Duplicate Content and Web Content Plagiarism

Depending on which camp you speak with, the issue of duplicate content will have varied definitions, levels of importance and points of view.

Duplicate Content within a Website

Duplicate content on different landing pages within a website will more than likely get penalized in the index by Google and the other top search engines.  At the very least, pages with duplicate content will simply be ignored in the SERPs.

I personally know of a nationwide real estate website filled with duplicate page content (except for a few city or state changes) that was severely spanked in the SERPs and eventually banned from a major search engine.  It took the company over 6 months to successfully petition and get back into the index, after all the duplicate content was omitted. 

Duplicate Content and Article Marketing

When it comes to article marketing or republishing blog posts on article directories, whatever website published the content first gets the benefits of ranking – most of the time.  The exception to the rule is when article directories, such as Associated Content or ActiveRain, are higher authority sites than the originating website.  

However, if you are a savvy article marketer and have added your promotional plug along with back links to your website, you have achieved your goal of branding (name recognition) and “authority” for being included in the directory.  In that case, does it  really matter if the directory site with your content is above your website in the index?  Not really.

Stolen or Plagiarised Duplicate Content

Duplicate content is a heated issue when web content has been stolen or plagiarized from one website and published on another.  Let’s face it, no one likes to see their hard work “scrubbed and scraped” or ripped off word-for-word on someone else’s website without permission or without any kind of back link or reference as to where the content came from.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of unscrupulous people on the Internet looking to make a quick buck and web content plagiarism is a big, ugly problem.  One that Google and the other top search engines don’t take it lightly. 

Websites that plagiarize or steal content from other websites and are reported to the search engines will get penalized in the SERPs, if not banned from the index entirely – and they should be!

It’s a good idea to periodically Copyscape your published articles and website landing pages to make sure other websites are not using your content without your knowledge or consent.

SEO Content Writing Services and SEO WordPress Blog Design

If you are a leader in your industry or would like to be one and desire a strong Internet presence, you need GET FOUND NOW.  Our proven SEO methods (see our case studies of Verifiable SERP results) will drive qualified visitors to your website and our quality, SEO content writing services will help you convert that traffic to dollars!   

More on optimized content writing and SEO website promotion:

For more information about web writing for website landing pages, marketing articles or blog writing services, please fill out the online contact form or give us a call at (813) 443-1585 or (813) 484-1363.  Let us help you GET FOUND NOW! 

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Do You Really Want to Outsource Your Website Content Offshore?

Many website owners these days are looking for website content and marketing article content on the cheap and they get what they pay for when they hire offshore content writers.

Don’t Underestimate the Intelligence of Your Site Visitors

The majority of offshore content writers from India or the Philippians have difficulty understanding the subtleties and nuances of the English language. 

American site visitors can easily tell when content has been written by someone in a foreign country.  Even the “Queen’s English” sounds different than “American speak,”  let alone someone trying to master English as a second language.

Offshore content writers may be able to get the SEO part right with the use of keyword search tools, but the actual writing for Americans is often amiss.  How can a content writer living in a foreign country understand our American way of life, culture, economy, sensibilities or how we think and feel?

In order to write quality SEO content for American markets that appeals to American site visitors, writers must live, breathe and “speak American” on a daily basis.  Most offshore content writers have never even stepped foot on American soil and all they can really do is “scrub, scrape and spin” content about American markets from other websites.

Even when offshore website content has been spell checked (or maybe not), it tends to be loaded with grammatical mishaps and obvious, non-local idioms and phrases.  If SEO contentreads like a foreigner wrote it – say “au revoir” to your site visitors, who will quickly leave your site for the next. 

In the end, what have you actually accomplished by cutting corners on your website content or marketing article content?

Quality Content vs Quantity

Some website owners believe that quantity is more important than quality and if they outsource their content offshore they can afford to push more content out the door and onto unsuspecting site visitors.

For them it’s simply a “numbers game” and all they really care about is driving traffic to their website.  However, if they have a high bounce-off rate due to poorly written content, the conversion rate of that traffic will be low.

Again, don’t underestimate your site visitors’ ability to see through the thin veneer of content on the cheap!

Think about it – have you ever actually been fooled by a credit card customer service representative who’s actually at  a call center in India?  Most people know right away when they are speaking to a foreigner speaking English as a second language – no matter how much training they’ve had to sound “American.”  Why would the written language be any different?  Again, site visitors are a lot smarter than you think!

Cheap Doesn’t Always Mean Good

The bottom line is that a website loses credibility when content is poorly written or when it’s obvious the content was written by someone in a foreign country.  Website owners are much better off paying a little more for QUALITY CONTENT vs quantity and sticking with experienced American-based SEO content writers.

SEO Content Writing Services in the USA

If you are a leader in your industry or would like to be one and desire a strong Internet presence, you need GET FOUND NOW.  Our proven SEO methods (see our case studies of Verifiable SERP results) will drive qualified visitors to your website and our quality, SEO content writing services will help you convert that traffic to dollars!  

