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Website Hosting and HPPTS Options

Filed Under: Seo Basics

Google now has the HTTPS website URL as their favorite in their search results

Last year they already mentioned that they will identify https sites as save in Chrome (https://www.searchenginejournal.com/https-required-collecting-sensitive-information-chrome-january-2017/182342/). And you can see for yourself that the Lock icon and the save mark ar on this website.

I recently checked the results for a common search like “build a website” and found that the first 10 results all show https websites.

The first website without https showed up on the 14th spot, all the others on page 2 are also https sites.

Moving from HTTP to HTTPS

Important!!
  1. Always backup your website, including database before you start.
  2. Remember, for Google, this is a site move! So if not done correctly you might lose traffic.

Getting from HTTP to HTTPS need to be supported by your hosting company.

You can buy a full SSL certificate for your domain, and if you have an e-commerce store that should be your first choice.

For a standard website or blog like this one, a Free LetsEncrypt option will do just fine.

With the Siteground Hosting company where this site runs, they support both options.

It’s also really easy to get a LetsEncrypt certificate. Just go to your Hosting Cpanel en click on Let’s Encrypt.

You then get a list of your domains that already have a certificate and you get a selection box where you select the domain and request a certificate.

Wait a couple of seconds to let the process complete and you are done with this part.

Now you need to login to your Content Management System and change the base URL from HTTP to HTTPS.

I use WordPress on this site, so for me, it meant going to Setting -> General and change the URL to HTTPS and re-login.

But with the image and other links on the website still pointing to http:// resources you don’t get a full save icon, its mixed content.

For WordPress there is a plugin called Really Simple SSL that fixes this, it also makes sure that the http:// links get redirected to the https:// version.

Something that is really important for Google and your visitors.

If you want to take it a step further, get the Pro version of Really Simple SSL, as that works it’s magic to get HSTS.

I don’t have the Pro version on this website, but I do use it on my dutch WordPress Magazine website and it has a 100% secure rating on the Dutch Internet.nl website making it into the Hall of Fame.

Doing a basic check on this site via https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/ gives me an A rating.

SSL test result

So to keep your rating and stay in the Google search results, move your site from HTTP to HTTPS.

If your hosting company does not have an option like Let’s Encrypt, ask them if and when they will implement it.

If you don’t get it or if you are not getting a clear answer, you might want to consider moving your website to a new hosting provider like SiteGround.com, I did and I am very happy that I did!

Moving from Pathos-Seo.com to DIYSiteSeo.com

Filed Under: Planning your Website

Today I am working on consolidating old websites into new ones as part of my new year’s resolution. For 2017 I want to simplify my online presence by reducing the number of sites I manage.

So I am letting go of Pathos-seo.com in favor of DIYSiteSeo.com. This last domain is not as old as Pathos, but I think it’s a better fit for where I want to go.

Pathos-seo.com was heavily focused on Joomla! SEO. Joomla! is not my most use CMS anymore since WordPress has progressed into the CMS area.

Pathos was registered in 2006. Now, 10 years later, I feel it’s good to let go and take only the best parts with me to this new site.

Moving to a new domain

Moving to a new domain is like moving to a new house. Only thing is that it is fully digital so it’s not as heavy to lift.

Steps taken:

  • Export all database content like posts, pages and links from one WordPress site via the Tools ->Export function,
  • Download the wp-content folder with all plugins and images via FTP to my local drive,
  • Import posts, pages, links, etc into the new site with the import plugin from WordPress,
  • Upload content of wp-content via FTP to the new site,
  • Change domain and site pointers in the new website from old to the new domain via a Search and Replace Plugin,
  • Update media catalog via Media from FTP plugin,
  • Check permalinks to work between old and new site,
  • Setup domain redirects from the old to the new domain and run checks again.

Next steps after the domain move

After the steps mentioned above and the redirects work it’s time to take the next steps.

Changing WordPress Theme

For me, that means changing to a new WordPress theme for which I choose a Genesis Framework Child Theme called Simple Pro Theme.

It’s a very clean theme that will keep the focus on the content of articles I wrote and will be writing.

As part of that focus, you will also see a lot less advertising banners and more links instead, those can and will be affiliate links if suitable.

Cleaning Up House

I am also sifting through the old articles seeing if they have become obsolete or need updates in the content of image-wise.

This house cleaning will take me a couple of days.

