TIP 22OK so that’s most of the on-page seo I consider dealt with. There’s not that much to it. You can control on-page seo, but I would think Google is looking for flags to demote a website or page, not promote it. So know the issues - know that people spam the hell on site. Try and stand apart while keeping it as simple as you possibly can.

ADD - The more I write this the more I don’t want to spread misinformation. This isn’t a crusade - I am just blogging here - if you have a comment to make about anything I have written, or even better a different point of view, please let me know in the comments on any of the posts. I’m always looking to hear about other people’s observations. I’ve been slapped before and Sebastian is a pal now

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Thanks for visiting the Hobo Blog! Why not subscribe to our Feed for free internet marketing tips, we're publishing one tip a day in July! We really welcome any feedback on our articles, so don't be scared to leave a comment either!

TIP 21The best piece of advice I ever read about creating a website / optimising a website was years ago: (more…)

A stupid test to see if online casino spam can rank me or get me traffic - from any place. (more…)

As of today I am going to be a lot more careful how I link to people. It’s a pet hate when you see somebody talking about you on a blog and not linking to you properly, or at all, just ask linkbait coach and pal Lyndon Antcliff.

I’m going to make an effort to make every link count.

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Warning - Major Rambling Works Ahead - Wanted A break from the onpage seo tips serial.

I once said to my boss (who was a dick) I wanted full access to the internet and fully paid home internet access. I was heavily abusing Napster & Limewire at the time. I also wanted a mobile phone as I was handling clients on a pay as you go. He nearly spat his coffee over his face onto his desk over the presentation he’d been working on all week. That sorta thing used to happen with me and him in the advertising agency I worked in.

I also told him at the same meeting I wanted to bring my dog to work and start and finish whenever I wanted. I’m an animal lover. Either that or I was off to do the business plan I came up with on my own (OK with a mate).

And so, after I won the only award the agency won that year (the same day the MD tried to sack me) Hobo was born. Thank f*ck!

I work on the internet. I would not work for a company that stopped me going on the internet whenever I wanted to. To do anything legal I wanted to do.

Caveat - I ‘work’ about 18-20 hours a day.

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TIP 20I am always on the look for duplicate content issues. I think I have seen -50 positions for nothing more than a lot of duplicate content although I am looking into other possible issues. Generally speaking, Google will identify the best pages on your site if you have a decent on-site architecture. It’s usually pretty decent at this but it totally depends on where you are linkbuilding to within the site and how your site navigation is put together. (more…)

TIP 19I’ve not got any proof this actually happens, but I do it. Rather than tell Google via a 404 or some other command that this page isn’t here any more, I have no problem permanently redirecting a page to a relatively similar page to pool any link power that page might have, or even redirect it server side to the home page. (more…)

TIP 18Does Google rank a page higher because of valid code? The short answer is no, even though I tested it on a small scale test with different results. (more…)

TIP 16Google hates everything Microsoft does so avoid ASP lol (more…)

TIP 15Another one to forget about. Sometimes I use directories and sometimes I use files. I have not been able to determine if there is any actual benefit to using either. (more…)

TIP 14This is another one of those areas in SEO or website development that you shouldn’t be concerned about. My advice would be to keep it consistent. (more…)

TIP 13As I mentioned in the ALT Tag seo tip, some seo proclaim putting your keywords in bold or putting your keywords in italics is a benefit in terms of search engine optimizing a page - as if they are working their way through a check list. (more…)

TIP 12Clean URLS (or search engine friendly urls) are just that - easy to read, simple. You do not need clean urls in a site architecture for Google to spider a site successfully, although I do use clean urls as a default these days, and have done so for years.

Is there a massive difference in Google when you use clean urls? (more…)

TIP 11Ah the ALT tag. An essential part of that on-page quality score seo crow about lol

• Keyword in the Title Tag - Check
• Keyword in the Page Content - Check
• Keyword in the meta description - Check
• Keyword in the ALT Tag?

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TIP 10I can’t even say this word properly - Canonicalization. Does your site have canonicalization problems?

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TIP 9Sticking firmly in on page seo territory, I regularly out to other quality relevant pages on other websites where possible and where a human would find it valuable. (more…)

TIP 8I’ll lay down my thoughts on internal link optimisation later in this seo tutorial, but onpage, I link internal to relevant pages in my site all the time. (more…)

TIP 7The short answer to this is - no. There is no one-size-fits-all keyword density, no optimal percentage, and I think I have the longest page on the internet debunking keyword density. (more…)

TIP 6I get asked this all the time - how much text do you put on a page to rank for a certain keyword? Well, as in so much of SEO theory and strategy, there is no optimal amount of text per page. (more…)

TIP 5I can’t find any definitive proof online that says you need to use Heading Tags (H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, H6) or that they improve rankings in Google, and I have seen pages do well in Google without them - but I do use them, especially the H1 tag on the page. For me it’s another piece of a perfect page, in the traditional sense, and I try to build a site for Google and humans.

