SEO Blog


How to set up Hobo SEO Dashboard


Hobo SEO Dashboard is a tool in Google Sheets that helps marketers, SEOs and website developers perform an SEO audit report of any website. SEO Dashboard will autonomously run regular reports on every client in your Search Console to a schedule you set. When set up, you can rely on it to automatically publish and […]

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SEO Dashboard in Google Sheets


Hobo SEO Dashboard is an autonomous SEO reporter in Google Sheets, and easy to set up. If you are an SEO or web developer or an SEO manager who manages many sites in Search Console and prefers to work in spreadsheets, this is for you.

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Hobo SC Multi-Site (Search Console in Google Sheets)


Hobo SC for Google Sheets (with no subscription fees and a lifetime access guarantee) costs only GBP 199.   Buy Hobo SC Multi-Site   Want crawl reports too? Want to avoid the hassle of self-hosting your website crawler? Check out Hobo SEO Reporting.

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Search Console in Google Sheets


Hobo SC is a tool that helps marketers, SEOs and website developers explore and analyse Search Console data on any website directly in Google Sheets. It will autonomously run regular reports on every client in your Search Console to a schedule you set. When set up, you can rely on it to publish and update […]

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How to set up Google Search Console Api


How to set up Search Console Api access

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Hobo SEO Support


Hobo SEO support are tools and services to help you guarantee you align your site with Google guidelines, to avoid penalties and algorithm punishments in the future.

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Hobo SEO Dashboard in Google Sheets


  Hobo SEO Dashboard Multi-Site for Google Sheets is on 50% Presale and costs only GBP 499 (with no subscription fees and a lifetime access guarantee).   Buy Hobo SEO Dashboard  

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Hobo SEO Reporting


QUOTE: “The system that Shaun has created is simply superb. The level of information is fantastic, but the way it is organised quickly highlights areas of priority and provides genuinely actionable insights. This, and the fact that the information is coming directly from Google, has provided me with the confidence to progress a number of […]

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Hobo SF Multi-Site for Google Sheets


Hobo SF Multi-Site for Google Sheets is a complete SEO auditing system built in Google Sheets, that uses Screaming Frog files to prioritise your web development tasks and predict your budget spend and estimated timescales. It’s perfect for web development teams to manage multiple sites, using Screaming Frog. Hobo SF for Google Sheets costs only […]

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SEO course for beginners (Join free today)


In this free SEO course for beginners and professionals alike, I take you through exactly what you need to focus on to improve your traffic numbers from Google through search engine optimization best practices.

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Screaming Frog in Google Sheets


Screaming Frog is my favourite website development tool. It’s the best website crawler available at the cost, in my opinion, at least. The tricky part of working with Screaming Frog (which you will have purchased separately) is just managing the files it produces, and prioritising that list in a time-efficient manner. Hobo SF for Google […]

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Hobo SEO Checklist


Meet the Hobo SEO Checklist: Public version (free). Pro version with training course (£49). Premium (£180).

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Premium SEO Checklist


The Premium SEO checklist is a collection of SEO checklists available online through Google Sheets you can purchase.

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SEO tutorial for beginners


This tutorial is available for you to access as a free checklist in Google Sheets.

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Chatgpt SEO prompts: Do emulators dream of electric sheep?


Chatgpt cant do a lot of things you hear about on Social Media. Chatgpt is effectively emulating the function you think it is doing. It isn’t counting those words you are writing, it isn’t spell-checking your writing, it isn’t grammar-checking your copy. It cant check your website’s SEO (search engine optimisation), and it cannot SEO your website. If you use Ai to produce sloppy content, Google will have an algorithm cooking for you.

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How to learn Google SEO


This guide provides a beginners guide to learning SEO, starting with the basics.

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Youtube SEO Checklist


Learn YouTube SEO with this free guide. Learn about keyword research, video optimisation, video promotion, and more. Boost your YouTube rankings today.

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How to start SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)


This simple step-by-step tutorial simplifies SEO for beginners, covering the basics from keyword research to link building and rank monitoring.