It’s like unpacking your moving boxes and looking where to place your items in your new house.

In real life, you would of course thrown away old stuff before you move, but in this digital world, you can work the other way around.

While I go through the old articles I also need to create new featured images for them. The new theme looks better with larger width images and those are also used as thumbnails for related posts.

So besides the move, I also need to do some site renovation cleaning and making sure I correct any SEO errors.

As another part of this move, I will make it even more mobile-friendly with this new theme and by setting up AMP pages.

Domain move and site renovation

Website Clean Up in Progress

Filed Under: SEO, WordPress

I like Yoast.com, not only for the great WordPress SEO plugin, but also the blog. On that blog several people write new articles and this last one, from Joost de Valk himself, on website maintenance was not only a great read, but a real eye-opener for me.

Since I merged some blogs I had into this site you did not see much new articles. The site’s ranking and number of visitors declined as well as a result of that lack of activity.

Now I am taking Yoast’s advice to do some Website Maintenance and Clean Up of Old Posts. When I now look back at the articles on this site I see that the oldest articles are way back from 2006.

And yes, a lot of them are outdated, some are still relevant but could use some TLC. So now I have to decide if I just will delete them, if I will merge some of them into a bigger article or update them with the latest knowledge. Of course I also need to decided which ones I want to redirect after the deletion or not.

To see what are the most visited pages and articles you can go into Google Webmaster tools and Google analytic’s, if you have implemented that. So that will be a great help during the clean up process.

Those most visited pages will most certainly stay, but probably need to be updated.

Others really are going to be tossed as they no longer are relevant like news on the release version of Joomla! prior to Joomla! 2.5.x and 3.x.

Website Clean Up

Website Clean Up Results Impact on SEO

For me the biggest challenge of this clean-up is to make sure the result that this site clean up will improve for the benefit of the visitors. They will, hopefully, get better info to solve their problems and the site will contain more relevant up-to-date information.

As for myself, it will be a mirror to check my own progress over the years, both in knowledge as well as in writing English.

What is the biggest risk factor as it comes to SEO? I don’t know yet, it’s a challenge. I will most redirect the old url’s for post that will be merged, but I will have some articles that I will simply delete.

By deleting them the site gets smaller, but as the other articles will become more relevant. Hopefully that will give more authority to the site  so ranking will improve and visitor numbers will grow.

Editorial Calender & Schedule Plugin

One other thing I implement on this site is an Editorial Calender plugin. You can simply install it and check on your post schedule in a visual overview.

For me its a great way to schedule new posts, but also set a posting schedule that can be maintained much easier. You can make short notes and some title suggestions on ideas and set the base for any articles you want to write. Those short notes will be saved as Draft articles.

You can see in your schedule overview when it needs to be done and you can write ahead and release them automatically using WordPress planning option.

Need an article that was already written but would suite better after another planned article? Just drag it to when you want to have it published and plan it. But you can only do the later for posts that are not yet published.

Below you can learn more on this great productivity tool.

So keep an eye out for the changes and new posts.

In a month or so I will write an article on the results of this website clean up from an SEO perspective.

And yes, that article is already scheduled so I can write it during the next month as I keep an eye on this sites progress.

WordPress 3 for Business Bloggers a Book Review

Filed Under: Seo Basics, WordPress Books

Packt Publishers is very good when it comes to identifying great topics for their business and finding people who can write in a clear and simple way. In this new book, WordPress 3 for Business Bloggers by Paul Thewlis brings you the knowledge to start the process of blogging for any purpose, not just business.

Here is a short overview of the chapters so you can see what is covered in this book.

Chapter 1: A Blog Less Ordinary—What Makes a Great Blog?
Chapter 2: Introducing our Case Study—WPBizGuru
Chapter 3: Designing your Blog
Chapter 4: Images and Videos
Chapter 5: Content is King
Chapter 6: Search Engine Optimization
Chapter 7: Supercharged Promotion
Chapter 8: Connecting with the Blogosphere
Chapter 9: Analyzing your Blog Stats
Chapter 10: Monetizing your Blog
Chapter 11: Managing Growth

WPBizGuru a Case Study

After the first introduction of some great WordPress blogs and how blogs can be used Paul goes into a case study showcasing a new site on http://blog.wpbizguru.com/

In the following chapters, he takes you from the basics of the design and changes to match your own ideas (don’t get scared by the coding! It is not that hard..) up to how to write your content and use images and video in your posts.

