» file names

A Rose By Any Other Name May Smell as Sweet – But Do YOUR File Names Stink?

The SEO Guy — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 04:20:20 +0000

File naming is an element of SEO that most people pay little attention to, yet its a crucial issue for two key reasons;

Search Engine Page Results

When a reference to one of your pages shows up within a SERP, there are 3 important cues that can entice a visitor to click the link and visit your site. In order, they are Title, Description and URL – or page file name. Why not give yourself every possible advantage when competing for visitors, by providing accurate and readable file names? It might well be the final push that slides the mouse pointer in your favor.

Search Engine Rankings

Equally, when search engine spiders are mapping your site and trying to figure out what on earth its all about, giving them some accurate information in every possible area would seem like a smart move, right? Keywords in file names are important, and they do make a difference. It might only be one of 100-plus elements in a search engine relevancy algorithm, but the more places you can tick off as being perfect, the better!

The Reality Check

Oddly enough, few people actually do this! Most file names are either a model of brevity, acronymic, cryptic or just plain gibberish! That’s a bit like driving with the handbrake on…

Top 10 File Name Factors

1.) Use keywords! Why use “contact.html” when you could use “contact-the-blue-widget-specialists.html”??? Your page names are a good place to slip in an “exact match” high-volume keyword phrase… Do this where appropriate – like every page on your site – to help reinforce the keywords in Title / Description tags.

2.) Use hyphens and not underscores! In a URL, or in a text anchor on a page, the underscore blends with the hyperlink underline, making it difficult to see that it is not a space.

3.) Do NOT use spaces! Aside from the fact that the operating system has to fill the gaps with the awful %20 – there are still some operating systems and browsers in use around the globe that struggle to process spaces in file names.

4.) Do NOT use CAPITALS in file names – Windows does not care, and will treat “Blue-Widgets.html” and “blue-widgets.html” as the same file… However, operating systems such a Linux are case sensitive and see that variation as two completely different filenames! If you’ve typed internal hyperlink file names with case variations, you may well generate broken links for some users.

5.) Confine yourself to the Alphabet, and numerals, with hyphens between words. Do not commit the heinous crime of adding special characters into your file names! Linux allows pretty much any character except a forward slash (/) – but other operating systems might choke on them!

6.) Remember that SE’s really don’t like all the “&” and “?” and “=” that some CMS systems add. For example, if you are an osCommerce user, its a straightforward task to have Ultimate SEO URL’s installed, and produce plain-English file names.

7.) Don’t use the default file names and hierarchical structures in Wordpress / Joomla / Drupal / or any other Content Management system. For example, is 2007 a good Category heading, or directory name? Its out of date in a few months time! Still, its not uncommon to see sites based on silly, out-of-date directory/file name combinations.

8.) Make sure your CMS site generates keyword-rich file names that reflect page content. This should be the “normal” way to do things, but apparently the people who write this software genre don’t really understand a web business must generate search engine traffic to survive.

9.) Prevent your session ID’s being added to pages served to search engine spiders. Aside from the special character garbage, it means every time they visit, they get a different URL for the same page – resulting in duplicate content indexing! That can get your site removed from the SE indexes!

10.) Before changing a filename, ensure that you first set up a 301 Permanent Redirect from the old file name to the new file name. This will make the transition seamless, and minimise the possibility of 404 page not found errors. Also, those people who had the page bookmarked will still arrive at the correct location in your site.

