technical seo face-off

Technical SEO Face-OffHow to handle some of the nastiest, most common

technical SEO issues in web development & marketing.

Rand Fishkin | CEO

http://bit.ly/mozseotech2012

Redirects of All Kinds

How to Move Content,

Sites, Users & Engines

The Classic 301

http://www.seomoz.org/learn-seo/redirection

301s Used to Be a Solution to Penalties

https://twitter.com/#!/klark0/status/184303676477816832

301 Rewrite Rules Make Life Easier

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/rewriterule-split-personality-explained

The Rel=Canonical

http://www.johnfdoherty.com/do-bing-and-google-treat-relcanonical-differently/

Cross-Domain Canonical

Whoa… Dharmesh +1’d

the new domain, not the

old one. Interesting.

Cross-domain canonical

took <48 hours to work

The Temporary 302

Don’t use the 302 as a permanent tool/solution as engines may change how they interpret it.

If Bing crawls a 302

redirect five times, it

begins to treat the 302

(temporary) redirect as if it

were a permanent redirect

(301). We’ve observed

similar behavior from

Google.

The Meta Refresh

Google picked up the meta refresh immediately, Bing took several months, and still displays the old URL

Javascript-Based Redirection

http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=66355

Hey! Isn’t that a “sneaky”

javascript redirect?

The CSS Overlay

Many websites that require age/location verification use overlays to get input prior to access

Keyword Cannibalization

How to Get the Right Page

Ranking for the Right Query

Why Cannibalization Hurts

Multiple pages targeting the same keywords can cause dilution of relevancy

I really wish this page

was #1 for this phrase

The Content Targeting Solution

http://pro.seomoz.org/tools/on-page-keyword-optimization

The Internal Linking Solution

Identifying the links that point to the content and the anchor text they use internally can be helpful

The External Link Reclamation Solution

Getting external links to change their anchor text or surrounding text can help, too

The 301 + Re-Build Solution

This tactic can help when all else fails (particularly if external link signals are very strong

Currently Ranking Page

http://website.com/oldurl

Page You Want Ranking Well

for This Query

http://website.com/targetpage

New Version of OldURL

http://website.com/newurlTake the content from this page and recreate it here.

Domain Names,Subdomains & Subfolders

Structuring Sites for Maximum

Marketing Effectiveness

Root Domains, Subdomains & Subfolders

Same root domain and subfolder is almost always the way to go in SEO

www.website.com

www.website.com/folder/page1

www.website.com/otherfolder/page2

Any positive SEO signals on these will help the others rank, too.

Positive SEO signals tothis one might not helpthis one orthis one.

blog.website.com

www.website.com/content

files.website.com/whitepaper

Microsites

http://spyline.de/features/best-microsites-of-2008

3rd-Party Hosting

https://plus.google.com/photos/112544075040456048636/albums/5683143713592220369

URL Structures

The Final Word on SEO Best

Practices for URLs

Rules #1-2 for Great URLs

If shown without context/anchor text, the link’s content should still be obvious.

#1: Make the Content Obvious from the URL

Not Obvious:

Obvious:

#2: Avoid URL Parameters of Any Kind

Parameters:

Nice & Clean:

website.com/s/wm_bts773A

website.com/shoes/womens-boots

website.com/recipe?q=chicken&t=cordon+bleu

website.com/recipe/chicken-cordon-bleu

Rules #3-4 for Great URLs

Long URLs get clipped, and those with bad separators may appear less-click-worthy

#3: Shorter is Better; Maximum of 66 Characters

Too Long:

Just Fine:

#4: Separate Words with Hyphens, or + If Necessary

Bad Separators:

Good Separators:

website.com/cars/mercedes-benz/2009/models/sedans/c-class-coupe/full-options

website.com/mercedes-benz/c-class-coupe

website.com/mercedes&%20benz

website.com/mercedes-benz

Rules #5-6 for Great URLs

Neat, clean URLs perform better in social, search, links and sharing of all kinds

#5: Keywords Closer to the Front of the URL is Ideal

Less Ideal:

More Ideal:

#6: Keep Folder-Depth to a Minimum, Yet Still Organized

Disorganized:

Smart Folders:

website.com/electronics-laptops-cables-samsung-power-cord

website.com/electronics/laptops/samsung-power-cord

website.com/electronics/thin-laptops

website.com/products/electronics/2275/thin-laptops

When is Rewriting Worth It?

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/bing-vs-google-prominence-of-ranking-elements

Absolute vs. Relative URLs

https://plus.google.com/u/1/104591903036738260658/posts/3XSM37yuxYL

<a href=“http://website.com/page>anchor text</a>

<a href=“../page>anchor text</a>

Relative URLs can make development and

migrations easier, but don’t help with the

scraping side effect on links.

When absolute URLS get scraped

(especially in RSS content), the links will

point back and sometimes provide a boost.

URL Rewriting Tools

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/url-rewrites-and-301-redirects-how-does-it-all-work

Duplicate & Thin Content

Fighting Indexation, Crawl Issues,

Penalties and a Big Fat Panda

Straight Duplicates are Easy

http://searchengineland.com/search-illustrated-how-a-search-engine-determines-duplicate-content-13980

Modified Duplicates are Hard

Some material is duplicative, other stuff is unique; that makes this challenging

Making Duped Material Engine Inaccessible

If you have “boilerplate” content that everyone’s using, consider making that inaccessible to engines (or rewriting it)

Thin Content’s Really Hard

This is the best image I could find for this slide. I’m sure you will agree.

FYI: These are Thin Mints

It’s still funny, even though I have to explain it, right?

A Litmus Test for “Thin” Content

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/replicate-googles-panda-questionnaire-whiteboard-friday

Keep Thin Out of the Index

404’ing may work better than noindex to help get out of a Panda situation

Content w/o User Signals Can Hurt

http://www.quickonlinetips.com/archives/2012/02/find-thin-content/

Tools Can Help You Make Thin Thick

http://www.mediapiston.com/ is an excellent starting point

Rand Fishkin | CEO

http://bit.ly/mozseotech2012

@randfish

www.seomoz.org/blog

rand@seomoz.org