Your site on the Web – How sitemaps effect SEO

Robots.txt and Sitemap.xml

After analyzing the domain name, general design, and URL format,  I look at potential client’s robots.txt and sitemap. This is helpful because it starts to give you an idea of how much (or little) the developers of the site cared about SEO. A robots.txt file is a very basic
step webmasters can take to work with search engines. The text file, which
should be located in the root directory of the website (http://www.example.com/robots.txt), is based on an informal protocol that is used for telling search engines what directories and files they are allowed and disallowed from accessing. The inclusion of this file gives you a rough hint of whether or not the developers of the given site made SEO a
priority.

Bit.ly is a very popular URL shortening service. Due to its connections
with Twitter.com, it is quickly becoming one of the most linked websites on
the Web. One reason for this is its flexibility. It has a feature where users
can pick their own URL. For example, when linking to my website I might
choose http://bit.ly/TimeStopping. Unfortunately, Bit.ly forgot to block
certain URLs, and someone was able to create a shortened URL for
http://bit.ly/robots.txt. This opened up the possibility for that person to
control how robots were allowed to crawl Bit.ly. Oops! This is a great
example of why knowing even the basics of SEO is essential for webbased
business owners. After taking a quick glance at the robots.txt file, SEO professionals tend
to look at the default location for a sitemap. (http://www.example.com/sitemap.xml). When I do this, I don’t spend a lot of time analyzing it (that comes later, if owners of that website become a client); instead, I skim through it to see if I can glean any information about
the setup of the site.

A lot of times, it will quickly show me if the website has information hierarchy issues. Specifically, I am looking for how the URLs relate to each other. A good example of information hierarchy would be http://www.example.com/mammal/dogs/english-springer-spaniel.html, whereas a bad example would be http://www.example.com/node?type=6&kind=7. Notice on the bad example that the search engines can’t extract any semantic value from the URL. The sitemap can give you a quick idea of the URL formation of the website. URLs like this one are a sign a website has information hierarchy issues because search engines can’t extract any semantic value from the URL.

 

 
Action Checklist
When viewing a website from the 100-foot level, be sure to take the following actions:
Decide if the domain name is appropriate for the given site based on the criteria outlined above.
Based on your initial reaction, decide if the graphical design of the website is appropriate
Check for the common canonicalization errors
Check to see if a robots.txt exists and get an idea of how important SEO was to the website developers. If inclined, check to see if a sitemap.xml file exists, and if it does,
skim through it to get an idea of how the search engines might see
the hierarchy of the website.

If all else fails…. Keep making awesome, relevant posts and keep building those links into your sitemap! Penguin is a different beast altogether from Panda…

Inbound Marketing Software Leader to Demonstrate Comprehensive Suite and Host a Networking Happy Hour

SEATTLE, WA, Jun 05, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — Optify, a leading provider of inbound marketing software for professional B2B marketers, today announced the company will be showcasing its inbound marketing suite at booth #6 on the exhibitor floor at SMX Advanced in Seattle on June 5-6. Optify enables B2B marketers to generate more high-quality inbound leads, nurture more demand from existing leads, and track the impact of all marketing programs in one place.

Attendees are also invited to attend Happy Hour with Optify on Tuesday, June 5 from 6-9 p.m. at Hook & Plow in the Marriott Hotel. This event will provide a relaxed environment to network with other SMX presenters and attendees. Those interested should register for the event and bring their SMX badge.

Happy Hour with Optify When: Tues., June 5 at 6-9 p.m. Where: Hook & Plow in the Marriott Hotel, 2100 Alaskan Way, Seattle, WA 98121

SMX Advanced is the only search marketing conference designed exclusively for experienced internet marketers. The most accomplished search marketers in the world will present cutting edge tips for driving traffic and increasing conversions from paid search advertising, SEO, social media marketing, search analytics and more.

