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Archive for the ‘Search Engine Optimisation’ Category

URLs and keywords: caution

Monday, December 26th, 2011

Something you should do when beginning search engine optimisation is to look at your URLs. This prime area for keywords is often a problem area for sites just starting to look at SEO, with convoluted paths or odd page protocols blocking the search engines’ way. As any experienced webmaster knows, though, inserting keywords into URLs can be a tricky business. Here are some of the things you need to watch out for.

*Moving too swiftly. Site architecture can be a fragile thing, so it’s always a good idea to move cautiously. When switching URLs, be sure to work testing time into your schedule. This will enable you to track down any problems the shift might create.

*Canonicalisation. After changing the URLs, it’s important to check back for canonicalisation issues. Duplicate page paths can easily slip through the net, watering down the page’s rankings and bringing up potential duplicate content problems. You can discuss this issue with us at SEO Consult Australia.

*Begin at the beginning. Your best move with implanting keywords in your URLs is to do it with new pages. If it’s going to take forever to seed keywords into the URLs of your 10,000 pages, consider simply adding keywords to your page naming protocols.

Are the keywords worth it? Google’s Matt Cutts has said that Google does pay attention, though he did try to point site owners to whatever worked for them naturally. The consensus among SEOs is that yes, this is a good move to make. Talk to us at SEO Consult Australia about this issue.

Tags: Search Engine Optimisation, SEO, SEO Consult Australia
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How to ruin your link bait’s chances of success

Tuesday, December 20th, 2011

Got some great link bait ideas? Want them to work? Here’s what not to do when you want your site’s content to draw links for your search engine optimization plan.

*Judge your audience wrongly. There are plenty of web masters and quite a few SEOs who support the ‘controversial is good’ link bait method. One way to turn link bait into link repellent, though, is to misjudge your audience. Get your angle slightly wrong, and you can put people off ever visiting your site. This is why it’s a good idea to think deeply before jumping into risky link bait. You can talk to our experts at SEO Consult Australia about this.

*Let technical faults thrive. High-quality sites aren’t likely to link to pages that seem a little rickety. Although it’s possible to attract a few links even when your page is less-than functional, allowing technical faults to remain on your pages can endanger the link itself. Also, any internet user that clicks through to find a 404 Not Found message isn’t likely to come back.

*Doing the old bait-and-switch… or anything that looks like a switch. Directing traffic to a page with content that doesn’t fit the link’s keywords is a bad idea. Not only does it look a little spammy, potentially causing problems with the search engines, your link targets aren’t likely to be impressed.

*Staying behind the times. Finally, a very common problem with link bait isn’t technical, but philosophical. You can’t successfully bait links with old ideas. Aim for the new and fresh to succeed.

Tags: Search Engine Optimization, SEO, SEO Consult Australia
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