of simply avoiding table use altogether.

Place the important content first within your code. Web crawlers scan pages left to right, top to bottom. Content placed closer to the beginning of code will be given a greater importance than content placed further down in the code. I know many are now thinking, “But if I change the order of my code, my nice web page will be out of order and look horrible!” Fortunately, CSS enables us to position our content and presentation wherever we want on the page. For example, say that we want our main, SEO rich content to show up near the bottom of our page, but we also want it to remain near the beginning of our code. We could simply place the content within a tag, and our CSS could position the element accordingly at the bottom.

CSS is an invaluable tool for both web design and SEO efforts. Through the proper use of html in cooperation with CSS, one can enjoy the best of both worlds, and maintain the surface beauty of a well designed site, whilst trimming the fat under the hood for optimal performance. Stay away from the superficial and give your website the “real” makeover it needs. Like the pretty girl in the movies, she and your website might be good to look at first, but the beast underneath can make your SEO life very unpleasant.

SEO and CSS: The Beauty, the Beast, and the Overweight is a post by SEO expert Jon Cuevas. For information about our SEO services or more great SEO tips and tricks, visit the SEO.com blog.