7 Easy Steps to On-Page Optimization

What Is Robots.txt?

Robots.txt

It is great when search engines frequently visit your site and index your content but often there are cases when indexing parts of your online content is not what you want. For instance, if you have two versions of a page (one for viewing in the browser and one for printing), you'd rather have the printing version excluded from crawling, otherwise you risk being imposed a duplicate content penalty. Also, if you happen to have sensitive data on your site that you do not want the world to see, you will also prefer that search engines do not index these pages (although in this case the only sure way for not indexing sensitive data is to keep it offline on a separate machine). Additionally, if you want to save some bandwidth by excluding images, stylesheets and javascript from indexing, you also need a way to tell spiders to keep away from these items.

One way to tell search engines which files and folders on your Web site to avoid is with the use of the Robots metatag. But since not all search engines read metatags, the Robots matatag can simply go unnoticed. A better way to inform search engines about your will is to use a robots.txt file.

What Is Robots.txt?

Robots.txt is a text (not html) file you put on your site to tell search robots which pages you would like them not to visit. Robots.txt is by no means mandatory for search engines but generally search engines obey what they are asked not to do. It is important to clarify that robots.txt is not a way from preventing search engines from crawling your site (i.e. it is not a firewall, or a kind of password protection) and the fact that you put a robots.txt file is something like putting a note “Please, do not enter” on an unlocked door – e.g. you cannot prevent thieves from coming in but the good guys will not open to door and enter. That is why we say that if you have really sen sitive data, it is too naïve to rely on robots.txt to protect it from being indexed and displayed in search results.

The location of robots.txt is very important. It must be in the main directory because otherwise user agents (search engines) will not be able to find it – they do not search the whole site for a file named robots.txt. Instead, they look first in the main directory and if they don't find it there, they simply assume that this site does not have a robots.txt file and therefore they index everything they find along the way. So, if you don't put robots.txt in the right place, do not be surprised that search engines index your whole site.

Structure of a Robots.txt File

The structure of a robots.txt is pretty simple (and barely flexible) – it is an endless list of user agents and disallowed files and directories. Basically, the syntax is as follows:

User-agent:

Disallow:

“User-agent” are search engines' crawlers and disallow: lists the files and directories to be excluded from indexing. In addition to “user-agent:” and “disallow:” entries, you can include comment lines – just put the # sign at the beginning of the line:

# All user agents are disallowed to see the /temp directory.

User-agent: *

Disallow: /temp/

The Traps of a Robots.txt File

When you start making complicated files – i.e. you decide to allow different user agents access to different directories – problems can start, if you do not pay special attention to the traps of a robots.txt file. Common mistakes include typos and contradicting directives. Typos are misspelled user-agents, directories, missing colons after User-agent and Disallow, etc. Typos can be tricky to find but in some cases validation tools help.

The more serious problem is with logical errors. For instance:

User-agent: *

Disallow: /temp/

User-agent: Googlebot

Disallow: /images/

Disallow: /temp/

Disallow: /cgi-bin/

The above example is from a robots.txt that allows all agents to access everything on the site except the /temp directory. Up to here it is fine but later on there is another record that specifies more restrictive terms for Googlebot. When Googlebot starts reading robots.txt, it will see that all user agents (including Googlebot itself) are allowed to all folders except /temp/. This is enough for Googlebot to know, so it will not read the file to the end and will index everything except /temp/ - including /images/ and /cgi-bin/, which you think you have told it not to touch. You see, the structure of a robots.txt file is simple but still serious mistakes can be made easily.

Tools to Generate and Validate a Robots.txt File

Having in mind the simple syntax of a robots.txt file, you can always read it to see if everything is OK but it is much easier to use a validator.

User agent: *

Disallow: /temp/

this is wrong because there is no slash between “user” and “agent” and the syntax is incorrect.

In those cases, when you have a complex robots.txt file – i.e. you give different instructions to different user agents or you have a long list of directories and subdirectories to exclude, writing the file manually can be a real pain. But do not worry – there are tools that will generate the file for you. What is more, there are visual tools that allow to point and select which files and folders are to be excluded. But even if you do not feel like buying a graphical tool for robots.txt generation, there are online tools to assist you. For instance, the Server-Side Robots Generator offers a dropdown list of user agents and a text box for you to list the files you don't want indexed. Honestly, it is not much of a help, unless you want to set specific rules for different search engines because in any case it is up to you to type the list of directories but is more than nothing. 