More on optimized content writing and website promotion:

For more information about optimized website landing pages, marketing articles, blog writing services or SEO wordPress blog design, please fill out the online contact form, or give us a call at (813) 443-1585 or (813) 484-1363. Let us help you GET FOUND NOW!

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SEO Article Marketing

Effective article marketing for the Internet always starts with quality, optimized content.  Publishing optimized blog posts that link back to website landing pages is the first level of online article marketing

The next level involves advertising for products and/or services by submitting blog posts, marketing articles or website landing pages to free, online article directories.

If your content is engaging to your readers and optimized correctly for the search engines, article marketing will generate more traffic to your website and create branding (name recognition) and authority for your specific industry, region and/or target market. 

Republishing in Article Directories

Optimized marketing articles, optimized website landing pages and optimized blog posts can all be submitted to free article directories and should always include a “marketing plug” that references contact information for the author, or the person or business the author is writing for. 

Two free article directories I often use for real estate article marketing and SEO content writing services are Associated Content and ActiveRain (links to my article marketing feeds).

When I republish website landing pages or blog posts that “I” have previously written for client websites or from my own websites, I never “rephrase, scrub, scrape or spin” the articles before submitting them to article directories.  

As long as you wait at least 24 hours (or after your RRS feed has gone out) before republishing an article, specify that it has been previously published and have permission to republish it, Google will give the “authority” to the originating source of the article.  

In other words, Google will not see the originating source as “duplicate content” and penalize it in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Page). 

A previously published marketing article, website landing page or blog post from your own website that has been submitted to an article directory will often rank higher in the SERPS if the directory has search engine authority.  Even if this happens, which it often does, you will have achieved your goal of broadening your reader base, branding your name and generating traffic back to your website via your marketing plug. 

What you don’t want to do is give away your search engine placement by publishing articles on article directories BEFORE you have published them on your own website/blog.   Article directories will often encourage you to publish with them first in order to gain authority and search engine placement off of your hard work.  

 Here’s an example:

“1. Promote your content!
Share it! Post links on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and any other social networks you use.
Blog it! If you have a personal blog, post a preview of your AC content along with a link or add one of our RSS widgets.  
Bookmark it! Is this an example of your very best work? Would it appeal to a wide range of people searching for interesting stuff on the Web? If so, submit it to social bookmarking sites like Reddit, Digg and StumbleUpon.”

Internet Article marketing for search engine placement starts with quality, optimized content written on your own website before submitting it to article directories.  We call this type of online marketing the “Circle Jerk” and it works!

SEO WordPress Blog Design & Content Writing Services

If you are a leader in your industry or would like to be one and desire a strong Internet presence, you need GET FOUND NOW.  Our proven SEO methods (see our case studies of Verifiable SERP results) will drive qualified visitors to your website and our quality, SEO content writing services will help you convert that traffic to dollars!  

For more information about article marketing, optimized content writing for websites and blogs or SEO WordPress blog design, please fill out the online contact form or give us a call at (813) 443-1585. 

Let us help you GET FOUND NOW!  

Content Writing for Real Estate SEO: Case Study

Florida New Homes Experts is a WordPress real estate website designed, built an optimized by GET FOUND NOW.  The website content was written by Victoria Stankard, co-owner of GET FOUND NOW.

Victoria got her start writing for the real estate industry as a content blog writer for New Homes Realty, a nationwide buyers agent company that was eventually bought about by Lending Tree.  Victoria has written over 1000 optimized, real estate marketing articles, real estate blog posts and real estate website landing pages, utilizing proven SEO methods for top, organic search engine placement.   

Real Estate Website Search Engine Placement Results

Florida New Homes Experts is only 5 months old, yet this WordPress blog/website already has top, organic search engine placement for major search terms in a highly competitive real estate market.  The site is geo-targeted for Florida new construction homes and new home communities in the Tampa Bay area.

Here are some examples of “keyword phrases” or “long tail keywords” that were searched in Google on August 22nd, 2010 along with their results:   

"eco value real estate tampa fl" #1 out of about 4,640,000 results

"tampa fl new construction home expert" - #1 out of about 3,520,000 results

"florida new construction homes for sale tampa bay" - Top of page 2 out of about 333,000 results

"florida new home expert" - #1 out of about 65,800,000 results

"tampa bay new construction homes for sale" - 1st page out of about 432,000 results

"florida new home communities hoas" #1 out of about 633,000 results

If you want top, organic search engine placement for your WordPress blog/website, you must feed the search engines a steady diet of optimized content linking back to your landing pages.  As you can see, the proof of the pudding is in the results!

For more information about SEO content writing services or SEO wordPress blog design, please fill out the online contact form or give us a call at (813) 443-1585.  Let us help you GET FOUND NOW! 

