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Lost and Regained Traffic from Google, Yahoo and Bing the Easy Way

Filed Under: Optimization, Search Engines, SEO

Above is a little picture I wanted to show you.

For those among you who are used to looking at website traffic graphics you see that something strange has happened here…

You see, the picture above is from one of my websites and shows clearly what the impact was of the following story.

I made a mistake, a simple one but with large consequences as you can see.
Because of this mistake traffic for this site almost went done to zero.
But if it had gone down to zero it would have been clear what happed right from the start, but it did not, I “just” lost traffic from the mayor three search engines.

What happened?

In simple terms: the site was hacked via  a remote inclusion attack from several forum like websites, one of them was successful.
There was just one file affected but one of the most important ones, the .htaccess file.
There were four lines of code injected at the bottom to the file:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} (Googlebot|Slurp|msnbot)
RewriteRule ^
http://example.com/ [R=301,L]three - code used

The code in line three redirects those search engine robots too the site in line four (which I changed, the real site got enough traffic from me).

How was this possible? Simple, because I forgot to reset the security on .htaccess after doing some previous test.
The file was still set to 707 = also public write access, and yes its security is set back to the right access now.

How to find out your site is hacked

As I said before if the traffic had gone to zero you most probably would have checked your site and see a defacing of the site itself of some kind. The site would not work the way you would expect it to.

In this case the only problem I could see was that the traffic dropped hard in the statistics.
Upon looking further into the details I checked the ranking of previous Google search terms the site was ranking for.

I found that all the top 10 ranking pages ware gone! All my efforts to rank for those keywords were lost.

So I logged into Google webmaster to check if there was something horribly wrong with the site and the site had received some kind of penalty.

And yes there were errors with the URLs in the sitemap.xml, errors about unreachable URLs.
So I checked the files on the site that where modified just before the drop, and there was the .htaccess file with the above mentioned code.

Getting back into Google

After cleaning up the mess and setting the security right I realized the impact of these few lines.

All three search engine robots had gotten notice that the pages where permanently moved to another domain! which is not true, but they don't know that.

Checks on site: reference in Google, Yahoo and MSN showed that the domain was still in Yahoo and MSN Indexes, but had no entry in the Google Index anymore.

So it was time to send a reconsideration request to Google telling them what happened, what had been done to resolve the problem and what steps where taken too prevent it from happening again.

After that, you can only wait and wait…, don't expect an email form Google, just an automatically generated message in your Webmaster control center that they will look into the matter.

After a few days traffic started to build again from Google and Yahoo as well as MSN (Live.com) so you can conclude that Google really looks and acts upon your requests.

Hard Lessons learned

Now for the fun part of this episode, the lessons learned
First lesson: make sure to secure your cms installation and critical files.

Some tips:
– change passwords on a regular basis (use keepass if you have a lot off passwords to remember)
– secure your admin directory or files with .htaccess passwords, most of the hosting companies have this option in their cpanel
– update your system as soon as a new version comes out.

Check your stats once a day, or a least every few days for strange things happening, since this could have taken me a long time to get back if it wasn't for those early warning signs.

As a personal note: I need to get more incoming links from non-search engines to diversify my traffic sources :-)

What I realized after my traffic was back to its old level was that Google is really fast in acting on 301 redirects and changes in their index.
They update their index with a higher frequency than Yahoo and Live, and they really act fast on those re-inclusion request as well.

A hack like this before your start your SEO work for organic ranking would also mean that all your efforts will have no effect… so if a cusomers is really having trouble to get his or.her site into the search engines, check the .htaccess file!

If you have your own horror stories like this one, please share them in the comments and let us learn from those stories as well.

Tagged With: Google, losing, Search Engine Optimization, traffic 12 Comments

Is Ask is going for Web 2.0 Search and Getification

Filed Under: Search Engines

Looking at the new Ask.com commercial, and comparing it to the other search engine you can see some interesting developments:


First, is this the new way you as a searcher want to get results?

You definitely get more and different results from one search as before you needed to run several searches.

But then again looking at the other major search engines, they also provide you with more information than just text.
It all depends on what you are looking for…

So here are some results of one of my favorite singers, but you already knew that..

The Ask.com results page to start the comparison:

The search results page by Ask.com

So was Ask.com comparing with Google in their commercial?

Google results page for Anastacia

Or was it Yahoo?

Yahoo results page for the Anastacia search

Or was it Live.com they wanted to compare with?