What I really like in these first chapters is the way he helps you with ideas on how to create a blogging plan and how to implement is focusing on the real purpose of your blog/website.

The following chapters are about how to get traffic to your blog, how to measure that traffic, and what to do with it.

The monetizing chapter is a bit limited on how to get the most of your blog traffic but is surely a start in the right direction. Managing growth is not only about keeping the performance of your site but also about keeping up with comments and reducing spam in your blog.

WordPress Plugins

Paul mentions several plugins in his book that I think are very good, however, there are three plugins he uses that I don’t use anymore for several reasons:

  • Akismet = replaced by Growmap Anti Spam Plugin (I use the premium version which comes with Commentluv) because it works better and the free version is well.. free (Akismet is not free in many cases https://akismet.com/signup/)
  • Super Cache = replaced by Hyper Cache if you want it simple or W3 Total Cache for the more techies among us.
  • All-in-One-SEO = replaced WordPress SEO by Yoast, no not because he is Dutch like me, but because the plugin just works better and is also free (AIOSEO has a premium version)

Conclusion

WordPress 3 for Business Bloggers is not just for Business bloggers, it is a great starting point for any WordPress blog or website you want to set up. Like I mentioned before I really liked the Blogging plan layout and the focus on the purpose of your blog/website.

One thing I missed was how to secure your blog against hackers, so I will write a blog post on that next because you really need to secure your site. The Backup and restore sections of the book are mandatory for making sure you can get your blog back fast.

All in all, a great starting point for any new WordPress website owner that wants his or her website to succeed.

How to Start A WordPress Website Consolidation Project

Filed Under: WordPress

I created lots of websites during the past twelve years working with Joomla and WordPress.

The problem was that I not only created websites for clients but also for myself leaving me with a whole lot of sites to manage.

So this year I wanted to scale down on the number of sites to manage by consolidating different sites into one big site. This is that new website: https://www.websitebeginnersguide.com

Which Sites to Consolidate?

Taking that decision is one thing, getting into action is something completely different.

First off all I needed to determine which sites would be good candidates to move to a different domain and if it was possible to do so with a minimal loss in Google rankings.

When the whole project is done, it should even improve on the rankings and the number of visitors, creating a website that is bigger than the sum of its parts.

Criteria to take into account:

  • Website topic should match the purpose of the new domain
  • Permalinks structure should also be the same to be able to do a 301 redirect form the old website
  • Export and import of data should be easily doable
  • Number of RSS feed subscribers

For me that meant that the first sites to consolidate where:

  • www.herbertvandinther.com
  • www.pathosseoblog.com
  • Others to follow

Setting the First Steps

First off all I needed to setup the new website with the same CMS, in this case WordPress.

Decide on the Layout / design of the site. I now use Genesis with the News Pro theme from StudioPress. Not cheap, even for a premium theme, but well worth every dollar I spend on it.

After WordPress basic installation was done, I checked the common plugin usage in both sites and make sure the permalinks settings were identical.

The main reason for this was that it is a lot easier to do a complete site redirect than creating a lot of single 301 redirect rules per site.

The actual moves were done by creating a WordPress export file from the old sites and import them into the new one. If you want to do the same, make sure you check the box to import the attachments as well, that saves time and prevents some image link problems.

Search and Replace Old stuff and General Housekeeping

Some of the things I did after the migrations

  • Using this plugin to change the URLs of the images and old links form http://pathosseoblog.com/ with the correct new uploads path.
  • Check Old comments to see if there is nothing left that point to the migrated domains.
  • Used Ajax Thumbnail Rebuild for resizing the images for use on archives and layout options.
  • Update the Contact form
  • Set SEO Options -> I was not sure on using a Plugin or the Genesis SEO Theme settings. I decided to go the Genesis SEO options to see if that would work out better than WordPress SEO. Update: WordPress SEO by Yoast is now the main SEO function for this site.
  • Installed the Google sitemap.xml plugin to get the standard xml file to put into my Webmaster Tools account. Update: Sitemap.xml is now handled by WordPress SEO Plugin.
  • Deleted the two other site entries in Webmaster tools. You could do better to just inform Google webmaster tools that the site has moved.
  • Set up a new Subscribe widget
  • Cleaned out old and duplicate post categories

Other this to look out for in the coming weeks:

  • Check the error logs for 404 errors that need to be addressed
  • Check Stats and Tools to find other problems that might occur
  • Decide what other domain could be consolidation candidates
  • Write new articles and guides especially for WordPress and Joomla Beginners
  • Regain focus and have fun!