5 Tips: How to optimize your site for Location

1. Claim your Google Places Listing

You may have noticed that when you do a search, you often see more than just the traditional 10 organic Search Results. Sometimes you see images, sometimes video, and often Red Pins and a map with a list of businesses based on their relevance to your search and proximity to you.
These pins represent Google Places Pages. If Google is aware of your business, they have already made a Place Page for you. Now it’s your opportunity to claim the listing and add as much relevant information about your business as possible. To get started, look for the link at the top right labeled “Business Owner?” and click.
If your business is not listed, go to google.com/places to get started.

2. If possible, include your address in the sidebar or footer on every page

This is dual purpose – for visitors and for Google. You don’t want site visitors (potential customers) to have to search all over for your phone number and address. This is also helpful for Google because it reinforces your address and city name on every page Google indexes.
In the SEO world these references are known as “Citations” – anytime your business name and phone number or address appear together on the web, even if there is no link to your site. This adds validity to the address on your Google Places listing and tell Google you are relevant (similar to link backs).
For some sites, you just can’t add every location to the footer because there are too many. Consider text like “serving XYZ geography” with a link to you locations page.

3. If you have multiple locations, create separate pages on your site for each

If you have multiple locations, consider creating separate pages for each. Each page can stand on its own for the keywords related to that city or neighborhood. Be sure that every page has unique content, or you may get dinged by Google for having duplicate content.
Ideas for content: an embedded Google map showing the locations, text directions from at least two points of interest in the city, a paragraph of text on what that location specializes in, photos of the locations, information about the Staff, etc. etc.

Don't Stop at the homepage, optimize interior pages as well

4. Make sure city information is in title tag, meta description on interior pages

Don’t stop at the homepage, make sure geography terms are sprinkled in throughout the entire site. Add your city or state (or neighborhood) where it makes sense in your page’s content, title tag, and meta data. Consider every page of your site, as each page will stand alone in its specific keywords.

5. Submit to applicable directories

Tackled all of the above and looking for more? Consider submitting your site to directories. To find applicable Directories, follow Getcoder advice on finding linkbacks for your business advice and do a search for Cityname + Business Type + Listings/Businesses/Results. You will get a list of links to various directories that catalog your type of business.

7 Current Trends in SEO To Improve Your Ranking.

Search engine optimization is a constantly changing field. Aspects which are relevant today may not be few months from now. You have to stay up to date on what is working and be prepared to change your strategy as the search engines evolve.
Here are some current SEO trends that are working well for ranking in the SERPS.

1. Varied backlinks

Having backlinks from a variety of sources is key. Backlinks from a variety of sources adds value in the eyes of search engines. So, don’t just rely on article directories and Web 2.0’s, throw in social bookmarking, blog commenting, forum profile links, guest posting as well.

2. Nofollow vs dofollow

A popular website will have naturally a mix of nofollow and dofollow links and our link building campaigns should reflect that.
So, don’t break sweat over no-follow/ do-follow. Throw in some no follow backlinks to make the link building appear more natural to search engines.

3. Out Bound Links

Adding a link to an authority site can actually help you to rank better as it may increase its trust in the eyes of search engines. So, link out to authority websites in your niche.

4. Link velocity

Every internet marketer has his own strategy for link building. Some build the same amount of links constantly each day, every day, while others concentrate their efforts for a week in the entire month. Both of these may raise flags of artificial manipulation in the eyes of search engines. It is good to build links constantly. But, make sure you randomize the number of backlinks you build each day so it looks all natural.

5. Multi-tier backlinks

So you have built backlinks to your website. But, who is to say that those will get noticed by search engines? Another recent trend is to build backlinks to backlinks to increase their importance in the eyes of search engine. A backlink to your website which has multiple backlinks from various sources will have a greater affect on your SERPS than a backlink which has no backlinks pointing towards it. This can go on till multiple levels.

6. Social networking

For the past decade or so, social networking has taken the internet by storm. So, apart from the regular ranking factors, search engines also consider how popular a page is in social media circles, how many comments the page has received etc. Incorporate social media as a part of your marketing campaign. A great number of facebook shares likes, tweets, plus ones may translate to better SERPS for you.

7. Increased content

Pages with good content are looked on favorably upon by search engines and can lift your whole site.

What is Reverse SEO?