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What is SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)


This guide provides an introduction to SEO, its importance, and how it can help businesses increase their online visibility and reach their target audience. It covers the basics of SEO, including keyword research, on-page optimisation, and link building

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What are the best SEO tools in 2023?


Discover the best SEO tools that can help optimise your website. From keyword research to backlink analysis, these tools are essential for improving visibility and traffic.

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How to improve your website user experience?


Improve your website’s user experience by understanding and avoiding intrusive interstitials and dialogs. This guide provides insights into creating unintrusive dialogs, using banners effectively, and avoiding common pitfalls.

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How does Google’s Page Experience impact your site’s ranking?


This guide provides insights into Google’s page experience, covering aspects like Core Web Vitals, secure page delivery, mobile-friendly design, and ad placement. Learn how to evaluate your site and deliver a good page experience.

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What are the best search engines to use in 2023?


Explore the best search engines of 2023. From privacy-focused platforms to those offering rewards programs, discover a range of options tailored to meet your specific search needs.

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Free SEO checklist template in Google Sheets


The free SEO checklist is a 100+ point reference of Google’s own recommendations on how to rank your site on Google. If you ignore these defacto rules, you are demoted in Google search. You do not recover past traffic levels until you address these quality issues on your site, and you certainly do not want to introduce any of these website quality issues to your site.

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Images and Alt Text SEO checklist


Keep ALT Attribute text on web pages to between 80-125 characters maximum for accessibility purposes. Expect Google to count a maximum of 16 words (approximately 125+ characters) as part of your ALT text that will be a signal used to rank your page for a relevant query.

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Search engine friendly URLs SEO checklist (2023)


This article examines the significance of search engine-friendly (SEF) URLs in enhancing a website’s ranking on Google. It offers practical advice on creating SEF URLs that boost website usability and enhance search result visibility.

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How to submit a site to search engines


If you are a website manager or business owner who wants to check if your website is listed in Google or find out how to submit your website to Google this article is for you.

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Headings SEO checklist 2023


If you are an SEO, a website developer, a content manager, or a designer looking for an SEO checklist for headings, here is a checklist straight from Google webmaster guidelines. This checklist takes you through the basics of using headings in your content.

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Javascript SEO checklist 2023


Here are some notes I have collected for those optimising a website built with Javascript and the challenges with Javascript in terms of search engine optimisation.

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What browsers should you test your website on in 2023?


Check how your site performs on the most popular mobile, desktop and tablet internet browsers: Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Samsung Internet, UC Browser, Opera, IE, Edge

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Link building for beginners (How to build links to your site)


This article discusses modern link-building tactics and strategies. It is focused on the beginner who wants to understand the benefits and risks of link-building. This article focuses on legitimate link-building tacts and strategies, not black-hat link-building tactics.

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Google webmaster guidelines checklist


The most popular search engines in the world like Google and Bing have webmaster guidelines for us to follow. If you do not follow these recommendations, you will not rank high for long in any of their free listings. This SEO checklist for beginners covers all of Google’s webmaster guidelines on how to create a high-quality website.

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What are the best screen sizes for responsive web design?


This article provides an overview of browser statistics and also best practices for designing websites for mobile and desktop screens. It is intended for web designers and developers who want to create responsive, user-friendly websites that perform well across different devices and screen resolutions.

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Title tags SEO checklist (2023)


This article is about optimising your website title tags for Google. It includes best practices sourced directly from official Google webmaster documentation and observations and opinions by the author.

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E-E-A-T checklist for SEO


This is a 300-point in-depth SEO checklist for in-house or outsourced website developers and managers (with limited technical jargon) on reviewing your website to ensure it meets Google Search Quality Evaluator ratings.

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How fast should a website load?


If you are a website owner, marketer, or developer learning about the benefits of a fast website, this article is for you. This article investigates the latest research and makes a case for why you should focus on improving your website download times.