Website Beginners Guide Base

WordPress Permalinks Optimal settings

Filed Under: WordPress SEO

Basic On-Page WordPress Search Engine Optimization always starts with Search Engine Friendly URLs.

You can set these via the Permalinks option in your WordPress Administration Panel.
But be aware that for these setting to work, you need to be on an Apache Web server that has Mod_Rewrite active and working!

If you are on windows based hosting package, there is one way to achieve SEF URLs, and you don’t have settle for the standard ?p=123 produced by WordPress.

The easy way

The easiest way the get a good working .htaccess file is this:

  • Upload an empty file called htaccess.txt to the root of your WordPress installation directory.
  • Set the permissions to 707 which means writable by system and public.
  • Rename the file to .htaccess
  • Go into your admin panel and choose your preferred URL setting.
  • Save the settings and check if you get the URLs you want.
  • Go back to the permission settings (normally via FTP) and set the access to 404 to make is as secure as possible.

WordPress Permalinks Options

There were several options standard in WordPress before WP version 3.x.
Here is my preferred choice at that time in the custom structure /%postname% .html

That means you get post URLs that incorporate the post title and ends with .html

Be aware that this works with Posts only, page URLs are created with the title, without an extension.

So if you want the same URL for your posts as for your pages, you should set the option to /%postname%/ which is now the Post name option!

That option is now my standard choice as it creates a good permalink as well as performs well in load times.

Now you have a URL like www.example.com/post-title and www.example.com/page-title

WordPress 3.x Optimized Permalinks Standard

As for the new version of WP 2.3 and up there are a lot fewer problems with duplicate content problems that you might have before since Automattic made it a lot better picking up the URLs for each of the posts.

With the latest versions of WordPress, there is an option called Post name which is the best you can use. All other permalinks option will redirect to this one if you set it.

If you set that option, WordPress will automatically fill the custom field with /%postname%/ so don’t worry about that.

Optimal Settings WordPress Permalinks

Note! Pick your choice of permalinks and stick to it! Changing it after your indexed means you have to do a lot of 301 redirects.

Pretty WordPress Permalinks on Windows Servers

You can get Permalinks on a Windows-based server and even on your own local development computer.

Instead of the Post name option, you have to use the Custom Structure with /index.php/%postname%/ 

Or ask your hosting provider if they have a server with one of these options:

  • Microsoft IIS 7+ web server with the URL Rewrite 1.1+ module and PHP 5 running as FastCGI
  • Microsoft IIS 6+ using ASAPI_Rewrite

If so ask them if they can move your site to one of those servers so you can use Permalinks without the index.php option.

Want to know more about all the other permalink options? Read more on http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_Permalinks

Google Updates in 2012 With the Biggest Impact

Filed Under: SEO

Looking back at 2012 there are a few Google updates that had more impact on website rankings and thus on traffic than just a small Panda update.

Top Heavy

In January we got the original page layout algorithm change that targeted websites that had too many ad-space above the fold.  A lot of Made for Adsense sites got hit as they focus on quick wins sending people away from the site into Adsense clicks. This was the first so-called Top Heavy update.

Penguin Update

In April Penguin was rolled out that brought a big hit on many site rankings.  The basic idea was to get quality content sites higher in the rankings and demotion of SEO. Or like Matt Cutts stated in the article below:

We want people doing white hat search engine optimization (or even no search engine optimization at all) to be free to focus on creating amazing, compelling web sites.

http://insidesearch.blogspot.nl/2012/04/another-step-to-reward-high-quality.html.

Penguin was heavily discussed as real good quality websites that had been around for years serving high-quality content to their visitors got dropped as well.

EMD & Panda Update

End of September there was another big impact update, this time focused on Exact Match Domains. This update was to clear out spam websites which rankings were based on the fact that they used keyword-rich domain names for exact matches on popular search terms.

The EMD update was targeted towards low-quality sites, but this time also some very good content sites were hit as well.

The Panda update that was rolled out at almost the same time as the EMD change so its hard to distinguish your ranking update between those two if you have a keyword-rich domain.

