SEO

Mike: Just added you to our Extended Family - Nonprofit and Informational Sites page SEO thoughts. Sometime I am a little to blunt, sorry but... Frames.... Not good, for many (many) reasons. The best SEO advice I could give you would be to make this a non-frame site. All other suggestions would be meaningless until this one change is made. Again, sorry. I know that is not what you wanted to here

Mike, please do not cross post (i.e. only one post per topic). [makes it tough on us older folks ] I will add and comment at the other post: Please add ncciaau.com, a baseball team web site.

R. Shane: You have been added to our Extended Family - Personal Sites page

Might this help: How could I hide or encrypt variables that appear in url so the user could not make querys directly from his browser?

Yea, but will yours float? P.S. Raul, you are not the only black sheep among our carnivores family, soybeans rule! I was driving the other day with a gal that works for me (and who always gives me a hard time about my vegetarian ways) and we pull up next to a pick-up truck with a bumper sticker that read: Vegetarianism, an old Native American word for 'lousy hunter' [i must admit, I laughed as loud as she did]

Will Google become obsolete? Not a chance, for one very simple reason (read on). First some filler: Well I do not see complacency, the drastic November algo change (Florida Update) would argue that they are anything but. This Wall Street Journal actually broke this story earlier this week. But hear it from the horses mouth: Yahoo! News - About GoogleThere are search results now that show that, in some cases, Yahoo has already drifted from Google. Yea, but Jack the 'playing field' was much, much smaller. The $$ it would take now to do what Google has done would be prohibitive. I think that others can begin to compete but no 'new guy' will appear from 'nowhere'. They are not a true monopoly in the sense of, let us say a Microsoft. They definitely dominate the free, or what some call the 'organic' search world. Remember though, the search engines primarily make money from the paid listings and there is definite competition here. Quick Tangent: On that note, one aspect of Google that I have always loved is the fact that their serps are the least commercial (along with their site). I like a clean, fair, non-manipulative (ok, that might be a stretch ) approach of their 'tool'. I fear a day when all search results are governed by $$$. Google, in a sense, has kept the 'Internet' honest. Did you see my post last night: Now this is cool - Grokker! You may also enjoy this: CNN - Better search results than Google? Now the meat (or 'the simple reason'): Besides the fact that the best 'search' research is tied to Google (they support the major research faculties delving in search technology [e.g. Stanford]), there is one basic fact that will allow Google to remain dominate (and even more so): IPO When Google goes public they are going to generate cash, lots and lots of cash. Now what are they going to do with all that cash? Distribute it out in the way of dividends... I don't think so. They will buy (How much for Grokker?). Anyone with a good idea, buy. Anyone with a threatening idea, buy. Anyone... buy! Hmmm, sounds like Microsoft woooot

http://www.groxis.com/service/grok/g_products.html Thumbs Up

If 'rudolf' is important, then include it. You should have all the most relevant phrases. Not too many because each additional phrase will dilute the importance of the others. Thus you need to determine the ideal number for a given site (obviously each site is unique). Succinct is generally best.

Gary: You have been added to our Extended Family - Commercial Sites page SEO thoughts: Your Meta Description is too long; make it one complete sentence with 130 characters or so. Place your description tag before you keyword tag. I would narrow your keywords down to just the most relevant. Your have quite a big challenge ahead you if you want to get high rankings for this site. This is what a spider sees: click on the logo to return to this home page audio production print and packaging designs photographs magazine ads logo and corporate image work exhibit design and production billboard designs sportswear and product labeling architecture designs about cloudroom audio about cloudroom studio contact information resume information site navigation links to cool stuff This means that you have zero body text. In essence, you have zero content... just links. I understand your approach but, from a search engine optimization point of view you have to have content (i.e. body text). I have taken similar index pages and just added relevant body text well below the opening screen shot. A person would have to scroll way down to view it, most will not even realize it is there so you will have the same visual affect but also 'feed' the spiders relevant text. Hope this helps and good luck.

Hey, just my one and half cents worth

Sam: Good, I am glad you received it the way it was intended When you start 'changing' things and would like input, you know where to come! We will be here waiting

Look at this Natural Images Photography thread and you may enjoy this long thread on Image Security

Skip: Submit a help ticket... include what server you are on.

Skip: I see it in cPanel > CGI Scripts > Addon Scripts It lists: InvisionBoard PHP-Nuke and osCommerce Not true for you?

