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Duplicate Content Causes and Some Easy Fixes

September 12, 2014 Beth Devine

Duplicate content is just what it says it is – content that appears in more than one place. When duplicate content occurs on the internet, search engines can’t be relied upon to decide which is the most relevant version to give when someone makes a search.

Search engines will display all the relevant results, but won’t show the duplicate content versions. Google and the other search engines have to choose which version is the original one, or which is the best one.

What does this mean for your website? Your SEO can be compromised. Your duplicate content links are diluted, and your ranking potential for a given keyword is reduced.

Most of the causes for duplicate content are technical and baffle those of us who remain un-techified. The fixes, however, are often less daunting.

Here are the most common duplicate content causes and some easy fixes.

URL Parameters that track data

An SEO-friendly URL won’t have parameters, and if it does, no more than two should be used. Parameters are the part of the URL that provides data for correct retrieval of records.

For example, these two sample links demonstrate different parameters for tracking data:

http://www.example.com/keyword-x/

http://www.example.com/keyword-x/?source=rss

Be sure to tell your programmer to always build your parameters in the same order. See, that’s easy to do!

Link Back to Original Content

Duplicate content that comes from outside your own site can be “scraped,” or used without your consent. This leaves the search engine with another version to rank, making competition in ranking for your original version.

Because search engines aren’t able to effectively filter out original content from the scraped content, website owners should create links to their own sites within their content. This way scraped content will point back to the original content and allow for some potential traffic.

If the links aren’t removed by the scrapers, it could also help search engines to determine the original content if enough links point to your site.

Session IDs

For every website visitor you have, a different session ID is stored in the URL. This is used for ecommerce sites that want to keep track of visitors and make storing items in a shopping cart possible.

A unique ID number is added to the URL for every visitor to your site, and for every page of your site. For example:

http://site.com/product?id=1234567890

http://site.com/product?id=1234567891

http://site.com/product?id=1234567892

The other option is to disable session IDs in your systems settings and instead allow cookies for tracking visitor’s products.

Printer Friendly Pages

If you have a link on your website that reads something like “click here for a printer-friendly version,” you have duplicate content.

Every time a visitor follows this link, a separate document containing duplicate content is loaded, search engines will find these and decide which version to show.

Because you want the version that contains all your additional site information, not just the stripped-down, printable version, you should use a print style sheet.

Since this is a rather un-techie solution, ask your web developer to help you. Or you can go to the WordPress Styling for Print page to see for yourself.

Pick Either WWW or non-WWW

Search engines still can get this wrong when it’s possible to access both versions of your site. Solving this problem means choosing your preferred domain and telling Google which site should be shown in search engine page results – the one with the WWW or the one without it.

Take your pick:

http://www.example.com/example.html

http://example.com/page.html

Get your easy fix to this split-identity issue by following my help in Improve Your WordPress Site’s SEO With a Single URL. Remember, if I can do it, so can you.

Remember to stay consistent when you link within your website and always stick with your preferred domain.

Two More Duplicate Content Solutions

Sometimes you want to have multiple versions of a page available for users, or you simply can’t get rid of it. You can manage this duplicate content in two ways.

1. Adding a Canonical URL Link

Once you’ve chose your preferred domain, you might need to add the rel=”canonical” links to the <head> section of your site. It will look like this:

2. Do a 301 Redirect

Another option for dealing with wrong URLs for content is to redirect them. A 301 redirect is a permanent redirect that’s set up from the duplicate content page and sent to the original content paging, passing the ranking power to the redirected or original page.

See Improve Your WordPress Site’s SEO With a Single URL for instructions.

For the non-techies, this could prove to be confusing, so ask for help.

For a great tool to check for duplicate content, use Google Webmaster Tools. Go to Search Appearance, and then HTML Improvements to see if there’s any concerns you should know about.

Are You Botching Up Your WordPress Site’s SEO?

September 5, 2014 Beth Devine

It’s true that WordPress is one of the best content management systems out there. What’s not true is that when you hit publish on a post, you are now done with your SEO.

There is a lot you can do to optimize your WordPress site for search engines. Chances are, no matter what you are doing, you’re still not doing enough.

Here are 5 SEO actions you don’t want to botch up for your WordPress SEO.

1. Set Preferred Pages By Choosing a Canonical URL

Look like uber-geek computer talk to you? It’s not as difficult to do as it sounds. When you choose a canonical URL, you’re telling search engines how to find you.

If there’s too many choices, your search rankings will be lower. By telling Google and other search engines how to find you, they won’t end up picking from multiple options of the same page.