Yet another SEO article by Ben Kemp, a free-lance website seo consultant and web site designer. He offers free SEO articles & web design tips, see Web Page SEO & Website Design Blog : Web: www.comauth.co.nz

Good Site Design Criteria Incorporates SEO

The SEO Guy — Sat, 20 May 2006 14:42:07 +0000

1.1 Introduction
1.2 Focus on the Product
1.2.1 Decide on Site Name/URL
1.2.2 Internal Page Naming
1.2.3 Image Names
1.3 Design Issues
1.3.1 JavaScript
1.3.2 Flash
1.4 FRAMES
1.5 Splash Pages
1.6 Databases vs Text
1.7 Page Layout
1.8 Content
1.9 Links
1.10 Geographic/Location Searches
1.11 HTML Coding Errors
1.12 Choosing a Designer
1.13 Site Maintenance
1.14 Ten SEO Design Rules

1.1 Introduction
Should you be contemplating a new web site, or the rebuild of an older site, there are many issues you need to consider. High in the priority list at the outset should be search engine rankings, and design of the site to maximise the site’s potential web profile is crucial to success. A key design criteria should be to ensure that the web site, as launched, will require minimal remedial search engine optimisation. In the process of site creation there is almost always conflict between form (design) and function.

The key premise must be that without visitors, the site is worthless. To achieve a return on investment (ROI) the site needs to generate the maximum volume of “free” traffic. Your design goal is generation of qualified traffic i.e. potential customers who want what you offer, and arrived on your site by choice because it was relevant to their search. These days, you will see this referred to as “organic” search results.

Aside from this, the site may also generate traffic from newspaper advertising, mail-outs, your business stationary and business cards etc containing the site’s URL, and from pay-per-click advertising campaigns on search engines via Yahoo Search Marketing and Google Adwords. This is not “free” traffic because it is generated at additional cost over and above your site’s establishment and operating costs.

Ranking highly establishes brand recognition and there is the underlying impression of credibility if you are always in the Top 10 on search results. Organic search results achieve a much higher click-thru rate than paid advertising.

The items covered here are all elements within any serious search engine optimisation program, and should all be incorporated into the site design to varying degrees. Each of the major search engines has a great many elements in its ranking algorithms and the more you can get right, the better the results. You are setting out to make a crystal clear and unequivocal statement of what your site is all about.

1.2 Focus on the Product
Be very clear what it is you are selling… and aim all content and copy at ensuring that potential customers know that you have it available.

1.2.1 Decide on Site Name/URL
There is definite benefit in having primary keywords in the site’s URL. e.g. www.fast-food-delivery.com There is a balance to be struck between wanting to include multiple important keywords, and user inconvenience in typing very long URL’s.

Separatong words with a hyphen; e.g. www.fast-food-delivery.com is possibly better than stringing them together as www.fastfooddelivery.com – although some SEO guru’s suggest being sparing with the total number of hyphens. Some say one is enough…

1.2.2 Internal Page Naming
There is also definite benefit in having keywords in the site’s internal HTML page names, e.g. www.fast-food-delivery.com/riccarton-food-delivery.html The more clues you can give to the search engines regarding the content of a page, the easier it is for the SE to rank it.

1.2.3 Image Names
There is also benefit in giving descriptive image file names e.g. gourmet-hawaiian-pizza.jpg is better than pic1.jpg

The keywords contained in the image names will not be ignored by the SE’s and will usually gain you some additional traction.

Search engines now index image files, and it is therefore useful to give all your image files descriptive names. Some traffic will be generated this way, so you might as maximise the opportunity.

1.3 Design Issues
There are many elements to be considered in building site that will rank well on the search engines.

1.3.1 JavaScript
Bear in mind that pretty much anything contained within JavaScript is ignored by the search engine spiders. A nice JavaScript menu is all very fine and dandy, so by all means use one – I always do. However, because the links to internal pages within that menu will not always be seen by Googlebot and other spiders, it is crucial to provide an internal HTML pathway that allows the spiders to index all your content. Achieve this by;

Content links – provide text links to internal pages from within the Home page. Anchor text that uses primary keywords, linked to an optimised page that has relevant information, will score you lots of brownie points. Pages with direct links from the Home page are also accorded a higher value.
Site map page – ensure you have a text link on the Home page to a site map page which has a text html link to every internal page. Spiders seldom go deeper than 3 levels, so this tactic ensures all pages are accessible at no more than 3 levels deep.

Use JavaScript sparingly – every additional word and comment tag within a page diffuses keyword density within that page.

