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miercuri, 16 martie 2011

SEOmoz Daily SEO Blog

Restricting Robot Access for Improved SEO

Posted: 15 Mar 2011 02:03 PM PDT

Left to their own devices, search engine spiders will often perceive important pages as junk, index content that shouldn’t serve as a user entry point, generate duplicate content, along with a slew of other issues. Are you doing everything you can to guide bots through your website and make the most of each visit from search engine spiders?

It is a little like child-proofing a home. We use child safety gates to block access to certain rooms, add inserts to electrical outlets to ensure nobody gets electrocuted, and place dangerous items out of reach. At the same time we provide educational, entertaining, and safe items within easy access. You wouldn't open the front door of your unprepared home to a toddler, then pop out for a coffee and hope for the best.

Think of Googlebot as a toddler (If you need a more believable visual, try a really rich and very well-connected toddler). Left to roam the hazards Good girl, reading a book. unguided you'll likely have a mess and some missed potential on your hands. Remove the choice to access the troublesome areas of your website and they’re more likely to focus on the good quality options at hand instead.

Restricting access to junk and hazards while making quality choices easily accessible is an important and often overlooked component of SEO.

Luckily, there are a number of tools that allow us to make the most of bot activity and keep them out of trouble on our websites. Lets look at the four main robot restriction methods; the Meta Robots Tag, Robots.txt files, the X-Robots Tag, and the Canonical Tag. We’ll summarize quickly how each method is implemented, cover the pros and cons of each, and provide examples of how each one can be best used.

CANONICAL TAG

The canonical tag is a page level meta tag that is placed in the HTML header of a web page. It tells the search engines which URL is the canonical version of the page being displayed. Its purpose is to keep duplicate content out of the search engine index while consolidating your pages strength into one ‘canonical’ page.

The code looks like this:

<link rel="canonical" href="http://example.com/quality-wrenches.htm"/>

There is a good example of this tag in action over at MyWedding. They used this tag to take care of tracking parameters important to the marketing team. Try this url - http://www.mywedding.com/?utm_source=whatever-they-want-to-track. Right click on the page, then view the source. You'll see the rel="canonical" entry on the page.

Pros

Relatively easy to implement. Your dev group can move on to bigger fish.
Can be used to source content across domains. This may be a good solution if you have syndication deals in the works but don't want to compromise your own search engine presence.

Cons

Relatively easy to implement incorrectly (see catastrophic canonicalization)
Search engine support can be spotty. The tag is a signal more than a command.
Doesn't correct the core issue.

Example Uses

There are usually other ways to canonicalize content, but sometimes this is a solid solution given all variables.
Cindy Krum, a Moz associate, recommends canonical tag use if you run into a sticky situation and your mobile site version is outranking your traditional site.
If you don't want to track your referal parameters with a cookie, the canonical tag is a good alternative.

ROBOTS.TXT

Robots.txt allows for some control of search engine robot access to a site; however it does not guarantee a page won’t be indexed. It should be employed only when necessary. I generally recommend using the Meta tag “noindex” for keeping pages out of the index instead. so easy a monkey could do it

Pros

So easy a monkey could do it.
Great place to point out XML Sitemap files.

Cons

So easy a monkey could do it (see Serious Robots.txt Misuse)
Serves as a link juice block. Search engines are restricted from crawling the page content so (internal) links aren't followed and passed the value they deserve.

no-juice-passes

Example Uses

I recommend only using the robots.txt file to show that you have one. It shouldn't really restrict anything, but serves to point to the XML Sitemaps or an XML Sitemap direcotry file.
Check out the SEOmoz robots.txt file. It is fun and useful.

META ROBOTS TAG

The Meta robots tag creates page-level instructions for search engine bots. The Meta robots tag should be included in the head section of the HTML document. Here is some info on how the tag should look in your code.

Meta Robots Commands

The Meta Robots Tag is my very favorite option. By using the 'noindex' tag, you keep content out of the index but the search engine spiders will still follow the links and pass the link love.

Pros

Use of 'noindex' keeps a page out of the search index better than other options like a robots.txt file entry.
As long as you don't use the 'nofollow' tag, link juice can pass. Woot!
Fine tune your entries in the SERPs by specifying NOSNIPPET, NOODP, or NODIR. (You're getting all fancy on me now!)

Cons

Many quite smart folks use 'noindex, nofollow' together and miss out on the important link juice flow piece. :(

Example Uses

Imagine that your log-in page is the most linked to (and powerful) page on your website. You don't want it in the index, but you certainly don't want to add it to the robots.txt file because that is a link juice block.
Search result sort pages.
Paginated versions of pages.

X-ROBOTS-TAG

Since 2007 Google and other search engines have supported the X-Robots-Tag as a way to inform the bots about crawling and indexing preferences in the HTTP Header used to serve the file. The X-Robots-Tag is very useful for controlling indexation of non-HTML media types such as PDF documents.

Pros

Allows you to control indexation of unusual content like Excel files, PDFs, PPTs, and whatever else you've got hanging around.