Custom WordPress Blog Design

Get Found Now’s blog design services are based on over 10 years experience in search engine optimization and web design. While we have customized every blog system known to mankind, we specialize in WordPress custom themes and blog designs. We believe that WordPress is by far the best blogging system there is. This site itself is a highly customized WordPress blog design. All of our designs are SEO friendly and built to dominate the search engines!

Custom WordPress Blog Design

Most businesses realize that they need a blog to stay in the race for rankings within the SERPS. The problem is that most businesses want a blog that doesn’t look and behave as a blog. This is even more true for new sites that are being built around the WordPress system. Get Found Now has a proprietary WordPress system that incorporates themes and plugins, graphics and video that make our sites work better than standard websites in the SERPS.

One thing that separates Get Found Now from other web design companies is our experience in search engine optimization. Our years of SEO experience gives our clients an upper hand with their competitors. Add our expertise in social network marketing and Web 2.0 applications and you have a winning combination!

Every client is different, each have their own products and services and they all need unique content and graphics to set them apart. Get Found Now has multiple systems that are tailored for many different vertical markets.

Get Found Now’s WordPress Blog Design In Action

Below are some of the sites that we have designed. We have also included some details about their search engine placement. The fact is no one that does WordPress blog design also has the SEO experience that Get Found Now has. In every design there is also a search engine optimization and social network marketing strategy. Feel free to call us at 813-907-7688 for a FREE no obligation quote on WordPress blog design.


301 redirect on IIS To Fix Domain Issues In Windows

Redirecting Requests to Files, Directories, or Programs (IIS 6.0)
You can redirect requests for files in one directory to a different directory, to a different Web site, or to a file in a different directory. When the browser requests the file from the original URL, the Web server instructs the browser to request the page from the redirected URL.

An advanced capability of the redirect method allows you to redirect all requests for files in a particular directory to a program. Generally speaking, you should also pass any parameters from the original URL to the program, which you can do by using redirect variables.

iis redirect Important

You must be a member of the Administrators group on the local computer to perform the following procedure or procedures. As a security best practice, log on to your computer by using an account that is not in the Administrators group, and then use the runas command to run IIS Manager as an administrator. At a command prompt, type runas /User:Administrative_AccountName“mmc %systemroot%\system32\inetsrv\iis.msc”.

>Procedures

To redirect requests to another directory or Web site

1.

In IIS Manager, expand the local computer, right-click the Web site, virtual directory, or directory within a Web site to which you want to add a redirect, and click Properties.

2.

Click the Home Directory, Virtual Directory, or Directory tab.

3.

Under The content for this resource should come from, click A redirection to a URL.

4.

In the Redirect tobox, type the path to the destination directory or the URL of the Web site. For example, to redirect all requests for files in the /Catalog directory to the /NewCatalog directory on another Web site, type http://sitename/NewCatalog. The redirect must be to a fully qualified URL.

5.

Set the required flags as specified below, and then click OK. More than one flag is allowed.

To redirect all requests to a single file

1. In IIS Manager, right-click the Web site or directory, and click Properties.

2.

Click the Home Directory, Virtual Directory, or Directory tab.
3. Under The content for this resource should come from, click A redirection to a URL.
4. In the Redirect to box, type the URL of the destination file. The redirect must be to a fully qualified URL.
5. Under The client will be sent to, select The exact URL entered above check box to prevent the Web server from appending the original file name to the destination URL.

6.

Click OK.

You can use wildcards and redirect variables in the destination URL to precisely control how the original URL is translated into the destination URL.

To redirect requests to a program

1. In IIS Manager, right-click the Web site or directory, and click Properties.
2. Click the Home Directory, Virtual Directory, or Directory tab.
3. Under The content for this resource should come from, click A redirection to a URL.
4. In the Redirect to box, type the URL of the program, including any redirect variables needed to pass parameters to the program.For example, to redirect all requests for scripts in a Scripts directory to a logging program that records the requested URL and any parameters passed with the URL, type /Scripts/Logger.exe?URL=$V+PARAMS=$P. $V and $P are redirect variables.
5. Under The client will be sent to, select The exact URL entered above check box to prevent the Web server from appending the original file name to the destination URL.
6. Click OK.

Redirect Reference (IIS 6.0)

Redirecting a client request is one way to ensure that users get the correct page, if your site is under construction or has changed identity. You can redirect client requests to a directory on the same Web server or to a different URL.


H3>Configuring URL and Wildcard Redirection

You can configure redirection to a URL and wildcard redirection programmatically. Redirection variables and flags allow you to specify targets and behavior by changing the HttpRedirectmetabase property.

The following example shows the format of a simple redirection string.

http://DestinationURL[,Flag[s]]

Where DestinationURL can include the following redirect variables to pass portions of the original URL with the destination URL. You can use more than one variable in a single redirection string.

Variable Description Example

$S

Passes the suffix of the requested URL to the new URL. The suffix is the portion of the original URL that remains after the redirected URL is substituted.