Sam: I tend to lean towards the conservative side (fiscally). Thus I would accept the 'time' delay with the free submission. Please do not misunderstand or take any of the below personal, it is advice that I give freely and honestly. Your site is not optimally designed with search engines in mind. Thus, I would not recommend spending money to submit to any search engine / index. It would be similiar to entering a very large race with the goal of finishing in the top 10. However, the car you are driving is a 4 cylinder and does not have a chance to place well. But now you may say "yea but I am number one under 'venue Chicago' so what do you mean I will not place well? This is true but are we sure that 'venue Chicago' is your best keyword phrase? Looking at Overtures Search Term Suggestion Tool, I see that 'chicago venue' is a better phrase, although very light (a suspicious 500 searches in November). You are number 26 with that phrase. A more accurate commercial keyword tool is offered by WordTracker. They too show that 'chicago venue' would be a better phrase but again show light traffic for that phrase. I have explained in our SEO articles that the first step (and most important) when optimizing a site is selecting the best keyword phrases. Very few people spend the time and do the appropriate research required to select these key phrases. This is a must first step. Once you have those phrases, then optimize your site for them. Next would be submitting to the various search engines (paid inclusions as well). So, I guess what I am saying is 'first things first'. What is/are your best keyword phrase(s)? I would also recommend going back to my initial SEO comments regarding your site (especially the comment regarding body text). I do hope this helps.

No look again. Similar text in the body but not exact. There are many examples of this I just grabbed the first one I looked at. Here is Dmoz's suggest a site page Several comments about Dmoz, they do not accept everyone. Second, it can take a long, long time to get reviewed. I have had sites in the queue for over 8 months! They are overwhelmed with submissions and every single one gets reviewed by a real person. One thing to remember, do not resubmit your site, if you do... your site goes back to the bottom of the queue.

Mike: I added to our Extended Family - Nonprofit and Informational Sites page. I think that is the right place but let me know if you would rather have it somewhere else.

Hey Jennifer we added a link to your site on our Extended Family - Personal Sites page. Thanks for being part of the family

No, that is not true. I know that this is reported on many different sites by many different professionals, but it is simply not true. Honest. Well let me give you an example: Look at this Google search for 'honesty' The number one site shows: A break down: Radical Honesty ><title>Radical Honesty</title> Radical Honesty is communication that is direct, complete, expressive and leads to intimacy. We provide workshops and books that ... ><meta name="description" content="Radical Honesty is communication that is direct, complete, expressive and leads to intimacy. We provide workshops and books that help you complete the past and create the life you want."> Note: hmm, look at that again. Google only has 128 characters... is that why I always suggest a description to be no more then 130 characters? Description: How to transform your life by telling the truth. This is their description found in the Dmoz directory Category: Health > Mental Health > Self-Help > Support Groups Google Web Directory Path (built from Dmoz)

samporras: You can get a gauge of any page's PR by downloading Google's Toolbar. The toolbar can also easily check the relevant backlinks a site has. 'Relevant' these days is roughly defined by Google as a PageRank of 4 or greater. For AllTheWeb, what is wrong with:

Sorry typo, try: >redirect 301 /bomber.zip http://www.pdabruce.com/zips/bomber.zip the / in front is important

Just curious, was this domain (stufftosee.com) recently transferred? (i.e. is this a propagation issue?)

One line anywhere. Always wise to make a backup of the file before altering

Some would say that if you are using hidden text via css that it is not spam. I would tend to lean towards a more conservative (and less dangerous) opinion that any hidden text can (and may) be viewed as spam (i.e. why take the risk). Think of alternatives: a. be more creative with your alt tags b. make your title tag more descriptive c. be very conscientious with regard to your description tag d. add body text?

Ah, you are looking at awstats. Links from an external page (other web sites except search engines): There has been discussion of 'what' this actually is. It should read 'referrals from external pages (other than search engines)'. This is why you see a 'number of pages', meaning that that many pages were served using that particular link. Now there has been discrepancy with this data (i.e. some have seen referrals where an actual link does not exist). Not sure how to explain that. However, if you want 'real' data regarding backlinks check Google (i.e. place the below bold text in the Google search box): link:http://www.venuechicago.com shows one 'relevant' link, the one from TotalChoice +www.venuechicago.+com shows a total of 36 backlinks to your site It is also worth looking at alltheweb which offers a more complete list of backlinks. Same syntax as above in the alltheweb search box. link:http://www.venuechicago.com Shows no links You need to submit your site to alltheweb. Hope this helps.