Ranking

Website Hosting and HPPTS Options

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!!

Always backup your website, including database before you start.
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.

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!

Ranking on Google is going to change in 2009

Filed Under: Search Engine, SEO

If you keep an eye on things that are happening on Google, you will find some interesting things going on at this moment.

Ranking and Google Changes

First I want to point you to two video's from webpronews.com, the first one is an interview with Bruce Clay about this presentation Ranking is Dead where is looks at how Universal search is going to effect your Search Engine Page results.

The other one is at the same site, but now an interview with Matt Cutts on some of the Changes at Google were he talks about some of the things that Bruce Clay pointed out.

From both interviews you can see that Universal Search is going to target your search result pages based on previous searches and Local Search results based on IP address.
The latter is af course already in place where Google will use IP country ranges to lead you to other Data Centers and gives local and country language specific results.

Universal search is mostly referred to as showing results based on your previous searches , but this time even if you are not logged into your Google mail account!
That might scare some privacy concerned people… take into account that Google, Live and Yahoo already have a lot of information on your search history, be it via cookies, or via your DSL Provider that gives you a nice IP address.
That IP address wil stay the same for a loooong time,which is great! For Search Engines that is…

Actually listening to Bruce Clay I find a lot of things he is predicting for 2009 are already in place, it is just the flick of a switch for Google to turn them on.

Searchwiki

One other new thing you might have seen if you are logged into your Google account and you do searches is the new Searchwiki function.

Next to each Title in the result-page there are two little icons, one for UP and one for Delete, well the last one is to actually remove that result form your own search page.
So now you can get those old or not relevant results out of your own search results, but how will this effect the total results in the long run?

I can imagine Google using those results of up and delete actions to improve results in general.
If you look at large enough numbers of people “voting” on search results you could clean up the total results and make them even more relevant and up-to-date as they are now.

Afraid of your competition “voting” your site out of the results? Don't worry, as you heard before ranking is dead anyway.
But in fact I guess Google will have some algorithm in place that will show that people are trying to play the system.

The effects on SEO

Both Bruce and Matt mentioned it in their interview, as smart SEO is looking no longer at Search Page results rankings but at Conversion and is deep into analyzing his server logs.

A smart SEO is already working on Blogs, News, Images and Video to keep up with the new upcoming personalized search results and to provide your visitors with the quality content they are looking for.

But one thing I am really looking forward too is that importance of links to your site is going to be downgraded and real quality content is getting a more prominent place in the results pages.
This time driven by your own visitors that don't have spam sites but are really liking your content.

Joomla Templates for SEO

Filed Under: Joomla Templates, Seo Basics

Search Engine Optimized Joomla Templates

If your are looking for Joomla templates that are already build with Search Engine Optimization in mind, this website of http://www.joomlashack.com/ is one of the best places to start.

And a good Search Engine Optimized Template is really one of the key factors in your quest for Good Ranking in the Search Engines.
If the site is ready to be read by search engines without any difficulties, your are already half way there.
Don't forget the other technical stuff you need to do, but that is on another part of this website.

SEO Optimized Templates

Here is one I really like Element Template which has some CSS style options already build in:

Optimized for Search Engines
Display Font Changes for Bigger or smaller text
Possible Fixed or Fluid width change
RSS Feed icon instead of the Old RSS Syndication images
Validation for W3C XHTML 1.0
Validation for W3C CSS

Why Validation matters

The last two may sound a bit strange to you, but for the best performance in loading time of your website W3C validation makes the pages load faster.
This is because of the fact that Spiders like Googlebot and Inktomi slurp can read the code faster and can easily find the Real Content on your page.

But that is from my point of view, as I focus on real SEO for Joomla sites.

The templates you will find at Joomlashack also stand out because of there easy customization and visitors appeal.
And that is also Important…..

Visitors Appeal

The longer visitors stay and read and roam your site…. because if they really like your website and its layout, the better you will rank in Google.

Google also tracks the time and number of pages you visit after a search.
The longer you stay on that site, the more relevant it must be for you!
That is one of the factors Google takes into account in his ranking.

So You should try to do is build a website that is, af course loaded with good content, but with a Search Engine Optimized Template that is attractive to visitors.

If you want visitors, build your site and check out the Joomla Templates over on http://www.joomlashack.com/

P.S.

If your want a Special Custom Build Joomla Template or Your old website Layout converted for your own very special website, they can do that for you as well.

P.P.S

They have some fine Joomla tutorials also!

How Linking Improves Your ranking

Filed Under: Search Engines, Seo Basics

How Links To your Website Improves Your Ranking

One of the aspects that certainly Google takes into consideration is how many sites are linking to your URL.

But they also take into account where these links are coming from!
A link to your site from another site that has a High PageRank is more likely to boost your ranking than one from a LinkExchange directory.

The last one might even bring your ranking down because in some cases you are in so-called “Bad Social Neighboorhood”

So it is very important that you get the right links from the right sites!

Also, the description of your links are important:
A link to your website that is like “Click Here” is less of an improvement than a one like “Network Documentation and Network Management Information“

Although Both link to the same website, you will see that the last one is picked up by search engines as more relevant to your keywords.

So If you are going to build your network of link partners, look for sites in the same area as you are and preferably handle the same topic.
But try to get links containing your keywords!.

Do It Yourself Site SEO for Joomla Optimization

Filed Under: Joomla Seo

Greatly Improve Joomla Websites with Search Engine Optimization

When I build my first Joomla site, it was pretty easy, at least that's what I thought.

I Read everything about Sections, Categories, Components, Modules, and Mambots.
Also about the Free Joomla Templates, which many of you are still seeking.

The best thing was, I got my site online, filled it with rich content, after all, everybody knows now ‘Content is King' and Voilà, ready..they will come!

Pages were read, every day after going live, the Joomla statistics showed me how many hits every page got!
Until I got hold off a free external Statistics Counter……
After a week I figured it out, the one person reading my pages was ME!

Getting the right visitors

This site is up and running to prevent You from making the same mistake.
You need to optimize your site so Search Engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing can find you, index you with ease and get you to the positions you deserve.

You will find a ton of information about Search Engine Optimization SEO and SEF on this site, not only for Joomla but for every website that wants to rank high in every Search Engine.

There is a special section on SEO for Joomla with Search Engine Optimization Information for this Cms.

Joomla SEF

Why is this Search Engine Friendly ( SEF ) so important for a Site that runs a Content Management System?
And is this really that important?

First, for some search engine spiders, it is still very difficult to index dynamic URLs.
So a URL that reads like
http://www.domeinname.com/index.php?component_name&SectionID=1
Is really not going to be indexed as well as:
https://www.diysiteseo.com/joomla-seo-optimization/the-best-joomla-sef-component.html

Which has more of the keywords in the URL and doesn't have strange things like ? & and + in it.

Don't forget, all the information on this site is focused on Quality Content, not Black Hat optimization !!

Website Hosting and HPPTS Options

Moving from HTTP to HTTPS

Important!!

Ranking on Google is going to change in 2009

Joomla Templates for SEO