JavaScript is commonly used to provide interactive features on Web site, such as rollover effects, drop down menus and creative animations. But the improper use of JavaScript can drive potential customers away and hinder search engine rankings. Learn what you need to know to avoid JavaScript-related problems. If you don’t, you may find that your site will have numerous problems retaining users and and picking up free search engine listing. Continue reading
Important Google Links
Google provides a wide range of useful tools that are worthy of investigation. Every web site owner should be aware of these links. Some tools, such as Google’s Webmaster Tools, require registration. If you learn to use these tools, you will gain useful insight into how Google views your web sites. The following is a list of links that provide valuable tools, insight and information to help you utilize Google more effectively. Continue reading
Calculating Keyword Density
Good rankings in search engines depend upon many factors, but one of the most important is having good informational content on a Web page with a good mix of the targeted keyword phrases. The targeted keyword phrases set the keyword theme for a Web page. The content and several other page elements reinforce the theme for the page and proper reinforcement typically leads to higher search engine rankings. Continue reading
What are Google’s Supplemental Results?
If you find that your traffic from Google is falling off precipitously, pages in your web site may be getting moved in to Google’s supplemental result index. Google’s Supplemental Results is a secondary database that Google uses to park pages that it feels may not meet its standards. These pages rarely–if ever–show up in search results. There is a wide range of reasons that Google uses to weed out individual pages that it does not deem to be worthy of placement on its search results pages. Continue reading
Verifying Addresses and Phone Numbers with Google
Google has probably captured more information about you, me and everyone on this planet through their indexing of literally billions of web pages. Many of these web page contain names, addresses, phone numbers and probably a lot of information that we would not like to see made available. This huge collection of information can be used to verify names and addresses of customers when you suspect an order may be fraudulent. Continue reading
Important Links for eBay Buyers and Sellers
eBay is by far the world’s largest online auction site. If you sell products on the Web and are not also selling products on eBay, you may be missing an opportunity. eBay is a great place to test market products and perform price point studies on new product to see what people are willing to pay for items. eBay is also a great place to sell obsolete or returned merchandise that can not be returned to the manufacturer or distributor. And it is, of course, a primary market for tens of thousands of merchants. Continue reading
Important MSN Links
MSN is the number three search engine and trails a long way behind Google and Yahoo. Nonetheless, it can drive a substantial amount of traffic to your web site and should not be ignored. The following links provide valuable tools, insight and information to help you utilize MSN more effectively. Continue reading
What is Search Engine Cloaking?
This article describes a search engine optimization technique known as cloaking. While there are some legitimate uses for this technique, search engines consider cloaking to be an unethical practice, because the technique can be used to artificially boost a site’s rankings in search engines. The use of cloaking, or a technique that is mistaken for cloaking, will likely get a site banned (completely removed) from a search engine database if the technique is detected. Continue reading
Important Yahoo Links
Yahoo is the number two search engine. While Google continues to dominate and drives most of the traffic on the Internet, Yahoo is preferred by many users. The following links provide tips, marketing tools and useful information that can help a site owner utilize Yahoo’s search services more effectively. Continue reading
How to Use the robots.txt File to Exclude Files and Directories from Search Engines
The robots.txt file, also known as the robots exclusion file, is probably the best way to protect specific files and directories from being indexed by search engines. Why would you want to do this? To prevent certain Web pages, images or other Web objects from being added to a search engine’s database. Continue reading