Terry's Blog

SEO Tips for Changing Website URL's

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 07:37:00 GMT

Going to change the URL structure of your entire website, but scared about losing your search engine rankings? It's a common issue that I've seen impact both the largest and smallest corporations. Here are some common exchanges with site owners or web developers as how to approach it without losing the weight your old URL's have accrued over time.

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Checking Paid Search URLs For Errors

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 20:44:00 GMT

One challenge that large paid search advertisers inevitably face, especially when they aren’t the same group that builds the website that the traffic is ultimately being driven to, is keeping up with landing page URL's. If the website owners move or remove a web page that you are paying to drive people to without telling anyone, it can lead to missed opportunity, extra costs and a terrible online experience for your potential customers. Unfortunately, despite all the technology that Google, Yahoo and Microsoft have, they don't make it easy to pinpoint when this is occurring.

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Rant: Are Spam Bots Holding Back Social Growth?

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 04:41:00 GMT

Every week I i pull up SQL on one of my hobby websites, and run the same set of statements to clear the spam from my comments and ratings sections of my pages....

delete * from comments where comment like '%http%'

Today I ran the script, and came back a half hour later to find over 20 new comments attempting (and failing) to create links to the Paxil, Viagra and Porn sites. Yeah, I know I could spend 5-10 hours decompiling the DotNetNuke feedback module I'm using and adding some sort of filter, but what a waste of my time.

Of course, on the flip side, even though the spammers haven't been able to get a link in there to render, I did a search for Google and the link weight my site has for some naughty words, strictly due to spammers attempts, is pretty hefty. I don't want Google to associate my site with that crap. The only way for me to seemingly control it, is to require that people register on the site first. Doesn't this kind of slow the overall growth of the social web 2.0? (Yes, I also know I could add one of those picture letter things. Again, don't feel like totally reimplementing the ratings module I'm using just yet)

So the latest fad seems to be using YouTube to try to pass PageRank around. Here is an obvious automated Spambot attempt I found on my comments today:

This program tries three different ways to auto-post links, using standard HTML and common forum and blog commenting formats. What was interesting was that they were all pointed at YouTube.

I wonder if they have automated bots out there for creating YouTube accounts as well. Seems like Google would have the technology to flag any accounts that have this type of setup. Each of the links in the original spam post on my site was to a unique YouTube account. Obviously the spammer is counting on the little link at the bottom of the YouTube profile passing some link love.

Oh well, I'll just waste some of my life and money shoring up my site, while also making honest users lives a little harder.

Seriously, who wins here?

Adding H1 Tags to DotNetNuke Containers

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 17:12:00 GMT

Recognizing in advance that this post has a pretty niche audience, this is one of those annoying things that took some playing around with to make work right.

With most purchased DotNetNuke skins, there isn't an easy way to take a container and make an H1 tag out of the title. This is something that I wish the skin developers would include by default. Here is how I have done it so that search engines can see the emphasized text.

First, pick one of your existing containers that you want to have an H1 heading version of, and download the ASCX and CSS files from your /Portal/_default/Containers directory onto your local computer. I usually just keep the name the same, with the exception of adding _header onto the end of the file name.

Open up container_header.ascx. Typically the title token for a container looks a little like this:
dnn:TITLE runat="server" id="dnnTITLE" Cssclass="ContainTitleCSS"

I will wrap this with an H1 tag:
H1 dnn:TITLE runat="server" id="dnnTITLE" Cssclass="ContainTitleCSS" /H1

By default, there probably isn't an H1 definition in your containers CSS file. So open up your new container_header.css, double check that this is the case, and then define a new one. Here is a sample of one of my sites:

H1 { font-size: 11px; font-family: tahoma; color: #555555; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; line-height: 1.5em; }

Really make sure that you pay attention to the Margin, Padding and Line-Height elements. Those were the parts I had some issues with originally.

Finally, save your two new files, and upload them back to your web server in the correct containers directory. Now you can just apply the container to any module where you would like the text to be emphasized to search spiders. If it looks any different to the regular eye then one of your normal modules, some tweaking may be needed.

You can check to see if this worked by using Firefox and the Web Developer plug-in. Browse to the page where you have added your header module. Using the plug-in, disable CSS and Images. The header module title should look big and bold.

Here is a working sample on one of my test sites: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie

Walt Disney World on Google Earth

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 06:40:00 GMT

David Cook, the winner of American Idol, recently announced that he was going to Walt Disney World in an effort to help promote the American Idol Experience attraction opening in Hollywood Studios. Well now you can join him… virtually.

Walt Disney World has just made it easier for visitors to plan their visits in advance by releasing its Orlando theme parks in full 3D within Google Earth. All four Disney World parks (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios and MGM) as well as 22 hotels have been included. This virtual tour, created by Disney Parks and Resorts, is the largest corporate initiative ever within the Google Earth application.

There are over 1,500 3D models that went into making this effort happen. Creating these models required over 100,000 photos from 8 different photographers. Also visible while browsing the parks in 3D are attraction information, as well as plenty of user generated content like photographs, blogs and links to videos.

This has some pretty cool implications for families that want to plan their trips in advance. It also gives potential visitors a chance to check out the theme parks, and how expansive they are, prior to deciding if a Disney vacation is the place for them.

See Disney World on Google Earth!

Why Purchase Your Brand Name?

Wed, 25 Apr 2007 19:45:00 GMT

If you work for a company that is lucky enough to have your Paid Search marketing tactics under the same roof as your Natural Search Optimization, then you probably know that there are some incredible synergies between the two mediums. For some keywords, it makes sense to lower or cancel your paid search spend when your preferred landing page rises in natural search rankings. This is especially true if paid search competition is light.

So why do so many companies continue to buy their brand names, even if they are ranking at the top of natural search listings?

To go even further, many big brands have filed trademark protection with the major search engines, effectively removing their competitors from bidding on their trademarked terms. So why do they continue to buy their name?

There are many answers to this question, and only a couple are below.

Paid search allows you to speak directly to your potential customers through ad copy. You can tell them exactly what you want them to know at that point in time, and place them exactly where you want them on your website.

SEO does not allow you the ability to control your message; only to influence it.

If a search engine user is looking up information about “Disney World” online, the home page may come up first, but what if I want that searcher to know about our special offer on “Disney World Tickets”?

There has also been plenty of research released that shows there is an incremental lift in click through rates when you obtain the top paid and natural listing on a search results page. Having your listing in both spots is a way to reinforce to search engine users that you really are the best answer to their question.

I came across a few examples of companies that have recognized these benefits recently as I was browsing the web.

Nike ranks number one in natural search, but probably noticed that their natural search listing lacked a very good call to action, other then “we are Nike”. They utilized their paid search ads to introduce searchers to their Nike+ line of shoes, directing them deeper into the website. The ad copy was “Get the new Nike+ Shoes for an Interactive Workout with your I-Pod”.

Jeep ranked number one in natural search with an “Official Home of Jeep” message. Their paid listing however was much more compelling: “See the new 2007 Jeep Collection Today”.

Pizza Hut is currently utilizing it’s paid search ads to let consumers know that they have expanded their lunch offerings. If I was interested in just learning more about the company, I would probably move on and click the natural search ad.

And let’s not forget competition as another important reason to own your brand. All of the companies above had at least 9 other marketers buying their brand names. If the company didn’t protect their brand, the risk of losing clicks, and the top spot on the search results page, increases greatly.