Use an external file and “call” your JavaScript applications instead of adding them to the pages. This is more efficient and, where a change is required, means editing one file instead of dozens of pages.

1.3.2 Flash
Do NOT use it to build a site in its entirety. There is no known benefit and lots of downside. Seriously, Flash animations should only be used where they can serve a key purpose – perhaps to establish a theme, or to tell a story. Images should be kept small, and file sizes less than 200k if possible.

On the Internet, attention spans are short, time is precious, and we want as near to instant page load times as possible. Flash is slow to load, content is not easy to index, and maintenance is more complicated and expensive. Please remember that not everyone is on Broadband yet…

1.4 FRAMES
Frames are an architecture solution for strictly controlling what the viewer sees on the screen. They are also a disaster from a search engine perspective, as search engines cannot readily penetrate into internal content Were search engines able to index internal pages, a viewer directed to the indexed pages would not see that page within the normal context of framed page menus, headers and footers, making navigation a confusing experience. Do not allow your web designer to use FRAMES.

1.5 Splash Pages
A growing trend on web sites is to have a “splash” page which might have a nice animated Flash graphics introduction etc, and looks superb.

Do not permit your designer to use a splash page. It forces your users to “click to enter the site” and this irritates people enough the first time, and really reduces their enthusiasm to return.

A “Splash” page is like the box-within-the-box type of present – really amusing for the guy who cello-taped up the boxes, but bloody irritating for the person trying to get inside to the goodies.

Splash pages are invariably a monument to the designer’s graphical and artistic genius, and serve no purpose in the site’s function.

1.6 Databases vs Text
I am fixated on not using databases, as this is generally an awful approach to building a web site from a SEO perspective. For most “small business web sites” there is simply no sound justification for a database-driven approach. However, on an e-commerce web site it will almost certainly be necessary to drive your online ordering system via a database, often using extensive JavaScript programming etc. What I’d recommend is building an “outer” HTML-based site with an inner Shop.

For an example of this, take a look at www.kozitoez.co.nz or www.BenArthur-Photography.com – These are modest little static HTML-based sites with an osCommerce core and a reasonably seamless integration of SEO requirements… Perhaps your online ordering application could work in a similar same way, where the outer HTML pages would be unique and fully optimised with individualised file names, titles, description, keywords etc.

Most database-driven sites make it difficult to produce unique pages – usually there are generic title, description and keyword tags to make it easer to maintain. Databases are also famous for impenetrable URLs – any URL having a “?” or “&” in it makes life difficult for search engine spiders trying to index internal content.

Databases are often promoted on the “ease of maintenance” grounds. Instead, I recommend the use of “include” pages to produce standard elements such a header, footer, side menu. One change on one page is reflected across all pages.

1.7 Page Layout
Keep it simple. There are some basic rules to be observed that will ensure best results in search engine rankings. These can conflict with the site designer’s view of the world, and you need to make informed decisions when/if compromises are to be made.

The search engines place greatest emphasis on the top of the page – the 1st heading or title, and the 1st paragraph. Your keywords must be placed prominently there. Use a narrow header holding a company logo, this header could be common to every internal page.

Follow this with a Title/Heading in H1 style to emphasise its importance, and containing the keywords/ key phrase. Follow this with a brief first paragraph, containing the keywords/ key phrase at the beginning, highlighted in bold. If possible, using an iteration of the keywords/ key phrase as the anchor text, add a link to an internal page containing more detail.

Some search engines will look for the first iteration of the search phrase, and include a portion of the paragraph as their results for the search. Its crucial that you control what searchers see by providing good copy.

You need to have around 300-500 words on the page. Place some strategic links to key pages on the footer, plus your address with all relevant geographic location details.