If the EXACT_DESTINATION flag is not set, the resulting destination URL will have the name of the requested file appended as a folder name, as well as the file name itself.

If the virtual directory that is mapped to the following Web site:

http://fabrikam/Scripts

is configured to be redirected to the following exact URL:

http://fabrikam/NewScripts$S

A new request for the following URL:

http://fabrikam/Scripts/Program.exe

Would be redirected automatically to the following URL:

http://fabrikam/NewScripts/Program.exe

$P

Passes parameters (such as querystring parameters) in the original URL to the new URL, without the question mark (?).

If the virtual directory that is mapped to the following Web site:

http://fabrikam/Scripts

is configured to be redirected to the following URL:

http://fabrikam/NewScripts$P

A new request for the following URL:

http://fabrikam/Scripts/File.asp?var1=5&var2=6

Would be redirected automatically to the following URL:

http://fabrikam/NewScriptsvar1=5&var2=6

$Q

Passes parameters (such as querystring parameters) in the original URL to the new URL, including the question mark (?).

If the virtual directory that is mapped to the following Web site:

http://fabrikam/Scripts

is configured to be redirected to the following exact URL:

http://fabrikam/NewScripts$S$Q

A new request for the following URL:

http://fabrikam/Scripts/File.asp?var1=5&var2=6

Would be redirected automatically to the following URL:

http://fabrikam/NewScripts/File.asp?var1=5&var2=6

$V

Passes the requested URL, without the server name and without any parameters. To include parameters, use the $P or $Q variable with the $V variable.

If the EXACT_DESTINATION flag is not set, the resulting destination URL will have the name of the requested file appended as a folder name, as well as the file name itself.

If the virtual directory that is mapped to the following Web site:

http://fabrikam/Scripts

is configured to be redirected to the following exact URL:

http://contoso$V

A new request for the following URL:

http://fabrikam/Scripts/File.asp

Would be redirected automatically to the following URL:

http://contoso/Scripts/File.asp

Redirection Using Wildcards

You can use redirect wildcards to match any number of characters in the original URL. Begin the destination URL with an asterisk (*) and a semicolon (;), and separate pairs of wildcard characters and destination URLs with a semicolon. The following example shows the format of a redirection string that uses wildcards.

*; Wildcard1; Destination1[; Wildcard2; Destination2][, Flags]

Where WildcardN can include an asterisk (*) to match any number of characters in the original URL and pass them to DestinationN by using the $0 through $9 variables defined in the following table.

“Variable” “Description” “Example”
$0 through $9 Passes the portion of the requested URL that matches the indicted wildcard character. Wildcards must start at $0 for each Wildcard;Destination set. The EXACT_DESTINATION flag must be appended to the redirection string. If the virtual directory that is mapped to the following Web site:http://fabrikam/Scriptsis configured with the following redirection string:*; /Scripts/*_in.asp; /NewScripts/$0.dll; /Scripts/*_out.asp; http://contoso/NewScripts/$0.dllA new request for the following URLs:http://fabrikam/Scripts/data_in.asphttp://fabrikam/Scripts/data_out.aspWould be redirected automatically to the following respective URLs:http://fabrikam/NewScripts/data.dll

http://contoso/NewScripts/data.dll

!

Does not allow a redirect.

This variable is useful when you want to exempt files or subdirectories from redirection when a parent directory is configured to be redirected.

If the virtual directory that is mapped to the following Web site:

http://fabrikam/Scripts

is configured to be redirected, but the following Web site:

http://fabrikam/Scripts/Commerce/Accounts

needs to be exempt, programmatically set the redirection string for the exempted folder to the following

*;!

For example, to redirect all requests for /Scripts/Filename.stm to a single file called Default.stm, and to redirect all requests for /Scripts /Filename.htm to a single file called Default.htm, use the following redirect request for the /Scripts virtual directory:

*;Filename.stm;/Default.stm/Filename.htm;/Default.htm

Using Redirection Flags

The following flags augment redirect strings of either URL or wildcard format. More than one flag is allowed. Flags are appended programmatically to the redirection string in HttpRedirect, or configured by selecting check boxes in IIS Manager.

Flag User Interface Check Box Description
EXACT_DESTINATION The exact URL entered above Indicates that the value provided for the destination should be considered an absolute target location.
CHILD_ONLY A directory below this one Alerts IIS that redirection should occur only once because the destination is in a subdirectory of the original URL. This flag avoids loops. Also, this flag instructs IIS to redirect requests only if they are to subfolders or files of the original URL.
PERMANENT A permanent redirection for this resource Indicates that this redirection is permanent for this resource.
TEMPORARY Clear the A permanent redirection for this resource check box” Indicates that this redirection is temporary for this resource.

