Do you have a SEO/SEM or related question?

[Biggie]

i hand-code in notepad, using html

so these issues i haven't encountered or knew if they existed

 

[Shane]

i hand-code in notepad, using html

so these issues i haven't encountered or knew if they existed

Most SEO issues are related to improper handling of dynamic content.

Hand-coding is almost always the best option, IMO. I only build upon other platforms if I intend to sell.

 

[wordplay]

Beards.net Thanks again for your helpful information (per this post of yours).

I'm primarily a graphics guy, and am not feeling the least bit confident in my ability to resolve my
.htaccess issue (especially from what I've read of what can happen if it's done incorrectly).

What would you charge to do it for me? Or could you recommend someone who, like you, is very experienced in this area?

 

[Shane]

I'll create the file for free. I just have to run some errands first.

 

[wordplay]

I very much appreciate that, Beard.net -- but I know your time is valuable. Please allow me to pay you for it.

I will also need to be clear on where to place the file. In my main (WWW) folder?

 

[Shane]

WordPlay - It's really alright. .htaccess isn't actually an area of my expertise.

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.example.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://example.com/$1 [R=301,L]


RewriteCond %{HTTPS} !=off
RewriteRule ^ http://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]

1.) Create new file at root level (should be with the homepage's index)
2.) Add quoted code and change example.com (lines 2 and 3) to your domain
4.) Save file as .htaccess

I believe the old code I quoted had a conflict. This one has been tested and works perfectly.

 

[wordplay]

You're great, Beard.net.

Last question: If for some reason this doesn't work -- can I easily undo it -- or will there be some kind of major meltdown on the server?

 

[Shane]

You're great, Beard.net.

Last question: If for some reason this doesn't work -- can I easily undo it -- or will there be some kind of major meltdown on the server?

Worst case the website will throw an error. If you delete the file or remove the code it'll all go back to normal upon refresh.

 

[wordplay]

Beards.net, have done as you instructed, and nothing blew up or broke down. Hopefully, this will eventually help with my SEO results.

For what it's worth, I have donated 1,000 DNF to you for your help.

I was born in Colorado Springs. You represent my state of birth well

 

[Shane]

Beards.net, have done as you instructed, and nothing blew up or broke down. Hopefully, this will eventually help with my SEO results.

For what it's worth, I have donated 1,000 DNF to you for your help.

I was born in Colorado Springs. You represent my state of birth well

Thank you for the donation. I'll use all donations, from this thread, for Exclusive Membership. I actually just moved here but am loving it! Everyone is so friendly.

I'm glad it solved your problem. If you need anything else feel free to come back!

 

[wordplay]

Beards.net -- I would like to ask you one more question if I may -- about the Canonical URL Tag .

My client's url http://give2kids.net is very similar in content to http://give2kids.net/donate-car-nj.htm
I've been optimizing for the latter page.

Is this a case where I should use the canonical tag on the http://give2kids.net/donate-car-nj.htm page,
to direct all juice to it?

For some reason, when it comes to the canonical topic, I have reading comprehension challenges.

Edit: I lied -- one final question (honest):

I just did an SeoMoz scan for duplicate content, and it showed
"give2kids.net" and "give2kids.net/index.html" as being duplicates.

However, give2kids.net is index.html -- so what does this mean? How can one page show as
a duplicate of itself?

 

[Shane]

Beards.net -- I would like to ask you one more question if I may -- about the Canonical URL Tag .

My client's url http://give2kids.net is very similar in content to http://give2kids.net/donate-car-nj.htm
I've been optimizing for the latter page.

Is this a case where I should use the canonical tag on the http://give2kids.net/donate-car-nj.htm page,
to direct all juice to it?

For some reason, when it comes to the canonical topic, I have reading comprehension challenges.

Edit: I lied -- one final question (honest):

I just did an SeoMoz scan for duplicate content, and it showed
"give2kids.net" and "give2kids.net/index.html" as being duplicates.

However, give2kids.net is index.html -- so what does this mean? How can one page show as
a duplicate of itself?

You wouldn't use a canonical tag for the first one. If anything you should use an html citation.

I've never seen that but it's SEOMOZ not Google so I wouldn't worry about it. If you want to be sure just do a site search on Google and see if both "pages" display. My guess is it's an error on their side.

 

[wordplay]

Thank you.

Both "give2kids.net/index.html" and "give2kids.net" come up on Google, when I search for them separately.
I'll have to look into this further.

 

[Shane]

Thank you.

Both "give2kids.net/index.html" and "give2kids.net" come up on Google, when I search for them separately.
I'll have to look into this further.

Definitely let me know what you find out. I've never seen that happen. Are you sure you don't have give2kids.net/index.php showing up as give2kids.net?

 

[wordplay]

A couple things I've found out:

SEOMoz is showing "give2kids.net/index.html" to have a Page Authority of 18, and 1 Linking Root Domain,
but "give2kids.net" has 1 Authority and 0 Linking Root Domain.

I also see that a index.html file is in my server Stats folder -- I have no idea why, and it won't let me delete it (I get a 550 permission denied error).

 

[Shane]

A couple things I've found out:

SEOMoz is showing "give2kids.net/index.html" to have a Page Authority of 18, and 1 Linking Root Domain,
but "give2kids.net" has 1 Authority and 0 Linking Root Domain.

I also see that a index.html file is in my server Stats folder -- I have no idea why, and it won't let me delete it (I get a 550 permission denied error).

Sometimes that happens to me when my programmer creates or modifies a folder. Anyone else have access?

 

[wordplay]

I'll call GoDaddy about it. Thank you.

 

[Shane]

I'll call GoDaddy about it. Thank you.

What turned out to be the problem?

 

[wordplay]

Beards.net, I see no one is taking advantage yet of your kind offer, so if I may, I have another question.

About 6 weeks ago I changed the title for a web page I'm optimizing for-- and re-indexed that page at that time
so the title in the Google search listing would eventually update.

It's showing up fine for one of the keyword phrases I'm optimizing for, but for the other two, it still shows the old title.

To clarify:

Keyword Donate Your Car NJ shows correct title (Donate Your Car NJ, Receive a $200 VISA Gift Card + 2 Day 3 Night ...)

Keywords Donate Car NJ and Car Donation NJ both still show the old title (Donate Car NJ - American Children's Cancer Association)

Why would different keywords for the same web page not all show the updated title in search results?

My client is hot to get this thing updated, and they don't understand why I'm not doing it. Any light you can shed on this would be most appreciated.

 

[Shane]

Beards.net, I see no one is taking advantage yet of your kind offer, so if I may, I have another question.

About 6 weeks ago I changed the title for a web page I'm optimizing for-- and re-indexed that page at that time
so the title in the Google search listing would eventually update.

It's showing up fine for one of the keyword phrases I'm optimizing for, but for the other two, it still shows the old title.

To clarify:

Keyword Donate Your Car NJ shows correct title (Donate Your Car NJ, Receive a $200 VISA Gift Card + 2 Day 3 Night ...)

Keywords Donate Car NJ and Car Donation NJ both still show the old title (Donate Car NJ - American Children's Cancer Association)

Why would different keywords for the same web page not all show the updated title in search results?

My client is hot to get this thing updated, and they don't understand why I'm not doing it. Any light you can shed on this would be most appreciated.

Google sometimes changes the title and description to better fit the query. I'm not aware of anyway to over-ride their preferences. I wish I could be of more help!