1.8 Content
Content is king, content rules, ok! To achieve consistently high rankings, you need good content, able to be readily indexed. To me, this means a series of simple heirachical HTML pages, which might include;

Products and/or Services
Contact Us – a form-based interface for customers to contact you with suggestions, complaints etc
Web Resources – a links page to sites of interest to your clients
A “Link to Us” page outlining your preferred link-back text
Site Map page listing every in text hyperlinks
Company Profile
Newsletter
Location Map if applicable
Coverage Area Maps
Special Deals and promotions
Hours of operation
Rates

Build yourself a dozen or so unique pages with around 400 words apiece, targeting slightly different keywords/phrases on each page. Now you’ve got some substance for the SE’s to work with.

1.9 Links
Incoming links to your site are a crucial element of the search engine ranking game, and especially important on Google. In fact, its very difficult to get indexed at all on Google if there are no incoming links to your site.

The quality of links and their context are more important than the quantity. E.g. a link to your site from Telecom’s Internet Yellow Pages, on a page of content related to your theme is worth 25 links from B&B’s, hotels etc.

Search out all the local business directories in your area of operation. See which ones rank well and get listed on them even if it costs you a few $ annually to do so.

When you have nothing to do, sit down and look for sites that link to your competitors and contact their webmasters seeking reciprocal links.

1.10 Geographic/Location Searches
These days, most searchers refine their query with multiple words, frequently using location e.g. “fast food delivery Christchurch” or “hotel accommodation Ashburton.” If you are city or suburb specific, be specific about that. E.g. specify this in page Title, Description, Body text etc. Include city, suburb, address, postal code in the page footer on all pages.

Search engines are also heavily focused on “location” as an indexing element that enables increased relevancy searches, in particular geographic location.

1.11 HTML Coding Errors
Ensure the designer does produce perfect HTML code. You can easily validate (check) this, but be sure to indicate to the designer that this is a prerequisite. Yahoo in particular will not index a site if there are HTML code errors – and this as a consequence would exclude you from MSN and many other search engines and portals as well!

1.12 Choosing a Designer
By now, you’ve got a better idea of the overall design goals, and you can use these points to help in specifying your design requirements. Set out a design brief and circulate it to several designers for appraisal and request project cost estimates.

Refine the list to a group of 3 potential designers from the preliminary response to your design brief. Meet with each and discuss the site project with them, ensuring that they understand what you want. Redefine the plan, refine costs.

Request a “fixed price contract” which requires that you have agreed on everything before hand. If it takes longer than estimated, that becomes someone else’s problem, not yours. Any amendments required by you are obviously a variation to the plan, and must therefore be made at additional cost to you. All such amendments should be requested in writing, costed by the designer, and agreed to by both parties.

1.13 Maintenance
Site maintenance is a key issue. There will be ongoing site changes – to the links pages, food specials, pricing etc. You need to figure out who will do that for you, and to keep it as simple as possible. Rather than requiring expensive, complex software, or arcane FTP file transfers etc, you need a simple maintenance process, no more complex than using a word processor.

Many of my clients use MS FrontPage 2003 for site maintenance because it gets the job done reliably and at a modest price. A good alternative, although somewhat more complex, is Macromedia Dream Weaver.

Maintenance becomes an issue for many, either from a technical or lack of time perspective. Usually the task does not require a full-time webmaster, and but for small business there are not always skilled staff available to handle it the task. Your site designer will usually offer to do maintenance for you, and there are also “contract webmasters” available to assist.
1.14 The SEO Guy’s 10 Design Rules

1. No “Flash”
2. No “Splash” page
3. No “FRAMES”
4. No unnecessary databases
5. Simple layout – Logo, Heading, 1st paragraph, followed by balance of body text
6. Use HTML pages – fast, easily indexed
7. Unique Pages – every page has a different title, description, keyword targets
8. Fast page load times, minimal graphics use
9. No Coding Errors permitted
10. Use of Headers, Footers, Side Menus– via “include” pages, to minimise maintenance

Hell, if all designers did this, The SEO Guy would be looking for another job!