Live search results page for Anastacia

As you can see, most of the search engines are already showing you more then just text, but it all depends on what you are searching for.

If you do a search on Ask for Joomla search engine optimization, you get just a result page as the other engines.

Ask results for Joomla search engine optimzation

How is Ask going to win the battle

They are working hard on better Commercials, the old ones really didn't do that well…

But most important is if the results are more relevant than before, and I must say they have made great progress in this field:
Joomla SEO search in Ask.com
Joomla SEO search in Google.com
Joomla SEO search in Live.com

Joomla SEO search in Yahoo.com

Looking at the September results of the Marketingcharts it looks that Ask is already chipping away on Live.com
Also Hitwise reports growing figures for Ask.com.

It would be nice to see next month if this growth path is going to continue with the new commercials.

Now if the would just bring the new interface to other country's….
Dutch Ask.com homepage or USA Ask.com homepage

O, and do try a search on those country specific pages, so you can see there is also a layout difference in the results.
So for us Dutchies Ask is still not giving an Instant Getification! 

Next time: How are the changes in the results pages going to change SEO, so make sure to get your RSS feed or email updates

Tagged With: ask, commercial, Google, live, Search Engines, yahoo 1 Comment

How Search Engines Help finding Keywords

Filed Under: Optimization, Search Engine, Search Engines, SEO, SEO Optimization

You now how to find keywords for your website, right? You know about Google external ad tool, WordTracker, trillian and seobook.

But there are more easily and very targeted keyword suggestions to be found.
The Search Engines themselves will show you what they think are the most relevant keywords…
It is like looking into their database and finding what they think is relevant for you visitors.

You just have to now how and where to look.
I did some research for a new page of a new site to check out the Singer Anastacia

Google Suggests

First Google, as this is one of the biggest engines, their you can use Google Suggests to find extra keywords.
You just type in you target keyword and you instantly get a drop-down box that shows you related search suggestions.

Google suggestions for Keyword Anastacia

Yahoo homepage

You have to use the search box on the Homepage of Yahoo to get the next items to show.

here it works the same way as with Google Suggests, just type in you search word and you get a related items drop-down box.

Yahoo search and keyword suggestions

Live.com Search

Microsoft's Search engine Live.com also has suggestions for your keywords, but the just show up after you did the search.

In the results page you will find a nice listing on the right hand sidebar.
And they throw in some songs suggestions to take into you list..
Live.com search and keyword suggestions

Ask.com Suggestions

Yes, you can find the best suggestions on Ask…
They give you a complete left sidebar with all kind off suggestions, even other related items…
You can find extra words to target in the “narrow your search” items.
Find other artists to include in extra pages to build somewhat of a themed site with “Related Names”
Find extra keywords in the “Expand your Search” items.

Aks Keywords and Related search sidebar

Af course you will have your own favorite, but for my the Ask results pages was on of the best to use…
You could try the more.. link as well….

Ask and More related searches

Naturally you have to combine the results from all the resources you can get to come to what you think are the best keywords to target, but that's what makes it so nice to do Search Engine Optimization.. finding new ways to get relevant visitors to your websites!

Tagged With: Google, Keywords, Search Engine, SEO 5 Comments

Joomla and Missing Metatags

Filed Under: Joomla Optimization, Joomla Seo, Search Engines

If you are like me, you like to have your Metatags like description and keywords filled with relevant content..

You could have Metatag generators for you website, or overviews of the content with a component like OpenSEF.
But what if you don't use OpenSEF but sh404SEF?
In that case you could register and download the Joomla Metatag component form iJoomla.

But if you just want to see what pages still are in need of content for these Metatags.
In that case there is now a very simple but effective and easy to use modules, with two versions, one for the Joomla 1.0.x versions and for Joomla 1.5…

It is written by Dan Rahmel who also wrote two Books about Joomla!
and

And it is easy to install.

The module is installed as a normal module, but it is only for the administrator.
That is why it is listed under the Administrator part of the Modules and has to be published and positioned on the cPanel, which means that it will be visible on you administrator homepage (the first one after you login)

Joomla Missing Metadata Module

After publication you find the items without the Description and Keywords listed on a separate Tab on the Administrators page.

An overview of the Joomla items missing the Description and Keywords

You can download the version you want from JoomlaJumpStart.com where you can even find more information on Joomla and the insights of Dan Rahmel.

There are people who will tell you that Metatags like the Description and Keywords are useless these days.. for Search Engine Optimization that is.