<h1>The Hobo SEO Company, Scotland</h1>

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TIP 4OK - So I’ve theorised about the Title Element, the Meta Description Tag and the pointless (IMO) Meta Keywords tag.

The only other Meta Tag I am interested in, generally, is when I am trying to control which pages (at a page level) are indexed, or which external links are to be counted by Google as links - useful to stay within their guidelines in some cases. The Robots Meta Tag;

<meta name="robots" content="index, nofollow" />

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TIP 3Like the title element and unlike the meta keywords tag, this one is important, both from a human and search engine perspective.

<meta name="Description" content="Get your site on the first page of Google,
Yahoo and MSN too, using simple search engine optimisation.
Call us on 0845 094 0839. A company based in Scotland." />

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TIP 2Ahh, a bastian of crap and unethical seo companies - the meta-keywords tag! How many crap seo companies mention cleaning and optimising this tag in their presentations? Companies that waste time on these waste clients money.

<meta name="Keywords" content="seo, search engine optimisation, optimization" /

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TIP 1I’m keeping these 1 A Day SEO Tips in July quick and simple - and again, this is just my preference, backed up with observations I’ve made over the last few years I’ve been learning / practicing seo. This is the stuff people ask me - What Is The Perfect Title Tag For Google?

<title>The Hobo SEO Company Scotland</title>

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SEO TIPSI thought it would be cool to post an on-site seo tip a day (weekdays of course ) over the course of July, so the first one will be posted later today, with a new one posted every day after until the end of July. (more…)

I’m just now getting back into the swing of things after a fantastic 3 days spent at Edinburgh SEO Class 2008 with Jim Boykin, Chuck and Matt from US internet marketing firm We Build Pages and some Internet Marketing Ninjas. (more…)

SEO Class Edinburgh, Scotland

• Monday, June 23, 2008
• Tuesday, June 24, 2008

I will be presenting a seo workshop at the two-day session SEO Class Edinburgh, now run by Jim Boykin’s We Build Pages and Internet Marketing Ninjas. Guaranteed, if you’re looking to attend the best seo training classes in Scotland this year, this will be it.

In a great lineup you’ll also hear;

• Ammon Johns (Black Knight) independent marketing consultant and search marketing expert (currently at Fresh Egg).
• Barry Lloyd, founder and CEO of MakeMeTop, and search marketing expert.
• Brian Turner (iBrian) Director of Britecorp, Ltd., and search engine optimization expert.
• Jim Boykin, President and CEO of We Build Pages and link building expert.
• Lyndon Antcliff of Cornwall SEO and expert linkbaiter
• and QuadsZilla, of SEO Black Hat

These presentations will feature as part of Jim’s Internet Marketing Ninja program. (more…)

The irony of obsessively searching for what’s the best way to do something often leads to the same conclusion; (more…)

Quadzilla (who I look forward to meeting at SEO Class Scotland) has boldly published his views on the whole SMX / Black Hat Conference thing going on in the states as reported by Search Engine Land and I think kicked off by Lisa Barone highlighting the ‘fact’ SMX featured questionable seo tactics, not advanced white hat seo strategies.

Quadzilla - There’s no Such Thing as Advanced White Hat SEO

Want to sum up white hat SEO? It boils down to:

1) Site Architecture - Can be learned in 4 hours or less.
2) Analytics - Can you install a javascript and log in?
3) PPC - Even though we used to call that SEM . . .
4) Content - which is better handled by copywriters.

Alas! The Emperor has no clothes. There are no advanced white hat SEO techniques.

…. as ‘white hat seo’ (I suppose - gotta be as I help out clients) people might think I would argue but I’m inclined to sort of agree with this statement - at least I get the point that is being made although there is a bit of a kafuffle at Sphinn. It’s not that advanced seo I am using everyday to get results for people. (more…)

I hate unexpected pop-up windows. So recently when a client wanted some sort of pop up on their site to highlight a product, after discussing options and my views, we decided to trial the free Pageear PagePeel Banner, a slick sort of pop up window plugin that opens when your visitor hovers over the ‘peel’ at the top right of this page, for instance. (more…)

I thought it would be cool to track some of the better group seo interviews on the web. It’s useful to check out what experienced seo think of different seo techniques and factors - and examine where disagreement lies and why! (more…)

Andy Beard & Dave Naylor wrote interesting posts (see what I did there) about blog comments and specifically whether or not you should nofollow blog comments in an attempt to build a site that Google trusts and therefore allows to rank for competitive terms

We used to be a one comment dofollow blog. Now we remove nofollow from links only when the author has joined in on a few more posts and only if the site we’re linking to passes the smell test.

I just wanted a bit more control of comments for experimental purposes and Linky Love provides that, but I am committed to creating a blog that passes juice in some way while being conscious I am not linking to a bad neighbourhood.