So… what the hell IS Search Engine Optimisation? a brief explanation…

The SEO Guy — Sat, 20 May 2006 06:11:57 +0000

A great many web sites are launched every year, and in some respects it’s a little like building a shop in the middle of a forest e.g. you can’t see the wood for the trees.

Web design and search engine optimisation are two quite different disciplines. Most web designers are focused on form – intent of producing a visually attractive site which will gain a cusomers interest and attention long enough to make the sale etc. Few web page designers implement SEO as an integral part of the web development project.

Retrospective SEO requires a great deal of extra effort and, consequently, additional costs. For that reason many site owners opt to not do this at the outset, but find it necessary to address it later when site traffic does not match initial expectations.

For any business enterprise hoping to make any Internet-based sales, or promote its services, it is crucial that your prospective clients can actually find your web site. A great many businesses and clients will make their first contact via search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN.

The prospective client seeks out a service or product by making a search using a particular key word or phrase. Those web sites that appear in the first 1-2 pages of results have the best chance of making a sale. If your site does not rank in the Top 30 results, you basically have no chance of success, as barely 10% of searchers will go to or past the 3rd page of results. If they don’t find what they want of the first or second page, the majority will either refine their search term, or go to a different search engine.

Search Engine Optimisation is all about marketing your web site more effectively, with the goal of improving your site’s exposure to customers and clients on the Internet. It has often been described as “part art and part science.” There are two main aspects to SEO;

The first is where we improve your “organic” or natural search results -achieving higher rankings by optimising and increasing the relevancy of your site to a specific search query. This is done by carefully analysing your sites ‘”theme” and ensuring that it is easy for the search engines to accurately categorise and index it. This requires the ability to concisely and accurately describe precisely what the site is about, using correct key words and phrases.

These key words and phrases are positioned at the strategic on-page and off-page locations that search engines expect to find such descriptive elements. These elements include meta-tags such as Title, Descriptions, Keywords, Image ALT and Comment tags, page and image file names, hyperlinked anchor text & bookmarks, paragraph headings, and body text.

Organic search engine rankings are regarded as the ultimate because they are “free” once the initial work is done. Better still, searchers regard these “natural” high rankings more favourably than the sponsored listings type described next.

The second aspect of SEO is pay-per-click, where your site appears in the “sponsored listing” section of the search engine’s results page and in Adsense advertising panels in many individual web sites. This requires you first to develop a list of relevant keywords or phrases. Then, you write advertising copy by way of titles and descriptions to be displayed to a searcher who uses the keywords or phrases you’ve chosen.

If a searcher clicks on your listing within the “Sponsored Listings” and goes to your site, you pay a predetermined amount per click. You set the “bid” threshold that you will pay, and this ranges from a few cents to over a $ for very competitive keywords. The most commonly encountered example of PPC is on Google – do a search for anything, you will 2-3 sponsored listings at the top of the page, and a block of them down the right hand side.

For many businesses, a combination of organic and PPC search engine optimisation works best. This is especially true if you sell a wide variety of items. Under those circumstances, it can be difficult to target all possible permutation of keywords and phrases within pages on the site. However, using Google Adwords or Yahoo Search Marketing, it is possible to target hundreds or key words and phrases – the usual editorial criteria being that you can only use terms which are relevant to the content on your site. Listings are validated by the PPC editorial staff prior to allowing them to go live online.

Both organic and PPC options are good at delivering “qualified” traffic to your site e.g. these are visitors who actively searched for the specific product or service, found a link to your site and clicked on it.

These days there is a great deal of competition amongst millions of web sites for rankings on the search engines. If you do not ensure your site is properly optimised for your specific theme, product and service, then it is doomed to mediocrity.

The consequences of NOT optimising your site are;

most people will only find you by accident
you don’t get “qualified” traffic – visitors who want what you sell
you miss out on sales of products and services - your competitors get them instead!

However, the “return on investment” for SEO is usually very good indeed!

A properly optimised site will see prompt and measurable increases in search engine traffic, usually accompanied by an increase in enquries and sales.

Author: The SEO Guy