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Video SEO checklist


This is an in-depth SEO checklist for in-house or outsourced website developers and managers (with limited technical jargon) on managing video SEO (search engine optimisation) on a website. This professional-level checklist goes beyond the standard video SEO advice.  It includes many recommendations from Google itself on how to manage video on your web pages to […]

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International SEO checklist for multi-regional and multilingual sites


This professional-level checklist goes beyond the standard international SEO (search engine optimisation) advice.  It includes many recommendations from Google itself on how to manage multi-regional and multilingual sites in Google Search.

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Internal links SEO checklist (2023)


This article discusses optimising internal links on your website to maximise indexation and ranking in Google.

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SEO checklist in Excel


The SEO Checklist in Excel is an excel spreadsheet to help you manage your SEO (search engine optimisation) project from both a site-wide level and a page-level perspective.

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On-Page SEO Checklist in Google Sheets with OpenAi (ChatGpt ) integration


The latest version of Hobo Premium SEO Checklist in Google Sheets with OpenAi (the emerging technology behind ChatGpt) integration is now configured with some automation to save you time analysing pages. This Key Page checklist is a tool for you to quickly analyse any web page to guidelines Google has set out for webmasters to follow.

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Step-by-step Analytics 4 migration checklist


On July 1, 2023, older Google Analytics properties will stop processing new hits for your website. You must upgrade to Analytics 4 before this date; the sooner, the better. Everything you need to migrate to Analytics 4 before the deadline is included in this checklist.

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Technical SEO Audit Training Course 2024


If you are a website developer, SEO (search engine optimiser) or website manager and you need a Technical SEO audit checklist for your website, look no further. This SEO audit checklist is ideal for webmasters tasked with managing an SEO auditing project.

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Ecommerce SEO checklist


If you are the website developer, manager or owner of an online store looking to improve Google traffic to it, the Hobo Google SEO checklist for eCommerce stores is made for you.

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How long does it take to see results from SEO?


This is a clear example of the length of time it takes sometimes to achieve number 1 rankings on Google. John Mueller from Google has been saying this for a long time. SEO (search engine optimisation) takes time. QUOTE: “Making significant quality changes across a site takes time to be picked up & reflected in […]

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SEO copywriting checklist


This is an SEO checklist for web page copy editors & copywriters (with no technical jargon).

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How to create helpful content for Google


SEO copywriting is the art of writing high-quality content for search engines on-page in copy, in page titles, meta descriptions, SERP snippets and SERP featured snippets. It is not about keyword stuffing text.

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The effect of optimising multiple pages on a site for very similar keyword phrases


This is also known as keyword cannibalisation.

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What are the best SEO tools for beginners to use?


If you are a developer new to SEO (search engine optimisation) and looking for the best SEO tools you can use to optimise your website, this article is for you. This article lists a number of SEO tools you as a beginner can instantly derive value from.

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Audit Your Own Site


QUOTE: “We’ve been working with HOBO for around 2 years now, and in that time the performance of our site has gone from strength to strength – considerably outstripping our expectations. They have provided timely, considered and expert advice which has always proved beneficial, and have also been proactive in suggesting new tactics and strategies […]

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How to do SEO in 2022


QUOTE: “Creating compelling and useful content will likely influence your website more than any of the other factors…” Google SEO Starter Guide, 2021 SEO (search engine optimisation) is modifications to a web page that help make a page more relevant to a query. Assuming you “only publish high-quality 100% unique content to your site” then […]

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Mobile SEO checklist


This paid-for SEO checklist in Google sheets is designed to be all website managers need to edit a mobile website to align with Google’s webmaster guidelines and so rank optimally in Google.

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Website migration SEO checklist


This is a website migration SEO checklist for in-house or outsourced website managers, designers, and developers to manage the migration process. The professional website migration SEO checklist is now available as part of the Hobo SEO Premium SEO checklist.

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Hotel SEO checklist for hotels and guest houses


This paid-for SEO checklist in Google sheets is designed to be all website managers need to edit a Hotel website to align with Google’s webmaster guidelines and so rank optimally in Google. Know that if you do not follow these guidelines, your website is demoted in Google search results.

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Get Remote SEO Management For Your Website Development Team


I can help you develop an SEO strategy and manage your SEO team as they implement it. Contact me for more information.

