Your Website-Important Elements To Remember
Usually when you read an article about "building a website" you see pointers like: make sure you emphasize, keywords in your title and your content, and definitely no keyword spamming. But usually, most articles skim over the elements of: 1) load speed; 2) sitemaps, and navigation. Why?
Usually, the writer assumes that it's no big deal, because everyone should know that they have to have these elements for users to get to their website's content.
Or, if you are new to building a website, load speed, sitemaps and your navigation is usually not at the top of your "to do list". I know, it wasn't at the top of mine! I knew I needed the navigation, but I definitely didn't have a clue about sitemaps, or if I could even tackle a sitemap. And, load speed meant nothing to me. But these elements are important.
The search engines are your entrance to the Internet, and they (the search engines) use your sitemap and navigation to better categorize your information on the web. And load time, Google is just beginning to sprinkle that feature into your algorithm, just to give users a better experience on your site.
With that being said, I have summarized my thoughts in the following article about these three elements, and how they work hand-in-hand at giving all a "user-friendly" experience.
Building a Website-Is It User-Friendly
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
Google Breadcrumbs Anyone?
Google Breadcrumbs Anyone?
By Vickie Scanlon
Google Breadcrumbs? What in the world are Google breadcrumbs? And, how are they associated with Google.
In this instance, this has nothing to do with bread, but a different method in which Google is presenting your web pages to the global network.
So, what does that mean to webmasters? It means that you can see more of your links on the search result pages.
The best way in which you can get your breadcrumb URLs to show up in Google is to make sure you have a set of delimited links that accurately reflect your site's hierarchy. Which means, your navigation and sitemap is becoming more important.
There are three types of Google breadcrumbs that Google have been using: by path, location, and attribute. Let me give you a quick explanation.
Types of Google Breadcrumbs
Path breadcrumbs-Is the path the user took to arrive at a page.
Location breadcrumbs - show where the page is located in the website hierarchy. (Currently, this type of breadcrumb I am seeing in my own search on Google).
Attribute breadcrumbs - Gives information that categorizes the current page.
Obviously Google is using location breadcrumbs. However, this new SEO technique is only in the beginning stages for Google (noticed that Yahoo is using it as well). This new technique can give you, the webmaster/blogger, greater exposure for your pages. So, my advise is to keep "breadcrumbs" in the back of their mind when you are building your site. Why? Though, this is my opinion-it's great for the users, webmasters, and it makes the search engines all that more useful to the users.
And for the webmaster with SEO on their mind-it means that each link can be more or less valuable based on the relationship with and context to information found behind other links.
Though there is some confusion among webmasters/bloggers alike, as to what delimiter to use: /, >, ???, or | , I've seen my breadcrumbs showing up with /. Translated don't change anything until you know a change is needed in this regard.
By Vickie Scanlon
Google Breadcrumbs? What in the world are Google breadcrumbs? And, how are they associated with Google.
In this instance, this has nothing to do with bread, but a different method in which Google is presenting your web pages to the global network.
So, what does that mean to webmasters? It means that you can see more of your links on the search result pages.
The best way in which you can get your breadcrumb URLs to show up in Google is to make sure you have a set of delimited links that accurately reflect your site's hierarchy. Which means, your navigation and sitemap is becoming more important.
There are three types of Google breadcrumbs that Google have been using: by path, location, and attribute. Let me give you a quick explanation.
Types of Google Breadcrumbs
Path breadcrumbs-Is the path the user took to arrive at a page.
Location breadcrumbs - show where the page is located in the website hierarchy. (Currently, this type of breadcrumb I am seeing in my own search on Google).
Attribute breadcrumbs - Gives information that categorizes the current page.
Obviously Google is using location breadcrumbs. However, this new SEO technique is only in the beginning stages for Google (noticed that Yahoo is using it as well). This new technique can give you, the webmaster/blogger, greater exposure for your pages. So, my advise is to keep "breadcrumbs" in the back of their mind when you are building your site. Why? Though, this is my opinion-it's great for the users, webmasters, and it makes the search engines all that more useful to the users.