Cons

This kind of weird content can be troublesome in the first place. Why not publish an HTML version on the web for indexation and this secondary file type for download, etc?

Example Uses

You offer product information on your site in HTML, but your marketing department also wants to make the beautiful PDF version available. You'd add the X-Robots to the PDFs.
You have an awesome set of excel templates that are link bait. If your bothered by the Excel files outranking your HTML landing pages you could add noindex to your x-robots tag in teh HTTP Header.

Lets Turn this Ship Back Around

What was all the baby talk you started out with, Lindsay? Oh, that's right. Thanks. In your quest to bot-proof your website, you have a number of tools at lets-turn-this-ship-around your disposal. These differ greatly from those used for baby-proofing but the end result is the same. Everybody (babies and bots) stays safe, on track, out of trouble, and focused on the most important stuff that is going to make a difference. Instead of baby gates and electric socket protectors you've got the Meta Robots Tag, Robots.txt files, the X-Robots Tag, and the Canonical Tag.

In my personal order of preference, I'd go with...

Meta Robots Tag
Canonical Tag
X-Robots-Tag
Robots.txt file

Your Turn!

I would love, love, love to hear how you use each of the above robot control protocols for effective SEO. Please share your uses and experience in the comments and let the conversation flow.

Happy Optimizing!

Stock Photography by Photoxpress

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Removing Mercury and Other Toxics From the Air We Breathe

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Today, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced proposed Mercury and Air Toxics Standards - commonsense goals for reducing harmful pollution in the air we breathe that can save lives, prevent illnesses and promote the creation of new jobs.

We want to be sure you saw this blog post from EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson on WhiteHouse.gov.

Tomorrow at 10:55 a.m. EST Administrator Jackson will be hosting a special live Open for Questions discussion on this important issue.

Tune into WhiteHouse.gov/live to watch live and submit your questions on Facebook.

Removing Mercury and Other Toxics From the Air We Breathe
By EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson

This week, the EPA proposed Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, a Clean Air Act protection that sets the first-ever national safeguards to limit power plant releases of mercury, arsenic, chromium, nickel and acid gases into the air we breathe.

America’s power plants are the source of half of the mercury emissions, half of the acid gases, and a quarter of all toxic metal pollution in the U.S, and almost half of America’s coal plants lack advanced pollution controls. Instead of operating without set limits for these pollutants – which are linked to costly and often fatal health threats like asthma, cancer and developmental disorders – American power plants will install widely available, American made pollution control technology to cut emissions.

Setting commonsense goals for reducing harmful pollution in the air we breathe can save lives, prevent illnesses and promote the creation of new jobs. We’re confident in these expectations for the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards because this has been the history of Clean Air Act protections for the last forty years.

In 2010 alone, protections in the Clean Air Act prevented 160,000 premature deaths and 170,000 hospital visits. Cleaner air has meant trillions of dollars in benefits to our nation – not only through fewer medical bills, but by keeping our kids in school and our workers on the job. The Clean Air Act has also helped create jobs. As of 2008 the environmental technology industry – which develops, manufactures and maintains the tools that help keep our air clean – employed more than 1.7 million Americans.

The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards build on this decades-long success. Once the standards are in place, widespread use of existing pollution control technology will prevent an estimated 17,000 premature deaths and 11,000 heart attacks each year. These safeguards will also protect against 120,000 incidents of childhood asthma symptoms and ensure 11,000 fewer cases of acute bronchitis in children each year, making this is one of the largest steps forward in protecting our kids from toxic air pollution in a generation.

Implementing these proposed standards is also expected to create jobs. The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards will increase demand for pollution control technology that is already being produced by American companies. And new workers will be needed to install, operate and maintain pollution control technology. We estimate these first-ever standards will support 31,000 construction jobs and 9,000 long-term utility jobs.

The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards will also be beneficial to American utilities. Setting clear standards alleviates 20 years of uncertainty, and opens a long-awaited path for investments in multi-pollution reduction planning, energy efficiency and clean technology. It will level the playing field, closing loopholes for big polluters and putting our cleanest power generators at a competitive advantage. Consistent with the President’s Executive Order, EPA is ensuring flexibility, cost effectiveness and robust public comment before finalizing the standards.

The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards represent a milestone in the Clean Air Act’s already unprecedented record of defending the health of American families. At the EPA, we are eager to work with the American people through the coming public comment period, so that we can craft safeguards that best protect our health and strengthen our economy.

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Did You See President Obama’s Education Speech?

Good afternoon,

On Monday, President Obama gave a speech on education reform, addressing challenges that need to be tackled if we're going to out-educate the rest of the world. In a global economy that's more competitive and connected than ever before, we need to invest our time and resources to ensure our Nation's children are ready for the jobs of the future. As you'll see, the President laid out how we can all work together to ensure that every child gets ahead:

If you haven’t heard of "No Child Left Behind," reach out to a teacher you know, and ask about it. This major education legislation has inspired heated debate since it passed in 2001, and most experts agree it needs to be improved.