Your first step in choosing a canonical URL is to decide if you want it to be http://www.yoursite.com or http://yoursite.com.

Tell WordPress which one you want (See Improve Your WordPress Site’s SEO With a Single URL )
Tell Google through Webmaster Tools
Use a plugin like WordPress SEO by Yoast so your canonical URL is always defined for each site page. With this plugin, “you automatically get canonical link elements for every page type in WordPress.”

2. Create Custom Titles and Descriptions

These titles and descriptions are what people see when they search for your site. Even if your site is ranked lower than other sites, your information on a given SERP can be more authoritative and receive greater response.

These two features provide your potential readers with concise data on each of your pages and posts:

The Meta Title is the headline replacement and displays in bold in the first line.
The Meta Description can be used instead of the first lines of your post to describe what it’s about.

This is a simple task that can be done using the WordPress SEO by Yoast plugin. For each page published, you input the desired title and descriptions, and the rest is done for you.

3. Do Your Categorization and Tagging

Using your categories and tags correctly is a way to increase website traffic, and it can also help visitors stay longer on your site.

Effective tagging lets search engines know what your pages are about, like a street sign tells travelers where to go. Tagging and categories indicate the relevant keywords on your site and should be equally limited and relevant. The “less is more” approach is the way to go.

4. Supply Google With a Sitemap

A sitemap is a file where you can list the web pages of your site to tell Google and other search engines about the organization of your site content. Search engine web crawlers like Googlebot read this file to more intelligently crawl your site. (Webmaster Tools)

So sitemaps are the way Google finds pages on your website. While there’s no guarantee Google will find every last page of your site, you won’t be penalized for creating a sitemap.

Thanks to the coding gods and goddesses, the process of setting up an XML sitemap is as automatic as one click. With either the Google XML Sitemaps or the WordPress SEO by Yoast, you can get your sitemap up and running in seconds.

5. Mark Up Your Site for Google+ Authorship

Or not.

In case you didn’t get the memo, last Thursday Google put the kibosh on its Google+ Authorship program, which let Google rank content based on the authority of who wrote it.

The long game of trying to rank on the gargantuan search engine is never over. There will be new ways to attempt better rankings, better search results, and better clickthrough rates.

But don’t count on Google to make it happen. Don’t count on anything outside of serving up great content that educates and entertains your audience. Give them exactly what they want.

Like Copyblogger suggests, if you want a “wider audience, more subscribers, better conversion to paying customers, fanatically loyal readers, and enviable word of mouth,” there’s one thing you need to do.

Giving your readers what they want means “treat your readers like dogs.” (Treating them like cats can work too.)

Instead of spending hours and hours on SEO, create great content that rewards your readers. Spend your time figuring out what they want and producing that content.

There is no perfect formula for SEO success, but there will always be this last hard and fast rule. Meet your audience’s needs first.

The latest SEO tactics, like the very promising Authorship program, will come and go, but your audience will continue to be there, asking for what they need to know.

7 Tips for Your Content Management System

September 1, 2014 Beth Devine

CMS — Photo a derivative of “Blank sign post, empty field” by Ano Lobb under CC BY.

A content management system (CMS) like WordPress is a software that lets you create, manage, store, edit and publish all of your of content without any serious HTML or programming skills.

Thanks to this ability to edit your content from any computer that connects to the internet, you don’t have to rely on a third party, like developers or web hosts, to stay up to date, right?

Well, sort of.

A CMS is designed to streamline your workflow, making life easier, while also reducing costs and increasing productivity.

It’s true that a CMS website gives you greater control. You get the benefits of overcoming technical barriers to adding content, allowing multiple people to add and edit content, and facilitate faster updates.

It’s also true that with greater control and power comes greater responsibility.

Just because a CMS gives you the flexibility to manage content whenever you want doesn’t mean it’s getting done and getting done right. At its most serious, mismanaging your CMS website is like hanging up a sign that informs hackers you’re open for attack.

Here are 7 tips to follow when you have the responsibility of a content management system.

1. Maintain Site Security By Updating

The developers and contributors are constantly updating plugins to keep WordPress efficient and secure. When a bug or vulnerability is discovered, they get to work on a solution right away.

If you’re not updating your WordPress site and its plugins on a timely basis, this means it’s unsafe and probably vulnerable to hackers. With a single click, you can maintain your website’s security by simply updating your theme, plugins, and the latest version of WordPress.

It’s always possible that a security hole exists somewhere on WordPress since it’s an open source software and highly targeted by hackers. However, keeping your data updated will greatly reduce the risk.