And for the webmaster with SEO on their mind-it means that each link can be more or less valuable based on the relationship with and context to information found behind other links.
Though there is some confusion among webmasters/bloggers alike, as to what delimiter to use: /, >, ???, or | , I've seen my breadcrumbs showing up with /. Translated don't change anything until you know a change is needed in this regard.
Monday, February 08, 2010
SEO and Search
SEO and Search
Search and SEO go hand-in-hand. And,as Google adds more bells and whistles for it's users of search, the individual who utilizes SEO (which I assume is almost everyone) will need to know what types are out there and how you can get a piece of the traffic from the different search methods, or to even decide if the search method(s) is viable for their website.
Since search methods are ever changing and expanding, I decided to create a permanent web page with some of the most looked at methods-and what you need to do to help the traffic find you.
SEO and the Different Search Methods
Covers the different search methods of:
Universal Search
Local Search
Image Search
Personalized Search
Real Time Search
Search and SEO go hand-in-hand. And,as Google adds more bells and whistles for it's users of search, the individual who utilizes SEO (which I assume is almost everyone) will need to know what types are out there and how you can get a piece of the traffic from the different search methods, or to even decide if the search method(s) is viable for their website.
Since search methods are ever changing and expanding, I decided to create a permanent web page with some of the most looked at methods-and what you need to do to help the traffic find you.
SEO and the Different Search Methods
Covers the different search methods of:
Universal Search
Local Search
Image Search
Personalized Search
Real Time Search
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Site/Page Speed Revisited
Site/Page Speed Revisited
Not very long ago, I discussed the possibility of Google including site speed as one element in determining page rank.
After much talk on blogs and websites about site speed, Matt Cutt's thought it would be wise to clarify "site speed" against that of relevancy of content in regards to page ranking within the search engines.
Paraphrasing Matt Cutt's , "relevant, useful content will always outrank page speed." So where does it leave us webmasters or bloggers, since we don't know how much weight this element has?
It leaves us with taking a possible common sense view of how to proceed. Relevant, useful content will always be in the forefront, with page speed as 1 of over 200 other elements that go into determining your position within Google.
If you've just put a blog or website online, you've probably read numerous tutorials about getting started. Most beginning tutorials always stress user-friendly pages that load quickly, have easy to use navigation, easy readability, etc. that welcomes the user to your site with open arms and not confusion.
Thus, if you remembered those tutorials you've read, and kept that advise in the back of your mind when constructing a web page, you'll not only please the search engines, but the user who visits your site.
However, don't stress yourself out with revising your pages. I'm not saying, don't try and improve the user's experience or site speed. What I am saying is, "If you've consumed your day with trying to pick up your web page speed, while not writing any new content, scale back your stress and remember, its only 1 element in over 200 elements that compose Google's page ranking.
Not very long ago, I discussed the possibility of Google including site speed as one element in determining page rank.
After much talk on blogs and websites about site speed, Matt Cutt's thought it would be wise to clarify "site speed" against that of relevancy of content in regards to page ranking within the search engines.
Paraphrasing Matt Cutt's , "relevant, useful content will always outrank page speed." So where does it leave us webmasters or bloggers, since we don't know how much weight this element has?
It leaves us with taking a possible common sense view of how to proceed. Relevant, useful content will always be in the forefront, with page speed as 1 of over 200 other elements that go into determining your position within Google.
If you've just put a blog or website online, you've probably read numerous tutorials about getting started. Most beginning tutorials always stress user-friendly pages that load quickly, have easy to use navigation, easy readability, etc. that welcomes the user to your site with open arms and not confusion.
Thus, if you remembered those tutorials you've read, and kept that advise in the back of your mind when constructing a web page, you'll not only please the search engines, but the user who visits your site.
However, don't stress yourself out with revising your pages. I'm not saying, don't try and improve the user's experience or site speed. What I am saying is, "If you've consumed your day with trying to pick up your web page speed, while not writing any new content, scale back your stress and remember, its only 1 element in over 200 elements that compose Google's page ranking.
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