Define: Reverse SEO: (n) reverse search engine optimization (reverse seo), reverse search engine optimisation (the act of rendering a search engine's results optimal by decreasing the rank of potentially negative results or bad press) "the simultaneous optimization of intended results while decreasing or eliminating unintended results"; "in an optimization problem we seek values of the variables that lead to an optimal value of the function that is to be optimized"; "to demote the optimization and diversification of a search engine result." – Clinton Cimring, 2006
Reverse SEO is the process of removing (technically de-ranking) websites other than your own from the first pages of Google.

The approach was invented by our co-founder Clinton Cimring is 2006 as a reaction to websites like ripoffreport.com, complaintsboard.com, and public blogs, which have been used to destroy individuals and company reputations online. While our opponents who have been strongly advocating for the penalization of Reverse SEO in Google as a “black-hat” tactic since it was introduced seem to be missing the point. Reverse SEO is not designed to suppress genuine news, which would inevitably be reported; it is designed to fight back against malcontent unscrupulous individuals who are using websites like ripoffreport.com to extort companies and individuals. If this wasn't the case then ripoffreport.com would not charge to remove a ripoffreport when proof was submitted that the allegations in the report as false and Google would not take down blogspot blog's for libel. The fact of the matter is that these websites have been used to take advantage of companies and individuals and Reverse SEO is targeted at fighting back!

Why Reverse SEO?

Reverse SEO has become one of the most effective strategies for minimizing the impact of bad publicity within the search engines' organic listings. It is an online reputation management (ORM) tool of SEO consultants who manage Online Reputation Management. Too often, companies become targets for negative press online. Angered customers start blogs to take businesses to task for grievances suffered, real or imagined. Dishonest competitors will often go to great lengths to distribute fraudulent reports online. The problem is that these blogs, pages, and reports can begin ranking well in Google and Yahoo.
Reverse SEO can be used to suppress negative publicity that targets your company in Google, Yahoo, and Bing. By pushing bad press onto the second, third, and fourth pages of Google, those pages will be prevented from gaining traction or attention. It's important to note the potentially devastating effects of negative press and how reverse SEO can help you manage your company's Online Reputation Management.
The reason we use reverse SEO is based upon current societal trends. Many of your customers are likely to research your company on Google, Yahoo, or Bing before purchasing a product or service from you. When they find reviews, they tend to believe them. Unfortunately, there are few barriers that prevent people from posting negative reports online about your business.
For example, a disgruntled employee can start an anonymous blog vilifying your company. An unsatisfied customer can post a less-than-honest story about your business on ripoffreport.com. Your competitors can do the same. The reputations of more than a few companies have been ruined this way.
When prospective customers find these pages on the search engines, they give them unwarranted credibility. Reverse SEO minimizes the damage. Studies have shown that the vast majority of searchers never venture onto the second page of a search engine result. Of those who do, a small fraction progress to the third page. By pushing negative publicity off the first page of Google's listings, a reverse SEO strategy removes it from sight.

Reverse SEO Optimization

Google ranks pages based on several criteria. One of its organic algorithm's ranking parameters is a website's authority within its search terms. The more authority a site has, the easier it is for a page on that site to rank well and control its position. When an authoritative page carries bad publicity about your company, it can gain exposure to a wide audience. This is the problem that reverse SEO optimization resolves.
Our Reverse SEO optimization specialists have a number of tools at our disposal we can use to suppress bad publicity in the search engines. First, we'll analyze the authority of high-ranking pages that speak negatively of your business. Then, we'll formulate a strategy to push those pages into the depths of Google's rankings, limiting their visibility.

Reverse SEO Curbs Negative Publicity

Negative publicity, if left unchecked, can gain tremendous momentum in Google especially. Highly-ranked pages attract links. As inbound links increase to these pages, they become harder to remove. This is why it is important to launch a reverse SEO campaign as soon as bad press emerges. By suppressing negative pages quickly, you can prevent them from gaining traction.
A single unsatisfied customer can create havoc for your company by spreading deceptive stories of poor service or shoddy workmanship. Similarly, one resentful employee can anonymously unfurl a string of damaging diatribes. If such stories and diatribes are merely told to another person, their effects are limited and temporary. By contrast, if they are published online and receive exposure in Google, they can have catastrophic results for your business.
This type of negative press tends to gain a groundswell of momentum, regardless of its accuracy. By suppressing these pages in the search engines, reverse SEO allows you to control the effects of bad publicity. It helps you to smother the flames before they grow out of control.