2. Perform Backups

Besides regular updates, part of keeping your CMS secure involves performing regular backups. Determine who will do this and how often you want it done.

There are several backup solutions available, including paid versions such as the highly touted VaultPress. Your web hosting provider will often offer backup plans as part of your hosting package.

3. Basic Updates of Site Content

When content needs to be updated, it is often confusing to people who are either not adequately trained or who aren’t using the site regularly. A CMS like WordPress isn’t difficult to use when you’re working with it on a regular basis.

If you know you need basic updates of site content monthly, for example, then be sure someone is trained and tasked to do so.

4. Configure Your Content Management System for SEO

SEO is user-friendly with plugins like the WordPress SEO Plugin by Yoast. Custom titles and meta descriptions are common elements with these plugins, but there are other important configurations as well.

Generating a sitemap file, customizing URLS, and eliminating duplicate content are just three ways to improve your site’s SEO, helping you gain more subscribers and elevate your rankings.

5. Blogging for SEO

If your website includes a blog, your CMS will make it simple to manage regular content curation. Manually posting and maintaining valuable content for your site’s SEO can be easily handled by the same people who write and develop it.

The only trouble is dedicating someone to this task and making sure it is regularly scheduled for consistent SEO results.

6. Not So Simple Navigation Changes

Making navigation changes may seem like a no-brainer in your CMS, but even the simplest changes can have enormous consequences.

Your navigation menu is like a road sign directing street traffic. Without it, your visitors will have difficulty finding their desired destination. This is one area where you should be well-informed with WordPress before altering things and dramatically affecting the user experience.

7. Keep Current With Comments

If you have a comment section for your blog, you will need to keep current with your readers’ comments and be prepared to write replies. Comments give your visitors a way to interact with you, creating a sense of community and encouraging return visits.

Setting your comments so they publish only when approved is a good practice, allowing you to weed out spam, a way for insidious malware to sneak in through your backdoor.

Make a plan to keep your CMS well-groomed and secure with either an internal process or with your web hosting company. Don’t let your CMS-based site appear shabby, out of date, or open to hackers.

Get Better Email Open Rates With Your Subject Line

August 21, 2014 Beth Devine

If you want to see improved email open rates, then spend time crafting an effective subject line. By working the subject line, you’ve overcome a third of the battle because 33% of email recipients open email based on subject line alone.

Check out these 7 easy tips for improving email open rates by writing a better subject line.

1. Don’t try for the vague approach

Most people will spend about 15 seconds reading your email. Give them what they want to know, not some vague trickery in the subject line to try to get them to open it.

Get to your point quickly and keep to one topic, and be sure to make it relevant to your email content.

2. Keep it short and sweet

Your subject line has room for only one subject and no more than 50 characters. You need to say a lot in a few words, making it descriptive and to the point.

Using fewer than 10 characters could mean an open rate of 58%, so keeping it short is a mean feat of concise success.

3. Avoid buzzwords

The last thing you want to do is trigger a spam filter in your recipient’s email system. These emails will never get read if they go straight to the trash.

Buzzwords to avoid include the word “free,” which is a big red flag, as well as the more innocuous words “help,” “percent off,” and “reminder.”

On the other hand, certain words boost open rates for B2B companies, such as “money,” “revenue,” and “profit.” (Adestra July 2012 Report)

4. The first-name basis approach

By personalizing the subject line with the recipient’s first name or something else pertinent, you’re establishing trust. It’s a reminder that they have given you a name and email as a way to communicate.

The personal approach is a way to break through the large amount of clutter your audience receives in their inbox and stand out from the crowd.

5. Give them something to act on

You can create a sense of urgency by offering an incentive for your recipient to open the email. But be careful here. Sounding too slick and salesy can backfire and turn people off. The best subject lines tell, not sell what’s inside.

It’s also not a good idea to put a date in your subject line in an attempt to build urgency. This will date your email for those who don’t check email often.

6. Add your newsletter or company name

This reminds recipients of the relationship you have, as well as making sure they are aware of the nature of the content. Sometimes on smartphones email providers only display the subject line and not the sender name, making it more important to include a company name.

7. Get the right “from” name and email

Speaking of the sender name, it’s important to get it right. Okay, so this isn’t in the subject line, but it’s located directly above it and should reflect your company name and image. Call it the subject line’s counterpart.

If possible, it should match the department that is relevant to the email, such as coming from “returns@company.name.”