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Free SEO Ebook PDF Download


Students of Google SEO can download the Hobo Web free SEO Ebook.

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What is a nofollow link?


Google recommends you ‘qualify outbound links’ using the link attribute ‘nofollow’: Use rel=”sponsored” or rel=”nofollow” for paid links. Use rel=”ugc” or rel=”nofollow” for user generated content links. Use nofollow on widgets, themes and infographic links. Don’t use nofollow on every external link on your website. Don’t use nofollow on internal links.

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Google Advice; How To Deal With Out Of Stock Items


Return a 404 if the product is permanently out of stock. Return a 200 if the product is temporarily out of stock. Return a 301 to equivalent content if the product is expired but you have reason to preserve SEO Benefits.

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How to get Google to crawl and index your website quickly


Make sure Google can crawl your website, index and rank all your primary pages by only serving Googlebot high-quality, user friendly and fast loading pages to index.

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How to change domain names & keep rankings in Google


You can keep your rankings your old site has earned and transfer them to your new site when you migrate from one domain to another. Sometimes this can be complicated, sometimes not.

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What is the best keyword density percentage for SEO?


Many SEO experts have agreed for over a decade there is no single best keyword density to rank high in Google or Bing. Optimal keyword density differs from page to page, phrase to phrase. Write naturally and include the keyword phrase once or twice on-page. Avoid demotion in Google by avoiding repeating keyword phrases in text content. Focus on creating high-quality engaging content instead.

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Best practices for meta description & other meta tags


This is a beginners guide to writing effective meta tags for Google SEO. By Shaun Anderson, an author with 20 years experience of Google SEO.

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What Is Keyword Stuffing (Irrelevant Keywords)?


QUOTE: “Keyword Stuffed” Main Content Pages may be created to lure search engines and users by repeating keywords over and over again, sometimes in unnatural and unhelpful ways. Such pages are created using words likely to be contained in queries issued by users. Keyword stuffing can range from mildly annoying to users, to complete gibberish. Pages created with the intent of luring search engines and users, rather than providing meaningful MC to help users, should be rated Lowest.” Google Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines 2017

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Review: How To Do An SEO Audit With SEMRush FAST (Beginners Guide)


How to do an seo audit quickly and simply with SEMRush.

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How To Do Keyword Research FAST in 2022


Keyword research is one of the most important aspects of SEO. But do you know what makes it so significant? Or how to do it? Or which tools to use? This post is a guide for beginners.

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Duplicate Content SEO


Only add unique hand-written content to your web pages. Don’t add content to your pages that is found verbatim on other pages on the web. Do not ‘spin’ text on pages on your site. Don’t create thin-pages with little value add to users. Implement the rel=”canonical” link element on all pages.

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How To Use Sitebulb Website Crawler Site Auditor To Manage Onsite SEO


A review and walkthrough of a new website crawler tool that helps you manage your seo efforts.

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Google Ranking Factors & Quality Rating Criteria


For students of SEO, a collection of my notes on potential Google ranking factors and quality rating signals.

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Factual SEO: Is Google Censoring Negative Searches about Hillary Clinton?


Is Google censoring autocomplete suggestions for Hillary Clinton?

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Top 100 Advertising Agencies Based On SEO Performance


I’ve focused on surfacing the top advertising agency sites in the world, based on search engine marketing and social media signals – the top ad agencies in the world based on SEO performance.

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Why I Do SEO The Way I Do It


Many new into SEO today think old school seo was spam. Today’s narrative encourages them to think like that. I do miss that old style seo which – of course – was a lot simpler to deploy. I miss the cavalier approach to seo, and the quick results to be had from it. There was fun to […]

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REDDIT USERS: How Do You Rank Top In Google?


Hobo got talked about on the front page of Reddit yesterday. Which was nice. I try to answer some questions in this post.

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Unobtrusive pop-ups


If you are a WordPress site owner, designer, or developer looking to maximize the number of leads from your website using pop-ups, this plugin is for you.

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How To Increase Google Pagerank?