About Optify Optify provides an integrated inbound marketing solution for marketers who are responsible for fueling their company’s growth. Optify helps B2B marketers reach more buyers and generate more demand for their products or services month-after-month. The Optify Inbound Marketing Software Suite brings together the enterprise-class SEO and social marketing tools that marketers need to increase awareness of their business, influence buyers across social networks, and engage with prospects at the earliest point of their buyer’s journey. Optify’s flexible pricing model makes it a cost-effective solution for managing a single site, or 100 sites. Optify is headquartered in Seattle, Washington. To learn more about Optify, please visit http://www.optify.net ?optify_r=press-release&optify_rd=SMX-ADV-12.

The Latest Internet Marketing Techniques & SEO Tips Using Google Analytics’ Real-Time

Google analytics Real-Time has opened up a host of new SEO tricks and Internet marketing techniques to help businesses and marketers create more flexible and responsive SEO, content, ads, and marketing campaigns.

This article explores the analytical features of Real-Time and then provides a list of exciting new marketing and SEO tips & tricks to help you get the most out of your web content, ad campaigns and social media marketing.

Features of Google analytics’ Real-Time

To access Real-Time in Google analytics, click Home from the main menu and then select Real-Time >> Overview from the navigation menu on the left hand side of the page.

Real-Time Overview

The overview page provides the following data:

• Number of current, active visitors
• Pageview history for the last 30 minutes
• Per second history of the current minute’s pageviews
• Top referrals
• Top active pages
• Top keywords
• Top locations

Each of the remaining pages in Real-Time (Locations, traffic sources, Content) provide a focused view of their respective data niches, and allow you to add filters to your real time data.

For example, go to the Locations page and click on a country from the map. Now head back to the Overview page and look at the data filtered by the country you specified. Neat, huh?

You can easily remove any filters by clicking on the blue filter link at the top of the page.

Internet marketing techniques and SEO tip using Real-Time

Real time analytical data about blog or website traffic is incredibly valuable for any Internet marketer, advertiser, SEM, SEO, blogger or online business.

By closely watching traffic patterns, content hits, visitor data, and referrals it is possible to build up a picture of how marketing, advertising or content spreads through the Internet, how long it takes to have an impact, how much of an impact it has, whether or not it is having the right impact, and so on.

• Twitter marketing: Measure the immediate impact of a tweet. Repeat this process at different times to build up a picture of the type of tweets that drive more traffic, and when it’s best to share.
• Real-time responsive advertising: If you an see that traffic is particularly high in one location, in one demographic, at the current moment, why not change your advertising to match them? In the mornings most of my traffic is from India, but by afternoon, most of my visitors are from the U.S. Completely different demographics.
• Real-time responsive social media engagement: tonnes of traffic coming from a LinkedIn group? Why not head over there and join the conversation. Help stimulate real time debate and drive more traffic and visibility for your site, blog or brand.
• General social media sharing: Digg an article and watch for spikes in traffic. Share a blog post on Facebook and analyze the resulting traffic. Share articles and news on Reddit, StumbleUpon, or LinkedIn to find out which times have higher engagement levels, etc.
• Google ads analysis: Just released a new Google ad? Keep an eye on real time data coming through to see how visitors are responding (i.e. are they bouncing, browsing aimlessly, or converting?)
• PPC campaign analysis: Launch a new ad campaign by making sure everything is working properly. Check your real-time analytics to ensure PPC ads are driving traffic to the right place. Quickly respond to problems or high bounce rates.
• New content: Published a new article? Keep an eye on Real-Time to see how long it takes for the article to get picked up, shared and start driving traffic. Find out which visitors are “early adopters” and regularly share new content from your site. Understand your content’s early stage sharing patterns so that you can improve on it.
• Error correcting: Whatever SEO or Internet marketing activity you have recently performed, it is vital that any problems are detected and corrected as early as possible. Monitor Real-Time to check for spike in 404 codes, etc.
• Server load monitoring: If you can see a huge traffic spike, or very high server loads, you can take steps to prevent your server from crashing. Perhaps throttle back on computationally expensive modules, or put implement other safeguards to prevent downtime.
• Improved online responsiveness: Has someone mentioned you in a blog or news article. Take note of traffic spikes immediately and go contribute and “shape” the course of the debate to enhance your brand and increase traffic and conversions.

Working Materials – Stay Tuned

Shock and Awe

This is one of my favorite expressions of all time.