The best way to know what is working is to test it! Check your open rates and compare this with your subject lines to find out how your audience and specific marketing situations respond to different attempts.

SEO Benefits to Embedding Video

August 15, 2014 Beth Devine

Embedding video in your website has many SEO benefits, including the two-for-one benefit. You get two listings for the price of one – one for your website and one for your YouTube (or other hosting) channel.

We already discussed why embedding video is better than uploading on your WordPress site. By embedding videos and using YouTube as the host, you give search engines added content to rank. Since YouTube is a Google product, using YouTube for embedding videos gives your site that much more traffic-building power.

So how do you get the most out of embedding your videos?

Here are 8 tips to help your SEO with embedding video:

1. Name your video title with video keywords.

Google Trends is another way besides Adwords to see what keywords are good for your YouTube videos.

Go to Google Trends and begin a search for something. Then click on “Web Search” in the upper right and select “YouTube Search.” Check out the search queries used as well as the trend over time to see what keyword terms you might wish to try.

2. Describe your video.

Completely fill in the description portion using these same keywords. Use your website URL in the top line of your video description so viewers will see this first when they search.

3. Transcribe your video.

By adding a transcription of the video, you’re reinforcing the keywords with additional text. This is especially useful as well for how-to videos, giving users another way to view your explanation.

To do this, go to your video listings on your channel via Video Manager. Click on “Edit” then “Subtitles and CC,” “Add subtitles or CC,” and select a language. You can then choose to upload a file of your text or transcribe and set timings by typing in the text as the video plays. The video automatically pauses while you type.

4. Label your video.

You can add a watermark or other labeling by using Annotations. This is also a great way to add your website URL as a live link.

5. Link to your video from you website.

Don’t forget to add a link from your website to your YouTube video. This is another way for viewers to access your YouTube channel and your other videos, which are in turn all have links to your site.

The more your videos are viewed, the higher they can potentially rank in YouTube searches.

6. Create a video sitemap.

Or not! Video sitemaps are a way to make sure Google (and other search engines) index your video. The good news is when you embed YouTube videos, YouTube does the work for you, giving you much better visibility.

7. Place your video on a product page.

Placing your video in other locations such as a product page will help you to stand out in SERPs and give you a video thumbnail in the search results as well.

The added stickiness (increased time a viewer remains on a webpage) of video viewing is an indicator of page quality, another consideration in your rankings.

8. Don’t forget to share on social media!

It’s important to get inbound links to your video. By sharing your video on social media sites and email blasts, you are encouraging views, giving you increased website traffic.

This careful attention to your videos is good for your SEO because it helps search engines (and humans) to understand what type of content you are sharing. Optimize your website’s embedded video content and get your two-for-one benefit today.

Embedding vs Uploading Video to WordPress

August 7, 2014 Beth Devine

reasons to choose embedding video — This is a derivative of a photo by Filmm, used under CC BY.

When you add media to your WordPress website, your dashboard probably reads “upload new media.” With only a few clicks, you can upload images as well as videos.

But why choose uploading over embedding your videos? What are the benefits of embedding vs uploading video?

Uploading Video and Why It’s Risky

By uploading video in your WordPress dashboard, you are taking up space on your server. If you upload multiple videos, you could potentially take up too much space, and if many users attempt to view your video, your site load times could severely slow down.

Uploading a video uses your server’s bandwidth, and if other people link to or embed your video in their site, your own site will suffer even more from use of your bandwidth.

There is a file size limitation to video uploading. Your WordPress site will have a much more restrictive file size, whereas third-party sites such as YouTube will allow for much larger sizes.

Shared hosting servers (versus dedicated servers) offer an unlimited amount of bandwidth, but that won’t prevent them from suspending your account should you create enough stress on the server from a video being viewed by hundreds of people at once.

Not only does your server suffer (and everyone else who shares it), but your viewers also feel the pain of your uploaded video. They can experience slow loading, unexpected pauses, and refusal to play. Because bandwidth is a shared resource, this can grow even worse when other accounts on the server are also hosting videos.

The one clear benefit of uploading video is the autonomy it allows. You have complete control as a self-hosting platform. As long as your server is functioning, your video will also operate. But that’s pretty much where the benefit ends.

Embedding Video Is the Best Choice

The risks of uploading video clearly outweigh the benefits. Besides the risks involved with uploading video, embedding video is your preferred alternative for another critical reason: SEO.

Third-party servers that are dedicated to hosting your videos offer the added plus of bringing more views to your video and more viewers to your site.