Panda’s Intend

The Panda update was/is intended to give searchers better high-quality content to provide answers on their search. Google wants you to follow their Quality Guidelines and create easy to read content written for users, not for search engines.

These updates mentioned above have made a big impact on search with Google this year. Last year it was Panda, but that did not hit my websites as hard as Penguin did.

Panda Eating
Did Panda eat your rankings and traffic?
Image from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_panda

Google Ranking Recovering

Recovering from this year’s updates is taking hard work and some real hard thinking about what to improve.

In the past creating a site with a clear hierarchy and text links for navigation could bring you a long way. Setup correctly you could get good rankings within a couple of weeks/months.

Now you have to get more updates in, work hard on Google+ and other social media, and create more user-centered high-quality content on your site.

It’s a new era in search engine optimization for Google and other search engines will follow. I wonder what 2013 will bring us. Certainly more white hat SEO as several back hat tactics got busted this year.

And you, what do you think about these major algo changes? Good or bad for SEO consultants? And how about website owners?

Basic SEO Settings in Joomla 3.x

Filed Under: Joomla Seo

With the new Joomla 3.x version, you get a completely different Administration panel with basic SEO Settings.

Joomla! 3.x Global Configuration
Joomla! 3.x Global Configuration

Once you are logged in, go to the Global Configuration. It will open with the Site tab on which you can manage the main site setting. You will also find the SEO settings and the Metadate settings on this Tab.

Joomla Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Settings

Joomla! 3.x Search Engine Optimization Settings
Joomla! 3.x Search Engine Optimization Settings

As you can see there are no checkboxes but slider buttons. This makes it clear to what option is active and what’s not.

You should always use the Search Engine Friendly URLs, so set that to on.

If you want to use URL rewriting, make sure you are on a hosting server that supports .htaccess. With that option on, you get the best results.

If you are unclear about an option and need more information, hover over the text in front of the slider buttons and you will see direct help information.

Joomla URL Rewriting Explained
Joomla URL Rewriting Explained

With the add suffix option on your get a URL suffix .html as ending part of your URL.

The last option is for getting your site title into the Page HTML title. Either Use No or After. You want the article title as the first part of your HTML title for best results, use the after option for branding purposes.

Joomla! 3.x Metadata Settings

Joomla! 3.x Metadata Settings
Joomla! 3.x Metadata Settings

The Metadate settings are also on this Site Tab.  Site Meta Description and Site Meta Keywords in a global setting has always been a point of discussion for me, I don’t like it.

You are better off writing the Meta description on content items and not fill in the same date for every article from this setting. Clean it! Meta Keywords are no longer used by several Search Engines like Google.

The Author Meta Tag is good so set that to yes. Showing the Joomla! version will only help Hackers and Crackers, so set that option to No. As an administrator, you can see the version you are running once logged in.

Joomla 3.x Cache Settings

Using a Cache can really make a difference in your page load. For SEO you want your pages to load as fast as possible as it is a measurement that is used by Google.

It also gives a better visitor experience. Your page load time can determine if a visitor will open and stay on your site or not.

You can find the Cache Settings on the System Tab

Joomla! Cache Progressive Settings
Joomla! Cache Progressive Settings

You get to choose from

  • OFF – Caching disabled
  • ON – Conservative caching
  • ON – Progressive caching

Check with your hosting provider if they have a caching component active on their server. If so you want to keep this caching off as it might interfere with the server caching component.

If you run into trouble with the Progressive caching try the Conservative option. Check your speed via http://tools.pingdom.com/fpt/ and run some tests with different settings.
The Cache Handler is set to File, which is basic. There used to be a Database option, but that doesn’t make sense.

Cache Time is something you need to think about. If you have a news based website where you post several times a day, keep it limited to your standard posting timeframe.

For me, a 24 hour period works just fine so time is set to 1440 / 60 = 24 Hours. After that, the cache is cleared and with a new visitor rebuild again.

So these are the basic SEO settings you need to get into place in Joomla 3.x. Next time: How to SEO your menu and content items.

Link Building For Beginners

Filed Under: Seo Basics

Search Engine Optimization has two distinct area’s the first being On-page optimization and the second, off-page optimization.

On-page optimization is what you can actually do to your website that will affect your ranking on the search engines.