How to Move Pages on Windows Servers

Most Windows servers will be running Microsoft’s Internet Information Server (IIS), and pages can be moved using ASP or ASP.NET code, depending on what the server is running (ask your web host). To move a page using ASP, set up the page at its new location then place the following code at the top of the old page:

Move a page using ASP
<%@ Language=VBScript %>
<%
Response.Status=”301 Moved Permanently”
Response.AddHeader “Location”, “http://www.domain.com/new-page.asp”
%>

Make sure that code is the first thing at the top of the page. As for the rest of the page, you can either remove its content or leave it—search engines won’t care one way or another. However, some of your human visitors (remember them?) will have auto-redirection turned off in their browsers.

This means they won’t be redirected, and will see the old page instead of the new one. So you may want to include a link to the new page, along with a short message telling them that the page they’re on is outdated and has been moved to a new location.

Similarly, you can move a page using ASP.NET, but beware there’s currently a glitch in the way ASP.NET 2 handles redirects. That glitch should be fixed soon. To redirect a page using ASP.NET, set up the new page at its new location, then place the following code at the top of the old page:
<script runat=”server”>
private void Page_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
Response.Status = “301 Moved Permanently”;
Response.AddHeader(“Location”,”http://www.domain.com/new-page.asp”);
}
</script>

For both of these redirects leave the old pages in place for as long as possible, since it usually takes several months for search engines to switch over to only crawling the page at its new location. They’re a bit slow that way.

Get Found Now – a division of: On Top Of It, Inc

How to Use 301 Redirects For SEO On All Server Platforms

This article will show you how to use the 301 redirect to PERMANENTLY move anything from an entire website to another domain, or a single web page’s URL from on to another. You can move a URL from inside of the same site between directories or sub domains as well as between 2 completely different domain names. This is very handy for SEO and as Google has recently stated, it will also move Page Rank and placement if you use the redirect 301 command correctly.

APACHE Webserver: 301 Redirects

What’s a 301 Redirect?
The number 301 identifies a specific 3-digit server header code that is generated by a web server when a browser or search engine spider tries to download a web page. The 301 code says the page has been permanently moved to another location. Browsers and spiders then know to “redirect” themselves to any new address that you specify in your .htaccess file.

What’s a .htaccess File?

A .htaccess (pronounced “dot-H-T-access”) file is a simple text file that resides in the root directory of your web site where, typically, your home page also resides. The .htaccess file serves a variety of different functions and can live in other directories as well but, for the purpose of doing a 301 redirect, you should place a .htaccess file in your root directory. If one doesn’t already exist, you can create it using any plain-text editor (like NotePad, or TextPad), then name the file .htaccess (that’s right, no extension – just a period followed by htaccess).

If your site’s root domain already contains a .htaccess file, you can simply scroll to the end of whatever code is already there and append your 301 redirect code at the bottom of the file, starting on a new line. While this may sound complicated, it’s actually very, very simple to do. If you can upload files to and from your web server, then chances are you’ll have no trouble managing (i.e. altering or creating and uploading) your .htaccess file(s).

There are Four Primary Reasons to Use a 301 Redirect:

  1. To change primary domain names an event that commonly occurs whenever a company changes names or switches to a more keyword-friendly domain.
  2. To ensure that SE spiders only index either the www or non-www version of your site. Since each version is technically a different URL, to have both versions available for indexing dilutes PageRank, as it is being split between multiple sites.
  3. To catch traffic from ancillary domain sources without presenting duplicate content to the engines and running the risk of being penalized.For instance, it’s good online strategy to protect your trademark or other proprietary product or service names by purchasing related, but different, top-level domain names. Examples would include .net or country-specific extensions (such as .co.uk), or even common misspellings. And, whenever such domains lend themselves to type-in traffic, you’d be well advised to activate them – but use the 301 redirect to seamlessly send that traffic from these ancillary domains to your primary domain.
  4. To prevent any of your ancillary domains from being displayed in the search results in lieu of your primary domain.

Changing Your Domain Name

If ever you should need to change your domain name, proceed as follows:

