Yesterday, Google updated their Google Webmaster Guidelines, which provide basic information on how to help Google find, index and rank your site. While most of the quality guidelines are similar to the previous iteration, Google now provides more specific information about illicit practices that may lead to a site being banned or penalized.
Today, there is an excellent post at Search Engine Land. The post outlines the choices a small business owner must make to be competitive within the natural search results.
One facet of search engine optimization (SEO) often misunderstood by Web site developers is the effect of URL structure on search engine rank. URL structure can have a major impact on the performance of a site in the search engines. The following post provides insight into creating properly optimized URLs.
If you are in the process of re-designing your site from the ground up, you know it has to be search engine friendly. You have spent days researching keywords. You have written relevant content with just the right mix of messaging and keyword density. And, you have developed the most accessible code possible. You are ready to launch . . . right? Well, not quite. Consider this: By changing your site’s previous file names and directory structures, you are essentially removing many – if not all – of the pages that have been assigned a PageRank by Google. Unfortunately, there is no way around this. But, one way to make sure that your new pages are crawled as fast a possible is to implement 301 redirects, and submit an XML Sitemap.
More than likely, you are well aware that prominently positioned Natural search listings are highly coveted assets. Search engine users routinely report that the companies found in the top Natural search listings are perceived to be leaders in their industry. Once you have achieved highly ranked listings within major Natural search engines, the last thing you want to do is lose these valuable assets. Here are the top five mistakes that you will want to avoid to ensure that you maintain your hard-fought positions within relevant Natural search results.