This includes changing your title tags, H1 Tags etc.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) like anything else adheres to the 80/20 rule, whereby on-page optimization accounts for 20% of search engine rankings.

Link Building

The other 80% comes from link building, which is by far the hardest part when it comes to SEO.

Link building is getting other sites to link back to your own website.

Like everything else in the world, links have varying degrees of quality, you get really poor quality links which can actually harm your website or you can get excellent links which will help your rankings tremendously.

Obviously, the best quality links are the hardest to obtain.

For your information, the best kind of links to get, are links that come from Universities or Government websites.

Search Engines love these links and if you do manage to get one your website will almost certainly help get your website on to the first page within a couple of months.

The worst types of links are backlinks that come from Porn Sites, Pharma Sites or Gambling Sites.

I will list the ways in which a person can obtain links for their website.

1) Buy Links – The better the link, the more expensive they are.
2) Ask For Links – Either via Phone or Email.
3) Link Exchanges – Swap Links with other webmasters.
4) Register with Directories – Register your site with a number of directories.
5) Write Articles – Submit your articles to article directories like Ezine.
6) Write Press Releases – Submit to sites like PRweb.
7) Use Viral marketing techniques – Use sites like pay per post (link baiting).

I would suggest doing all of the above when you first start to do SEO on your own site.

A good mix of links is always good, try not to buy too many “cheap & cheerful” links as these will not do your site much good.

Your Basic SEO Guide

Filed Under: Seo Basics

Here is your Free Basic SEO Guide with some basic information you need to know about SEO and how to find out how your site is currently performing in the Search Engine Results pages.

1. Alexa Ranking Tool:

Alexa is a very powerful tool used to rank web site traffic. Find out how your website traffic stacks up against all your competitors! This is one of the most accurate freely available tools to find out how well your site ranks up against millions of other sites on the Web.

Remember:

“The lower the Alexa ranking number the more heavily visited the site.”
Some examples are:
Traffic Rank for Google.com: 1
Traffic Rank for Facebook.com: 2
Traffic Rank for YouTube.com: 3
Traffic Rank for Yahoo.com: 4
Traffic Rank for Amazon.com: 11
Traffic Rank for Wpsitebuilding.com: 160,111

These rankings are generally consistent with the amount of traffic they have.

2. What is PageRank?

In short, PageRank is a “vote”, by all the other pages on the Web, about how important a page is. A link to a page counts as a vote of support. If there’s no link there’s no support (but it’s an abstention from voting rather than a vote against the page).
How many links do you have from other websites are the votes you get for your website?

3. How is Page Rank Used?

Page Rank is one of the methods Google uses to determine a page’s relevance or importance.

It is only one part of the story when it comes to the Google listing, but the other aspects are discussed elsewhere (and are ever-changing) and Page Rank is interesting enough to deserve a paper of its own.

Page Rank is also displayed on the toolbar of your browser if you’ve installed the Google toolbar.

4. What is SEO and why is it so important?

It is the process of increasing the number of visitors to a Web site by ranking high in the search results of a search engine. The higher a Web site ranks in the results of a search, the greater the chance that that site will be visited by a user.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) plays a vital role in Internet marketing, this also helps your site get the exposure it deserves and increase your website traffic instantly.

5. Sitemaps?

Sitemaps are useful in at least two ways:

1. If a user types in a bad URL most websites return a really unhelpful “404 – page not found” error page. This can be discouraging.

Why not configure your server to return a page that shows an error that has been made but also gives the sitemap? This can help the user enormously.

2. Linking to a site map on each page increases the number of internal links in the site, spreading the PR out and protecting you against your vote “donations”.

6. Your Link Popularity:

Utilization of the search engines is a very important aspect of marketing; they are usually the first means by which prospects can find your site. That’s why link popularity is so essential. If the customers can’t find your website, you will not see any sales.

The term “Link popularity” refers to the ranking assigned to your website by the search engines. It determines the position your page gets displayed on when people search for certain keywords in a search engine. I can already hear you screaming… “Cool, tell me how to get my link popular!”

7. Link Exchange?

Link Exchanging, is important because it can drive more visitors than search engines, once established. Directories add valuable content for your customers/visitors, and thus it improves your SEO.

8. Reciprocal links:

1. Reciprocal linking is another name for swapping links.

2. That’s a link from you to someone and a link from them to you.

Steps in DIY SEO