  1. First, don’t do it unless absolutely necessary. Chances are very good you will lose ranking, inbound links, and traffic at least temporarily. The steps outlined here can help you minimize, but not entirely eliminate, these negative repercussions.
  2. If you are, however, convinced that you must change your domain name, be prepared to leave your old site up for at least three months and possibly longer depending on the length of time it takes for your site logs to show all traffic to the old site has stopped. Of course, you’ll also want to be certain that all major engines who had indexed your old site have spidered and re-indexed your new site.Your new site logs will show when you are no longer receiving referral traffic from the old site. Your old site logs will show when you are no longer receiving referral traffic from the search engines.
  3. When making the switch, be sure to leave the content up on the old site. You’ll want to copy the old site to its new location, as opposed to just moving the site to a new location. The difference is that when you copy a site, you leave the original in its old location. If you take the old site’s content down and just replace it with a 301 redirect, the spiders may see the old pages as empty content and simply delete those pages from their index.While it’s true that you run a small risk of being snagged by the duplicate content filter, it’s a minor risk compared to the risk of having your site dropped entirely out of the listings. Besides, since both Google and Yahoo recommend the 301 as the preferred method for permanently redirecting to a new site, you’ve given yourself a defendable reason for the duplicate content to co-exist at least until your logs show that traffic to your old site has ceased.Also bear in mind that the duplicate content penalty is usually applied to only one of any two identical pages, so people should still be able to find your site perhaps just not under your preferred domain at first. Still, that’s much better than being dropped altogether if the 301 redirect doesn’t work due to a search engine glitch beyond your control.Critical point: If the content of your old site appears gone to the indexing spider, then you’re out of the listings no traffic equals no money and it’s cheap beer and hot dogs for you and your friends come Superbowl-party-time (ouch!).
  4. Contact everyone who links to you and ask them (beg them, pay them?), to change their link to your new site. Monitor this process to make sure they follow through. Sure, this can be a headache if you have a lot of links but, if people don’t change them, all those links won’t do you much good and they’ll all be broken links when you finally take the old site down (a fact you might want to use as leverage while gently persuading the referral site owners to make the necessary link changes after all, they probably don’t want “broken links” on their site). Unfortunately, there isn’t an effective shortcut to getting other sites to update their links to you. That’s just one of the reasons why we say don’t change your domain name unless it’s absolutely necessary. The more incoming links you have, the more challenging it is to switch to a new domain name.
  5. Once you’re sure you want to make the change, use a 301 redirect. On an Apache server (running UNIX) a 301 redirect is very easy to do. Just append the following statement on a separate line at the end of your .htaccess file:
    redirect 301 / http://www.newdomain.com/
    By placing the above statement in the .htaccess file within your website’s root directory, you’ll be redirecting all traffic from the old site to whatever site you specify in http://www.newdomain.com/.

    Important to note: This simple one-line command only works if you are maintaining the same exact structure of the old site on the new site. Every page on the old domain will be redirected to its equivalent page on the new domain. However, if you have some pages on the old domain that are not going to be on the new domain, this single line command would redirect users and spiders to some non-existent pages… the ones you removed. Therefore, bear in mind that your site move will be easiest on you if you just copy the new site structure exactly the same as the old site.

    Of course, once you’ve established your site under the new domain name and have phased out the old domain name, you can then start rearranging the site structure. In other words, don’t try to change your domain name and restructure your site at the same time unless you’re either a professional or a masochist.

    If you only want to redirect portions of the old site to the new site, such as a single directory, you can place the following text within a single line in the .htaccess file:

    redirect 301 /directoryname/ http://www.newdomain.com/directoryname/

    This is useful if you want to test out the redirect on part of your site before redirecting the whole thing.

    You can also redirect individual pages:
    redirect 301 /directoryname/pagename.html http://www.newdomain.com/directoryname/pagename.htmlRemember: the command above needs to all be on a single line in order to work.

  6. If you’re listed in directories such as DMOZ.org (aka, the Open Directory Project [ODP]), then changing your domain name presents an additional challenge. It’s not so much that changing domain names within DMOZ is a problem, it has more to do with the fact that many other directories, including the Google directory, get their directory listings from DMOZ. That means that, depending on how frequently they sync up their listings with DMOZ’s, it could be quite a while before those other directories list your new domain. As we’ve suggested, moving a domain can hurt your rankings and the lack of directory listings for the new domain (resulting in a temporary link popularity deficit) is one of the reasons why this is true.Regardless, to change your domain name in DMOZ, go to the category in which you are listed and click on ‘Update URL’ at the top right. You’ll be asked to enter both your old and new URLs. A DMOZ editor will then review your site and change your listing. Nearly all directories have an Update URL feature, so that’s where to look for a starting point in updating your domain information within the various directories.By the way, don’t attempt to list your new domain along with your old domain within a directory. They strongly object to duplicate listings and your new domain definitely won’t make it past the directory’s editors.
  7. Once you’ve set up your redirect, use a server header checking tool (such as: Check Headers) to verify the server is correctly processing your redirect. You’ll want the site you’re redirecting from to return a 301 Moved Permanently header and the site you are redirecting to to return a 200 OK server header.Here’s a sample 301 redirect to give you an idea of what a server header checking tool will reveal when using a 301 to consolidate www and non-www URL’s, giving preference to the www version (notice the relevant portion of the response highlighted in yellow).Move a page using ColdFusion<cfheader statuscode=”301″ statustext=”Moved permanently”>
    <cfheader name=”Location” value=”http://www.domain.com/new-page.html”>

    Move a page using Java Server Pages (JSP)

    <%
    response.setStatus(301);
    response.setHeader(“Location”, “http://www.domain.com/new-page.html”);
    response.setHeader(“Connection”, “close”);
    %>
    If You’re On a Windows Server

    The examples below all are specific to Unix- or Linux-based web servers. It’s also possible to use redirects on a Windows-based web server. This is easiest if you use scripting in a .asp page (which is one good argument for using .asp for all the documents on your site, even if you don’t put scripting in them).