Reverse SEO is Online Reputation Management from an SEO perspective

In the same way that an SEO project requires a refined approach, a reverse SEO campaign should also follow a rigid formula. The basic strategy relies upon a network of authoritative sites to control the first page of organic listings for your company's name. That includes article and press release syndication, capturing keyword-rich sub-domains on authoritative blog sites, and carefully using social networking properties like Myspace, Facebook, Squidoo, and Twitter pages. There are also a number of formidable online tools that can be used to further support your reverse SEO efforts.
By leveraging the ranking ability of these authoritative sites for your company's name, you can control the first page of organic listings. That pushes negative press down beyond your customers' field of view.

Why SEP's Reverse SEO?

The advantages of working with SEP rather than going out on your own is that we already have a honed strategy for deploying a reverse SEO campaign. We already maintain a list of authoritative sites that are groomed for your circumstances from almost every industry imaginable. We will research your website's position in the search engines as well as the positions of any negative press that currently populates the organic listings. Rather than pursuing reverse SEO methods that are unethical and therefore, have only short-term results, we will use principled tactics that prevent bad publicity from gaining traction in the future.

What is the “Google Sandbox”?

Google is the largest search engine online, no doubt about that and because of that, there is a lot of talk about them, about how Google works, about the different algorithms Google uses to rank websites for different keywords. Obviously there is a limited amount of information released from Google to us, which can make is a real pain to learn if something is true.

The “Google Sandbox” was originally just a rumor, but it’s been proven to exist time and time again, but the question always remains, what is the Google Sandbox? It’s more or less the “Google Blacklist”. Websites which Google have de-indexed, by that I mean websites which Google have removed from their listings, have been put into the Google Sandbox.
The Google Sandbox is basically a name/place that websites/blogs go when they get “Banned” by Google, now your website could be sandboxed for a number of reasons, but basically you’ve broken the Google Webmaster Guidelines, Google aren’t very happy about it and now they’ve removed your website from their search engine.
A lot of people get confused about exactly what can get you in the Google Sandbox and if I’m honest, it’s pretty easy to avoid getting sandboxed. The most common way for somebody to get sandboxed, they’ve just built a nice new website, gone onto somewhere and bought a 100,000 xRumer blast and then their site gets banned.
Obviously if your running around the internet using Blackhat SEO software to spam backlinks everywhere you are going to get banned, of course there is a risk level while using Blackhat SEO and sometimes your website won’t be banned, you’ll be able to get super easy rankings using the software, but then you are running the risk of being sandboxed.
If you’ve got any questions about the sandbox, if you don’t quite understand something and just want some simple help and advice, feel free to leave a comment and I’ll get back to you.

Emerging Trends in SEO for 2011

Your website functions as a portal to the world of diverse cliental and expanded business revenue. In order to make the most out of the potential that is offered by your website, it is best to work with an SEO company that can help your website get the attention that it deserves. There are a lot of common trends that appear overtime that claim to build visibility to your website, but it is important to dissect the truth from the myth when listening to these rumors. While there are certain steps that you can take to help your website gain popularity, you need to make sure that you are gaining popularity in a direction that will translate to increased business. This can be attained by focusing on localized regions and specific keywords that are relevant to your product or service. Here are a few common questions that a lot of people have about current trends in SEO.

1. Will a Google +1 button help my website? This is a complicated question, but the easy answer is yes. The google +1 button functions in a similar fashion to other social networking buttons that have been present throughout the web for some time. The +1 button functions as a type of ranking system. When visitors provide your webpage with a +1 they are letting others in their “circles” know that your website has quality content that they appreciated. When a visitor finds that others found your website useful, they are likely to feel justified in spending time there themselves, and this will translate into customer conversion for many companies. Google +1 is not yet as important as having back links within your website to the overall algorithms that help your ranking in Search Engine results, but they do help build visibility through the social networks.
2. Do Facebook Fans matter in the SEO algorithm? Having a large amount of facebook fans indicates popularity and viability in a competitive market. When someone likes your page on facebook, they are providing you with the ability to send them updates about events and special offers. Also, when someone “likes” you, all of their “friends” are informed of it. Research is showing that this popularity and visibility actually factures into the algorithms that affect your SEO ranking, as well.
3. Why Should I Keep My Website Up to Date? Keeping your website up to date is incredibly important. First of all, the optimal keywords for business change regularly. As new trends emerge it is important that your website it reflecting these hot topics, as this helps keep your webpage highly optimized for the Search Engines. Therefore, keeping your website fresh by updating it regularly increases your visibility and will let your customers know that you are actively in business. When a web page is out of date readers are often less inclined to follow up for services. Updating your website on at least weekly to monthly basis is highly recommended.