The President's speech on Monday details reforms to the legislation that will ensure we not only leave no child behind, but also that we help every student get ahead, including:

A flexible and focused accountability system that promotes shared responsibility, college and career readiness, and rewards achievement.
Support for reform and innovation at the state and local level that will empower both principals and teachers.
New efforts to drive resources and reform to the Nation's persistently low-performing schools and those with the greatest achievement gaps, and to ensure there is a great teacher in every classroom and a great principal in every school.

You'll also hear the President talking about the importance of a bottom-up strategy for reform. We need to get the best ideas bubbling up from states, educators, and parents across the country, and then replicate them in places that need help.

That's why I asked for Americans' ideas on education reform last week, and the feedback has been terrific.

Thousands of responses show broad consensus that the responsibility for our kids' educations begins at home – that parents are taking the time to expand on the lessons learned in the classroom and that teaching fundamental values is irreplaceable. As Wilbur from Nebraska put it:

What works for any school is a high level of involvement by both parents and teachers. Technology is great but the level of involvement by parents and teachers make great schools. The plan should be how to get parents move involved in their children's education.

As the President said in his speech, over the next 10 years, nearly half of all jobs will require something more than a high school diploma. In the long run, there is no better economic policy than one that invests in our children’s future. Nickolaus from Virginia points out:

Students spend too much time sitting and listening to lectures, and they have too little time doing hands-on projects with modern tools and diagnostic systems. America's future depends on hands-on engineers and technologists, and we need to do more to encourage students in these fields.

When we finish reviewing all of the comments, we’ll post a follow up on the White House website. In the meantime, I hope you’ll take a few minutes to watch President Obama's speech.

Sincerely,

Melody Barnes
Director of the Domestic Policy Council

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Japan Earthquake and Tsunami: How You Can Help

Your Daily Snapshot for
Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Japan Earthquake and Tsunami: How You Can Help

The United States is continuing to do everything in its power to help Japan in the wake of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami on March 11, 2011. USAID is coordinating the overall U.S. government efforts in support of the Japanese government’s response.

Learn more and find out how you can help.

Photo of the Day

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden greet Susannah Flanagan, daughter of Frank Buckles, at Arlington National Cemetery Memorial Chapel in Arlington, Va., March 15, 2011. Buckles, the last surviving American World War I veteran, passed away on Feb. 27, 2011, at his West Virginia home. He was 110. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Traffic Down From Panda Update – Diversify Your Traffic Sources Graywolf's SEO Blog

Traffic Down From Panda Update – Diversify Your Traffic Sources

Posted: 16 Mar 2011 07:56 AM PDT

Recently Google had an update and some webmasters were significantly impacted. Google has had many big updates and will have many more. If your rankings are soured by an update you may become angry at Google. IMHO that is just not the smartest or most profitable approach.

May I suggest you take a more productive step and diversify your traffic flow. This can also increase the quality signals of your website which will decrease your chances getting soured over a Google update. My network used to rely on Google for 95% of its traffic. I have personally done these items and now over 50% of my network traffic is from non-Google sources and my Google referrals have increased.

Start an Email Newsletter

By sharing valuable information and/or special offers via a newsletter you develop a traffic stream that is not dependent on Google. Also it boosts toolbar usage and mentions of your site in Gmail which I don’t think anyone would complain about.

Embrace Social Sites

Social sites can deliver great amounts of traffic. It can help you retain your current audience and attract new visitors. Build out your facebook page, regularly post useful tidbits on twitter, share photos on flickr. Google is using data from social sites in their ranking algorithm and incorporating these social sites into universal serps. Plus sharing photos on flickr with a creative common license can actually gain backlinks.

Embrace Google Universal Serps

I know this is supposed to be about relying less on Google for traffic but this is a great opportunity. Google News, Images and Shopping results are often given great placement in Google search results. You can significantly boost your traffic by having your site included in these sections. If you have a bad Google search update your site may no longer rank #1 in search but can still receive significant traffic from being listed in the universal parts of the serps.

Cross Promotion

This is a very old concept and this is actually how people discovered websites before search engines even existed. Find many relevant and complimentary websites and cross promote each other. If you are a USA florist exchange banner ads with a Canadian florist. This helps users who need to send international flowers and it also helps to boost your link popularity which everyone loves. If you sell used cars then cross promote with a local mechanic website. If you are an SEO consultant then cross promote with a graphic designer or e-commerce specialist. If you ever lose your rankings you can still survive by getting traffic from your network of relevant cross promoted websites.

There are other ways to diversify your traffic which will help to protect your business model and also help your Google rankings. If you are creative and plan ahead you should hopefully avoid having to deal with bad rankings after a Google update. Whatever you do just try to be as productive & profitable as possible.

Greg Niland is a veteran SEO consultant and affiliate marketer with over 14 years of experience. He is a moderator at WebmasterWorld.com, a show host on WebmasterRadio.fm and President of Internet Marketers of New York.

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