    Here’s an example of a .asp 301 redirect (save to yourfilename.asp):

    <%@ Language=VBScript %>
    <%
    Response.Status = “301 Moved Permanently”
    Response.addheader “Location”, “http://www.newdomain.com/newurl/”
    Response.End
    %>

    How to Change Domain Names on Windows Servers

    Since the code outlined above must be put on each page, you don’t have the ability to bulk redirect whole directories with this technique the way you do with Apache. However, if you have Admin access to your IIS server, you can easily redirect whole directories or even whole sites using the admin interface. That process is laid out step-by-step on the Microsoft website.

    1. In internet services manager, right click on the file or folder you wish to redirect.
    2. Select the radio titled “a redirection to a URL”.
    3. Enter the page that the page will be redirected to
    4. Check “The exact url entered above” and the “A permanent redirection for this resource”.
    5. Click on ‘Apply’.

    How to Fix the www vs. non-www Problem on Windows Servers

    The Microsoft tutorial above is also helpful when it comes to fixing the www vs non-www issue on Windows servers. It all has to be done through the admin interface.

    Essentially, it’s the same as changing a domain name except you’re redirecting from http://domain.com/ to http://www.domain.com/.

    The .NET tutorial site xoc.net has a good short tutorial.

    To perform the redirect, suppose that the content for www.xoc.net comes from c:inetpubwww-xoc-net:

    1. Open Internet Services Manager and create a web site for xoc.net. Make the content directory for the site be the same directory, c:inetpubwww-xoc-net, as www.xoc.net.
    2. Test getting content from http://xoc.net. This should work, but won’t redirect yet.
    3. Select the xoc.net web site in Internet Services manager and enter the properties.
    4. In the Home Directory tab, change the option button “When connecting to this resource the content should come from” to “A redirection to a URL”.
    5. Specify the URL as http://www.xoc.net.
    6. Check the checkbox that says “A permanent redirection for this resource.”

    Similarly, you can move a page using ASP.NET, but beware there’s currently a glitch in the way ASP.NET 2 handles redirects. That glitch should be fixed soon. To redirect a page using ASP.NET, set up the new page at its new location, then place the following code at the top of the old page:

    <script runat=”server”>
    private void Page_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
    {
    Response.Status = “301 Moved Permanently”;
    Response.AddHeader(“Location”,”http://www.domain.com/new-page.asp”);
    }
    </script>

    #1 Server Response: http://sampledomain.com/
    HTTP Status Code: HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently
    Date: Wed, 15 Dec 2004 23:09:18 GMT
    Server: Apache/1.3.29
    Location: http://www.sampledomain.com/
    Connection: close
    Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1
    Redirect Target: http://www.sampledomain.com/
    #2 Server Response: http://www.sampledomain.com/
    HTTP Status Code: HTTP/1.1 200 OK
    Date: Wed, 15 Dec 2004 23:09:23 GMT
    Server: Apache/1.3.29
    X-Powered-By: PHP/4.3.8
    Set-Cookie: PHPSESSID=be8ce4fee0c29c968c8382be1fdfa3bd; path=/
    Expires: Thurs, 16 Dec 2004 08:52:00 GMT
    Cache-Control: no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate, post-check=0, pre-check=0
    Pragma: no-cache
    Connection: close
    Content-Type: text/html

    From the example above, we see that, when the spider initially requested the page, the server read the .htaccess file which told it to respond with a 301 Moved Permanently response code. After which the spider redirected itself to the new domain at http://www.sampledomain.com/. There the spider received a 200 OK response code, telling it that the page was successfully located. This is the combination of responses you’ll be looking for when you setup your own 301 redirection.

    Most web hosts pre-configure their servers to point both the www and non-www version of your URLs to the same page by default. This is good because someone forgetting to type the www will still be directed to your site rather than getting a 404 not found response code (one of those other 3-digit server codes).

    However, pre-configuring the server to default all pages to the www version can also be a liability. That’s because this allows people to link to your site with or without using www. The end result being that search engines may index some of your pages with the www, and some of your pages without. This effectively splits your site into two different sites in the eyes of the search engines and dilutes your incoming link popularity (think PageRank).

    Ideally, you’ll want all of your listings and links to use one or the other (we mildly prefer the www but consistency is really the only important factor).

    Worth noting is that both Google and Yahoo use a redirect to consolidate their traffic to the www version of their URL. For example, entering http://google.com/ will redirect you to http://www.google.com/.

    To ensure that search engines only index the www versions of your site’s pages, place the following code into a .htaccess file in your root directory
    <IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteBase /
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www.your-site.com [NC]
    RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.your-site.com/$1 [L,R=301]
    </IfModule>
    Remember to replace www.your-site.com with the www version of your domain name.