Google probably uses an updated version of Pagerank like the reasonable surfer and Trusted Seeds approach. Pagerank is a measure of the popularity of a resource on the web. The simple, most practical answer to increasing Google Pagerank is to get prominent, natural links on authoritative websites in your niche.

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How To Export More Than 5000 Rows in Google Analytics


You CAN NO LONGER display and export more than 5000 rows in Google Analytics. You used to be able to, using the hack I list below: When you select 5000 rows you will have a URL like this https://www.google.com/analytics/web/?hl=en-GB&pli=1#report/trafficsources-organic/a12346448w43910105p43958149/%3F_u.date00%3D20110101%26_u.date01%3D20130410%26explorer-table.plotKeys%3D%5B%5D%26explorer-table.rowStart%3D0%26explorer-table.rowCount%3D5000/ …once you could just change that last number from 5000 at the end of that URL […]

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Google Analytics Cookies & EU Privacy Directive


Worried about the new EU Privacy directive, cookies and what it means for Google Analytics on your website? There’s been some new clarification from the UK Government. “We talked about cookies (how could we not?) but we didn’t get hung up on them – other relevant technologies e.g. HTML5 Local Storage and web beacons came up […]

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Put A Ding In The Universe – Steve Jobs Quote


QUOTE:”I want to put a ding in the universe.” Steve Jobs, 1981; Source – New York Times, 2011 What Does Ding mean?: QUOTE “Make a ringing sound” OR “(North American English) to cause slight damage” Oxford English Dictionary, 2020

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How to rank number one on Google


You’ll need: To follow Google Webmaster SEO Quality Guidelines. A website reputation for publishing original, useful and relevant content. A satisfying user-friendly page experience for visitors from search. A fast, responsive, easy-to-edit mobile-friendly website. A sensible user-friendly website architecture. High-quality prominent natural links from other websites.

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Inverclyde MP David Cairns On Twitter


Politician & MP for Inverclyde David Cairns recently visited the Hobo offices for a few hours, and during that time I pointed out to him something called Twitter. Since then, I see him in my stream clearly engaging with folks via his Twitter account, so I asked him a few questions about Social Media’s impact […]

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Blogging Strategy


How do you run a blog to get the most SEO benefit? I explore the basics of it in this blogging guide for beginners.

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A Website Design & Development Project Checklist For Beginners


AS seen in Smashing Magazine! A free web design an development project plan and checklist for designers and clients.

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Atlantis Google Earth Coordinates


Did Google find Atlantis? It’s being reported around the web today that Google Earth has found Atlantis :) Here’s the co-ordinates to find Atlantis with Google Earth; coordinates: 31 15’15.53N, 24 15’30.53W (600 miles west of Morocco, deep in the Atlantic Ocean) The man from the sun says yes but the man from Google says […]

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How To Get Started In Social Media in 4 Steps


1. Figure Out What You Want To Get Out Of Social Media. 2. Create Your Profiles. 3. Learn The Community Rules. 4. Become An Active Part Of That Community. Enjoy It.

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Robots.txt Best Practices For Beginners


A robots.txt file is a file on your webserver used to control bots like Googlebot, Google’s web crawler. You can use it to block Google and Bing from crawling parts of your site.

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Don’t Use Website Frames To Design & Build Your Site


If you are serious about organic search engine optimisation, forget about using, or optimising frames and read up on the latest guidelines for SEO.

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UK Government Access Keys Standard For Websites


Do not use access keys. The access key attribute, introduced in HTML4.0, is intended to provide keyboard shortcuts in that they provide an alternative form of navigation. This addition allows users with limited physical capabilities to navigate the organisation’s website more easily. There are some drawbacks with website access keys, for example: functionality depends on […]

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How to design websites for blindness, deaf, disability & dyslexia


How to design your website for users with disabilities.

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Does Google Prefer Valid HTML?


No. While Google recommends we use W3C validation, Google doesn’t rank valid html and css pages above invalid pages. If Google can crawl and render a page Google will rank the page appropriately based on how relevant it is to the query. Invalid HTML can on the other hand can cause search engines problems.

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