I am Noticing a Trend
Posted on 07. Aug, 2009 by search_junkie.
I’m wondering if anyone else has been noticing an unusual amount of people reporting virus issues with their PCs and/or servers? I’ve been hearing, and unfortunately experiencing, that people are getting malware injected into their sites. I am seeing more and more sites flagged in Google for malware too!
On top of that I noticed that I keep hearing people say that their computers are messed up in one way, shape, or form by some sort if infection or virus.
I always get very scared and paranoid when I start to hear these things in bunches. It makes me want to take a look at my setup and make sure that I have a good Antivirus Software installed on my PC. It also makes me want to check all of my servers and sites for any malware. Wordpress has notorious exploits for link injections and malware so you always have to stay on top of that stuff.
I’ve had a problem in the past with antivirus software as they seem to bog down the speed of my computers. I run a lot of applications and tools so I need all the speed I can get. I was recommended to try something called VIPRE antivirus + antispyware from a company called Sunbelt Software because it is supposed to work well and not eat up as many resources as other solutions like Norton or McAfee. It turns out that it actually works as promised. And on top of that they have a 15 day free trial going on so check it and be proactive instead of reactive when it comes to your PC security!
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Elementary Web Development Principles for SEO
Posted on 03. Aug, 2009 by search_junkie.
It is crazy to imagine but most of the Web design and Web development community still has not recognized and adapted to some simple best practices that go a long way in making sites SEO friendly! For some reason I still see sites being built with complex site architectures, improperly named directories, Javascript, 302 redirects, and more.
It is very disheartening because the site owners, who pay these developers a great deal of money to design and build them a kick ass site do not know any better. And I have to assume that Web developers DO know better and that they understand their craft as it pertains to the world around them today, namely the search engines. I cannot assume that developers as so naive. People are getting ripped off because many developers are just plain lazy!
So I want to remind you all today of the simple things. If you want your web pages to rank then certain elementary principles must be adhered to:
• Descriptive file and directory names
• Limit site depth
• Keep page size to a minimum
• Place CSS and JavaScript code on a separate page
• Use 301 redirects for any pages you’ve moved
• Do NOT use Javascript or meta refresh redirects
• Customize your 404 pages
Follow these extremely basic principles and you will have come a long way all you developers out there! It is amazing, but on-page SEO is very simple and most of it pertains to proper Web development and valid XHTML and CSS. The basics!
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Score One for the Good Guy
Posted on 30. Jul, 2009 by search_junkie.
So I am a terrible gift giver when it comes to my wife. She is very picky, er, I mean she knows exactly what she wants. She has a very detail oriented manner that is based on both functionality and looks when it comes to clothing and jewelry.
I bought her a Bulova watch about a year ago that recently sort of fell apart, which was odd because it was a fairly expensive watch. On top of that our three year wedding anniversary came up recently so I thought of buying her a new watch.
I thought to myself, dare I? I will either go very wrong or hit it on the head and I have a bad track record when it comes to choosing fashions for my wife. But I found a cool site, with some great deals on ladies Seiko watches, called Blue Dial.
My wife likes silver, and also appreciates very elegant and understated jewelry. Fortunately I found this great watch that is very thing and looks almost like a nice bracelet. It is all silver (she hates gold) and it has a black face on it. It’s something that she can wear everday and also get away with wearing to more formal events. This fulfilled the functionality she values so much. She loved it, to my relief!
Well, I pulled it off this year. Only 300+ days to go until the next anniversary. Hey, at least I’m getting better at this stuff!
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Webmaster’s Guide to Google Twitter Accounts
Posted on 20. Jul, 2009 by search_junkie.
Over at the Official Google Blog there was a post the other day that listed out all of the Google Twitter accounts for the various departments within Google. It appears that Google is really into this whole “live Web” thing.
Google has been working on products that produce more up to the minute, or even live, results similar to Twitter. Google and other search engines have struggled with this.
Now it appears that Google is realizing the potential that Twitter provides businesses and has dove in head first with Twitter accounts for most of their departments. I feel that this is great news for webmasters and other online marketing professionals, especially SEO consultants.
It appears as though Google will leverage these Twitter accounts to push more info out to the masses. And more communication is always a good thing. Plus, Google is usually very good about using things like Twitter in the right ways so I imagine that we can all expect good things from these accounts.
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Video Optimization Techniques
Posted on 01. Jul, 2009 by search_junkie.
With Google giving more and more attention to video in the search results one can really gain a good deal of traffic by utilizing video search engine optimization. I stress the word “optimized videos” because its not just about uploading videos to YouTube and other sites. Its about making sure that the videos are tagged with the right keywords in the right places for the search engines to pick up.
Here are some tips for optimizing videos on your own site. Take the source video file and infuse it with your keywords; in the Title, Description, and Keywords tags. Make sure your video is the main feature on a page and surround it with relevant text and embedded links. Keeping your video content at one place off the root directory helps in providing easy access to search engine crawlers.
Of course don’t forget to submit your video to RSS and MRSS.
YouTube has recently released a feature that allows you to insert an overlay into your videos. This will really help promote your sites but the biggest breakthrough is that you can embed links in the overlay. These links can be tagged and tracked for ROI purposes. Previously it was super difficult to track ROI and this may be the solution.
Well that is enough for now and you have alot to work on so get to it! Remember that video is getting prominent placement in the search engines and the competition gets harder and harder each day.
