New website

[musicology]

I've just had a go with some of those checkers and don't really understand them. Still, I noted that google responds to social media more so have added a "like and share" widget to my home page now. Can't do any harm! Really like your site by the way Jim. Very tidy mate!

[scott23]

Mind I'm not even sure how much weight Google gives to those these days since some people doing well in searches aren't set up properly in that department. Anyway it shouldn't take you long and it won't hurt to do it right.

You definitely should have a sitemap file though. This is an XML file (usually automatically generated) which describes the page layout of your site and the links within it. It helps search engines crawl your site. Google allegedly favours this method & while it won't shun parsing your site's own internal links it's given a much lower priority. Allegedly.

Google doesn't use meta atol these days! Its all about responsive and google plus pages! They are kicking people down the listings for deliberate seo manipulation aswel.

[Gazza75]

You can get a 'free' SEO check from loads of places these days. Sometimes you have to sign up, sometimes you don't. In all cases, take what they report with a pinch of salt because they're ALL trying to sell services to improve your SEO. I looked into paying somebody - not even a big name & we'd have been talking about £200 a month.

I have a Wordpress plugin called Yoast which was free (a 'pro' version is available for money, who'd have guessed?) which can tell you a lot about how good your pages' SEO is. The first place to start is to make sure you've got good & relevant metadata.. title, keywords, description etc. Mind I'm not even sure how much weight Google gives to those these days since some people doing well in searches aren't set up properly in that department. Anyway it shouldn't take you long and it won't hurt to do it right.

You definitely should have a sitemap file though. This is an XML file (usually automatically generated) which describes the page layout of your site and the links within it. It helps search engines crawl your site. Google allegedly favours this method & while it won't shun parsing your site's own internal links it's given a much lower priority. Allegedly.

Couldn't say it better myself!

Remember it's all free and yes if you favour googles products you will be rewarded by google. They do invest billions in their own products for a reason, they want more eyes on google so it makes sense to put you up if you tie in with google+ or google business listings. Both of which are... free.

[Marc J]

Google doesn't use meta atol these days!

That's quite a statement, and totally wrong. While it's been known for a long time that Google ignores the keyword meta tag, they place quite a lot of importance on the page title and description metatags, and also look at others. See Meta tags that Google understands and Google's Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide.

Its all about responsive and Google plus pages!

Almost - Google have said they will use mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal, so mobile friendly websites may rank higher on searches conducted from mobile devices. If and by how much is anybody's guess - I've even seen tests indicating that there's no real change (yet!). More info - Finding more mobile-friendly search results & FAQs about the April 21st mobile-friendly update.

As for Google Plus pages - I wouldn't personally place much importance on them. Google Plus is being gradually picked apart, and the latest update makes it (IMHO) largely unusable, especially from a business POV. Much more important (again, IMHO) is to verify your business with Google (https://www.google.com/business/), which covers searches across Search, Maps and G+.

They are kicking people down the listings for deliberate seo manipulation aswel.

That's nothing new, they've pretty much always done that and anyone trying to manipulate things with "black hat" techniques (think low contrast / invisible text, duplicate content etc.) totally deserves what they get - see Webmaster Guidelines.

[ukpartydj]

Whilst google does claim to mark down websites for trying to manipulate I found relatively good success in link trading which is effectively boosting your backlinks with other likeminded people.
I personally think it's a bit of a cheat but it appeared to have worked okay for me! It does take a fair bit of effort though!

[Jim - Scotland's Party DJ]

The one thing I'm taking away from the seo boons I'm reading just now is that black and even a lot of grsy hat stuff is to be avoided as if you get caught they'll hammer you in the listings.

[scott23]

That's quite a statement, and totally wrong. While it's been known for a long time that Google ignores the keyword meta tag, they place quite a lot of importance on the page title and description metatags, and also look at others. See Meta tags that Google understands and Google's Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide.



Almost - Google have said they will use mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal, so mobile friendly websites may rank higher on searches conducted from mobile devices. If and by how much is anybody's guess - I've even seen tests indicating that there's no real change (yet!). More info - Finding more mobile-friendly search results & FAQs about the April 21st mobile-friendly update.

As for Google Plus pages - I wouldn't personally place much importance on them. Google Plus is being gradually picked apart, and the latest update makes it (IMHO) largely unusable, especially from a business POV. Much more important (again, IMHO) is to verify your business with Google (https://www.google.com/business/), which covers searches across Search, Maps and G+.



That's nothing new, they've pretty much always done that and anyone trying to manipulate things with "black hat" techniques (think low contrast / invisible text, duplicate content etc.) totally deserves what they get - see Webmaster Guidelines.

You quoted some parts of what I have said missed others from my prev post then tried to use it as a dig?! I said already its important to use headlines and descriptions. You are preaching to the converted and then trying to the smart arse at the same time.

[Marc J]

You quoted some parts of what I have said missed others from my prev post then tried to use it as a dig?! I said already its important to use headlines and descriptions. You are preaching to the converted and then trying to the smart arse at the same time.

I quoted a part of your post that was wrong - "Google doesn't use meta atol these days!". Although the title element isn't technically a meta tag (and neither are headings), there are a whole bunch of meta tags that Google does use. That's a fact. I linked to the page listing them.

I missed your earlier post (#15), to be honest, and agree with you on headings and titles. But that doesn't make your later statement any less wrong.

The rest is my personal opinion - it's not "all about responsive" (at least, not yet) and I think Google is scaling back massively on the G+ side - links, posts and reviews are no longer shown in SERPS (although reviews are still shown if the business is verified). Unless you actually add "Google Plus" to a search, you'll probably find it difficult to even find a business's Google Plus page from a standard Google web search.

[Nakatomi]

Not that I want to contradict anybody, but my own sites ranking is below my google + page right now, which royally sucks. I'm being hammered, but people are still finding me somehow. It's something I'm working on but I doubt I'll make much headway until I have more of a Facebook presence. Love it or loathe it, Facebook is essential

[funkymook]

Love it or loathe it, Facebook is essential

No it isn’t, none of my leads come from FB, and going by the comments I see from a lot of DJ’s who rely on it I wouldn’t want to dip my toe in their waters anyway.