But try to work on writing good solid page descriptions and use just up to a maximum of 10 keywords in the keyword field.
Use the keywords you have used in the page, and in the Title and wait for the next index round of Google.

The Descriptions field mostly show up under you page title and should be written as a small advertisement to bring you the visitors you want.

Tagged With: administrator, Component, content, description, description.content, Joomla, Joomla SEO, metatags 12 Comments

A Joomla Frontpage changing Module

Filed Under: Joomla Optimization, Joomla Seo, Search Engines

I found a module today bij http://www.joomlaworks.gr/ called “Ultimate Content Display” which is working great.

What is does? It can display content from sections or categories in a simple to place module position.
But the best part is, it can change the articles it shows by setting some parameters!

So why is this so exciting? Because you can now have “fresh” content on for example your Frontpage simple by adding this module.
Think about it… you can show returning visitors articles they otherwise may have never seen.
But also you have fresh content on you homepage every time the Googlebot, Yahoo or Live robots visits…

You can have the content in a list form, or a slide / fader with time settings and many options more.
I will write an extended how-to use and copy the module on www.pathos-seo.com later next week.

You can see the module in action on the Frontpage (on the bottom of the page)  of www.pathos-seo.com where it says Random content.

The Module you can download from www.joomlaworks.gr

Ultimate Content Display Module for Joomla

Tagged With: auto, fontpage, Joomla, Modules 4 Comments

Using your Search Engine Results to Improve your site

Filed Under: Joomla Optimization, Joomla Seo, Search Engines

You are always looking at your statistics, to see how people are coming to your website, right? You know you should…

But here is another way of looking at your website and what people are looking for on your site.
You have of course the Global Configuration statistics for Text Search set to on.

And you sometimes look at these searches to improve you website to give your visitors the information they are looking for.

Recently there was a new Joomla module listed on the extension site, its probably one of those extensions that slips through your mind as, well.. just another SEO Plugin..
But it is not, its not even made for SEO, although there could be a slight advantage for Search Engine Optimization.
I will tell you more later on in this post.

This Module uses the Search Keywords that people have used to find your website, and places each of those search words in a special search Block.
I changed some basic parameters in the Module Configuration and see what happens if people use the string “Joomla seo” and hopefully find www.pathos-seo.com :-)

Keyword SE Parameters

The results in the Module..

Joomla SE Search StringsNow your visitor can just click on a search word they used to do a further search in your website.

These searches are then stored in your search statistics.

 The Search Engine Optimization Benefits

To be honest, I did not see any benefits at first, just an improvement to your user experience.
But that is also a great, if not even a greater asset the just SEO, for your website.

If you also run the Cache Component you have read about before, you will see that the results stay cached on the site.
Although this seemed a bit strange at first, form a cache point of view it makes sense.
I just reduced the cache time to improve on this special module.

Why is this good for SEO than.. because people are more likely to do a simpel search if tis ready for them, just one click away!
And that may result in more page views, a longer stay on your Joomla website! all good things.
A better user experience might bring them back again and again..

You are now even more able to look at what people are searching for on your site and you can provide the content they want.

The module is simply called Search Engine Keywords on you site and installation is simpel, try it on your website!

P.s. the Cache is also helping to keep your keywords on the page, which is also good for other visitors then the initial searcher that provided the keywords.

O, if you don't see any keywords, you just got into the no-keywords cached page….
Try this search “design cars” and look for www.design-cars.com ,it has the same module installed.


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How To Boost your Joomla site Loading Performance

Filed Under: Joomla Optimization, Joomla Seo, Search Engines

I recently came across a post of Alledia about this new Joomla Cache Component.

And since I want you to have a really good performing website I checked it out for you.

It blew me away…

Point is that you can speed up your website by using the cache funtion of Joomla itself and thus gaining some speed in loading you pages.

This component is going to boost your performance (page loading time that is) not simple by 0ne or two percent… no you see loading times drop by double digits percentages!

But there are some things you need to know before installation:

  • The speed gain is for not-logged-in users, that means the visitors to your site, not the members!
  • Some Core files are hacked, but the installation makes backup files and there is an uninstall option
  • You get a text “Powered By Page_Cache by Ircmaxell” under the Footer of you site, but for just $10 dollar you can buy a license file that takes that away… or hack the component code yourself, which is also okay by the developer (You got to Love this Guy..)