    To make sure search engines only index the non-www versions of your pages, use the following:
    <IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteBase /
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^your-site.com [NC]
    RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://your-site.com/$1 [L,R=301]
    </IfModule>
    Of course, replace your-site.com with the non-www version of your domain name.

    In case you’re wondering why the code used to merge your www and non-www pages is a bit more complicated than the code used to change your domain name, it’s because the www and non-www versions of your site both point to the same place on the server (they are considered aliases of each other). This means that anything you put in your .htaccess file applies to both types of pages. If you were to use the simpler redirect that we used to change domain names, the redirect would get stuck in an endless loop – redirecting back and forth between the two types of pages. Eventually your users would just see an error message telling them they had exceeded the number of redirects permitted.

    A 301 redirect can also solve a similar problem that occurs with URLs such as

    http://your-site.com/

    and http://your-site.com/index.html.
    Both of these addresses point to your homepage, but search engines still see them as two different pages, thereby splitting your page’s importance. You can add the following code to your
    .htaccess file to make sure search engines only index http://your-site.com/:

    RewriteRule ^index.html$ / [R=301,L]

And Microsoft can give you more info on how to redirect pages using their IIS Server. More about domain and page redirect utilizing IIS

Owning Multiple Domain Names

Another use for a 301 redirect involves protecting your trademark or other proprietary keyword-friendly or misspelled domains by purchasing and activating such applicable domain names

Mission Statement & Philosophy

GET FOUND NOW!’s mission is to advance the search engine placement of our client’s Internet presence in order to help them increase revenue and gain market share.

PHILOSOPHY
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Our very simple business philosophy is to immediately help our clients:

  • Cut expenses
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WordPress Marketing and SEO Strategies

When creating a WordPress system, it is important that you plan out from the very beginning for future marketing and search engine optimization. You need to have a good understanding for what topics your WordPress system will be marketing. With all the changes in Google over the past year, you need show a Lazar focused topic reputation on your site, that everything from the domain, URL, pages, posts categories and tags have a unified structure for marketing and promoting your specific topics.

A lot of people make the mistake of overlooking the ‘big picture’ and spend too much time worrying about keywords and keyword phrases. The most important part of WordPress marketing strategies for 2009 will involve topic reputation. Keywords are really just one aspect of building up your WordPress system’s reputation and authority for the topics you are promoting through SEO.

Topic Reputation and WordPress Marketing For 2009

To succeed in Google in 2009 and the future, topic reputation, discussion and social network marketing will be the way to your success when marketing your business and website. In the past year, Google has made radical changes to it’s index which has dramatically changed the way a regular surfer sees results for the specific keywords they are searching.

Google’s execution of universal search, local search and search history means that a user in Duluth for example, will see very different results than someone searching the same keywords in New York City. This not only affects service websites but websites that are reliant on on selling products.

Therefore, it is more important than ever to incorporate some geo-targeting of your topic reputation, which can be done by creating foundation pages in WordPress that are targeting specific states and cities as well as incorporating functionality such as Google maps into your content.

By introducing geographical regions into your topic reputation, your SEO strategies for your WordPress system will allow you to reach Mary Jane in Duluth or Billy Bob in Atlanta who are searching for the same product in different locations.

When planning your content, whether is is for a new WordPress System or for an overhaul of an existing WordPress system, you can start branding and get discussion going on for the topics that are intrinsic to your SEO plan.

Using Tags For WordPress Blog SEO

In a previous post How to Write A WordPress Blog Post for SEO , I wrote an overview covering the basics on how to write and optimize a WordPress blog post.  I would like to go into more detail on the utilization of tags.  Basically, all blogging and content management systems now use tagsSocial networking sites such as Facebook, YouTube and Myspace also use tags to identity videos, pictures, music, etc.

When creating content for wordPress and SEO  it is important to use tags to organize your content. Tags help users easily find the information they are looking for on your site and most WordPress themes display tags around the article so that users can find other related posts. 

The Best Way To Utilize Tags For SEO

WordPress also comes with a default tag cloud and within the cloud, the tags most frequently used will get bigger in font size. When looking at categories and tags for search engine optimization, most webmasters don’t allow the search engines to spider either tags or categories. At Get Found Now, we have been running tests that allow the search engines to either spider the category or tag pages, but never both. The most important aspect of opening a tag or category page up to the search engines is to make sure the page is only showing an ‘excerpt’ of the article rather than the entire article. Otherwise it is seen by the search engines as duplicate content.

If your site produces at least 2-3 articles per week, we recommend that you open up the tags to search engines. If you are only producing 1-4 articles per month on your site, we recommend that you open up the category pages. DO NOT DO BOTH. Make sure that you pick your tag descriptions wisely and that you use all upper case or all lower case tags. Otherwise, the search engines will see them as duplicate content and you will get penalized.