But if you are starting out, and willing to build a decent site, I’d suggest and encourage you to remove nofollow from comments using Linky Love. It’s fine for visible blogs with a decent readership to proclaim ‘nofollow comments!’, but for the rest of us, dofollow increases your chance of getting the conversation going (so what if it increases the amount of human spam - it’s worth it.)

The more I read Dave’s post actually I think he is kinda turning into Google’s FUD Machine lol - perhaps it’s worth experimenting by nofollowing all my links?

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So Joomla week ends on the Hobo blog, and we’ve created a beginners guide to Joomla SEO.

If you’re creating a Joomla site, apart from creating useful content, intelligent website structure and getting links to your site with your primary keywords in them, consider these 7 on-page / on-site seo tips for Joomla; (more…)

Joomla Duplicate Content Issue

Joomla, like most if not all content management systems, creates duplicate content management issues. The sh404sef plugin alleviates some of these issues, but not all. (more…)

When China made its bid for the 2008 Olympics, government authorities promised improvements in human rights. Seven years on, China remains a country that executes, tortures and silences its citizens. Amnesty International on Human Rights In China.

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Remember tomorrow is Bloggers Unite Day For Human Rights, and this year it is Amnesty International we’re spamming promoting in search engines and blog engines.

You can blog about anything to do with Human Rights; (more…)

Insert H1 Tags In Joomla

There’s no factual based evidence that I know of (that springs to mind) that conclusively proves H1 headings on pages, or even H1-H6 headings have any benefits to high ranking in Google.

However, it is semantically correct to have one H1 on your page, the W3C says so. That’s why I like them, and I surmise that if your page doesn’t upset other Google filters first, H1 tags are useful and may well carry some positive weight in terms of page relevance; (more…)

- I thought I would take a short break from Joomla Week and thought it would be neat to list 10 free blog directories worth submitting your site to (in my opinion) - for traffic, better Google listings or reputation management. (more…)

Joomla SEO Tip - Home Page Title In 2 Mins

Your home page title tag is one of the most important title tags on your site. By default, Joomla displays the site name you specify in the config which isn’t that Google friendly, because it’s good to get your important keywords in your home page title. (more…)

OK so you have a Joomla site, your server has got .Htaccess support, you have turned on Search Engine Friendly URLS (SEF) and you’ve successfully installed and activated sh404sef so you can start automatically converting dynamically generated urls into something that is more ‘readable’. (more…)

sh404SEF is one of the best Joomla SEO plugins I have used. Make Joomla SEO friendly with this easy to install and use plugin. It’s simple to setup if you are familiar with Joomla, htaccess, and have a basic knowledge of seo. (more…)

Joomla sh404SEF Component

The sh404SEF Plugin makes Joomla SEO easy. I’ll be posting some simple Joomla seo tips to make Joomla sites work better in Google.

First up - download and install the Joomla sh404SEF Plugin (or rather ‘Component’) by siliana.com.

You can read what others say about this plugin on the Joomla forum, and the instructions to get working are printed below. (more…)

Joomla is a fantastic content management system that allows you to do, well, just about anything with your website - that’s why it is one of our CMS of choice for new clients. But when you install Joomla, search engine friendly URLs are not on by default, you need to configure it. (more…)

Microsoft Yahoo Deal - No Takeover

Microsoft appears to be throwing in the towel with regards to the hostile takeover of Yahoo. In a public email transmitted to CNN and picked up by Search Engine Land too, Steve Balmer of Microsoft sent Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang the following message, ending the attempt by Microsoft to buy Yahoo to take on the number 1 search engine in the world, Google.

In a letter Saturday to Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang, Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer formally withdrew the software giant’s proposal to acquire Yahoo. - CNN

As ever, Search Engine Land was quick to pick up on the news…. (more…)

Google Page Rank Update - Tue 29 April 2008

We’re getting reports of a Google Page Rank update today, Tue 29 April 2008, happening across certain data centers. (more…)

Yup, since January 01 2008 the Hobo site has been visited by no less than 100,000 unique visitors, from all over the world. For a small business that’s no mean feat considering we have never spent one penny in traditional advertising. We’ve not bought one link, even from Yahoo (although I might one day). (more…)

If you’re aiming to agree a fixed price for the development of the website, as we do, ensure the project goes smoothly before you start, by communicating with your client at the outset.

They’ll appreciate you for it, there will be less surprises, and you may be able to start making a profit from fixed cost website design jobs again; (more…)

Simple seo is just that. Simple. You can get top ten rankings in the SERPS in many industries just by following some very basic (on the whole, onsite) seo tips, and I’m going to share with you how.

It’s worth pointing out that you *typically* have three chances to tell Google what a page is about, and how important the page is.

1. On Page - The actual text content of the page
2. On-Site - In internal links to the target page
3. Off-Site - In links to the target page from other websites

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Designing and launching a website can be a pain, even when managed correctly.

Here’s 10 reasons your site won’t be launched today….. (more…)

I loved being a web designer and developer. I love the thought process and the finished product, but there are so many other factors out-with a web designer’s control that make being a web designer in 2008, suck! (more…)