Installing the component 

Installation of the component is pretty easy, you just create or copy a few extra files and change permissions on them before installation.
[Read more…]

Tagged With: best, boost, cache, Joomla, settings 17 Comments

Sitemap.xml and autodiscovery by Google, Ask, Yahoo and Live via Robots.txt

Filed Under: Optimization, Search Engine, Search Engines, SEO, SEO Optimization

Yes !! They finally got it !!

In my post of November last year I asked that the search engines “Make it a standard crawl !! Instruct your robots to look for a file called sitemap.xml the way they look for robots.txt.”

Well, now they are going to do it…. in a even better way as well..

You can read about the announcement on The Ask Blog Sitemaps Autodiscovery they will tell you more on the Search Engine Strategies in New York.

It is going to be simple addition to your robots.txt file like:

SITEMAP: http://www.the URL of your sitemap here.xml

You need to put in the full URL, like for this site is is going to be

SITEMAP: http://herbertvandinther.com/sitemap.xml

Put your sitemap.xml link in your Robot.txt file now!
If you have mutliple sitemap.xml files, you have to put the paths into a sitemap index file and point to that file.

If you don't want to wait on the Autodiscovery, You can still send them:

To Google via the Webmaster Central,
To Yahoo as a feed in their Site Explorer,
To ask via the command:
http://submissions.ask.com/ping?sitemap=http://www.the URL of your sitemap here.xml

To Live? I guess just via your Robots.txt file…

Update: Read more on Sitemap and URL Submission

4 Comments

Why Every website should have a Feed

Filed Under: Joomla Optimization, Joomla Seo, Search Engines

Looking at Google and Live.com really promoting the use off their Personalized pages makes you think….
And of course the fact that IE7 also has a Feed button on board, means that there is more potential coming from RSS

If every one is creating there personalized pages with content delivered to them, the best way you can stay in touch is by giving them a Feed to put on those pages.

But there is yet another reason to work with Feeds, and that is that they might gain more importance for SEO in the future than You might think, read this post from Arron Wall about Global Links and Subscription data and you will see that it is going to be more important to get readers for your RSS Feeds.

Make sure you have your Feed run via a service like www.feedburner.com to give you visitors an easy choice on there favorite Feed Reader, or even via E-Mail.

Also make sure to have a Full Feed, just to make your visitors aka Feed-Readers happy…

For WordPress, there is a FeedBurner Plugin, for Joomla I suggest your read Overcoming-the-joomla-rss-feed-syndication-problem

So, what are you waiting for, get those Feeds Burning…

4 Comments

You think you rank well in Google?

Filed Under: Optimization, Search Engines, SEO, SEO Optimization

If your think you rank well in Google, think again..

Google's Geo-targeting and your Position

Working on Search Engine Optimization, you have to think about the people who are searching for a specifiek term and how you can be found.

But what if you are trying to reach an audience form an other country?
Let say you want people from Europe to find your Camper Rental site in the US.
Just when your SEO Company or Consultant has brought you to the top of http://www.google.com/ you find your visitors only come from the USA Region.

What is happening?

The reason for this is because Google, and other Search Engines, use a system called Geo-Targeting.
In short, they look at you IP address range and focus the content of the Search Engine Results Page on your networking environment
Thus providing you with results close to your area. 

That is why you sometimes get a different result when running the same query form your home and from your work place.
If that happens, aks your network administrator if your connection to the Internet is running via a provider in an other country.

How to Check the Foreign results

First thing you can try is to change your preferences in Google and set it to a different language for the results.

Or try out the functions on http://oy-oy.eu/google/world/ , now the site may look like an Adsense scraper site, but it really isn't!
There are really nice functions on checking your website and information on several aspect of your website.

One other site to look at, to see the results from Yahoo side of things, might be http://www.pagebull.com/ which show you the search results as click able screen shots, and you can select a country to search from. Really nice with suprising results.  

How to overcome this problem

Actually, the best thing to do is to create a new website with an extension focused on that region.
For instance use a .eu domain next to your .com website
Also choose a provider for that website in the region you want to target.

If you are from Europe and want to target the USA, pick a USA Based provider….
I know, I didn't, but I just created Design-cars.com as an SEO study object (O Boy, did that turn out as a large knowledge enviroment..:-))

One other thing thats is easier to do, is to check with the above mentioned tool who you are competing with and learn from their sites…

Yes, doing the analysis again and do the Optimization again… its an on going effort.

If you know of other options to solve this problem, please share the knowledge by commenting!


Tagged With: oy-oy.eu/google/world Leave a Comment

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