Rather than detract from your SEO, viewing your embedded videos on sites like YouTube and Vimeo can add to your SEO. YouTube is currently ranked number three globally as a top site by Alexa, down recently from number two. Your videos have the benefit of being searched within YouTube as well as on other search engines.

How to Use Categories and Tags in WordPress

August 2, 2014 Beth Devine

Categories and tags are forms of classification for your website. They help make your site easier to navigate, allowing users to sort through your content by topic instead of having to browse chronologically.

What is the difference between categories and tags?

Categories are for grouping general topics, like a table of contents in a non-fiction book. Categories help to identify what your blog is about so users can find the subjects they are interested in.

Categories can be arranged in hierarchical order, which means you can create sub-categories.

Tags are more specific in their classification. Tags are like the index of a book, giving more specific details to further explain what the post is about. Tags aren’t hierarchical.

The main difference between categories and tags is that categories aren’t optional and tags are. If you don’t choose to, you don’t have to create tags. If you don’t categorize your posts, then they will automatically be categorized for you as uncategorized.

How to use categories and tags in WordPress.

Say you have a blog about travel. Your categories could be the names of countries where you’ve travelled. The tags could be food, museums, or best beaches.

As your blog evolves, your categories might also change. To start with, it’s okay to have only a small number of categories that reflect your content and to update these categories with new content regularly.

As your content grows, you will determine if there are new sub-categories that have grown enough to become categories, or tags that have developed into a category of their own.

Beware of using too many categories and tags. The purpose is to enhance user experience, not overwhelm them with a protracted list of choices.

When choosing a tag, try to maintain as few tags as possible. If you can’t decide on a tag, don’t use one. The only purpose of a tag is to group posts under that specific tag so users can choose to read more on that topic.

Choosing categories and tags.

Think of a keyword that a user would search for to read the post. For example, if someone was searching for “best beaches in Italy,” they could find useful information under your category “Italy” and your tag “best beaches.”

A post should be in no more than two categories. If it is, consider creating a sub-category. Tagging should cover only what is most relevant in your post, and it should be a tag you’ve already used or plan on using again.

Creating an archives page.

If you want to capitalize on your categories and tags even more, an archives page is a smart addition to your blog. This page contains three ways for users to locate content on your site: by date, category, and tag.

Learn more about how to create your archives page and improve your users navigation.

Did you know categories and tags are part of the archives URL?

Check to see how your categories and tags show up in a URL by going to one of your blog posts and clicking on either a category or a tag that the post was filed under. These can be found at either the top or the bottom of your post.

The active URL that appears will have the name of the relevant category or tag. This little exercise demonstrates the importance in choosing words to classify your posts.

Get started with these three easy tips.

Choose words that are easy to remember and that people would use when searching for your post, begin by using fewer words, and make changes as needed as your blog grows.

Remember, you can change your categories and tags in WordPress as you need to. Computer code is not written in stone like the Code of Hammurabi, so relax.

What Are Pingbacks and Trackbacks?

July 18, 2014 Beth Devine

Think of pingbacks and trackbacks as cousins to your comments. Comments originate from visitors who visit your blog and decide to join the discussion. Pingbacks and trackbacks are the distant relatives who link to your site from other websites, sending you a notification when they publish a link from your site that will appear in your comment section.

Pingbacks and trackbacks are even more closely related, but they are definitely not identical twins. Both are forms of communication between websites, but pingbacks are automatic and depending on the WordPress theme, might not display any content, whereas trackbacks are created manually and include a content excerpt.

The Difference Between Pingbacks and Trackbacks

Pingbacks and trackbacks can be an effective tool to discover when and where your site is being mentioned and linked. It can also be used to determine if the site you’re being linked to is spam.

Here’s where the main difference between the two comes into play. They use very different communication technologies (pingbacks use XML-RPC and trackbacks use HTTP POST, in case you were dying to know), with pingbacks using an automatic verification process that makes it much harder for someone to fish for links for their spam site.

How to Use Pingbacks and Trackbacks

Trackbacks and pingbacks can be a great way to discover if your content is stolen. When you receive either of these in your comment section, always check its source before approving it.

When visiting the pingback or trackback source, check to see if their content is relevant to your niche, or if it’s a spam blog trying to steal traffic. If it’s a spammy site, don’t approve the link. No kidding, right?

To create your own pingback, all you need to do is link to another blog in your own blog post. Your pingback will appear in their comment section (as long as they’ve enabled pingbacks), allowing their readers to click through and read your post.

This is good for generating traffic, joining the conversation within a community, and earning the attention from a blogger who might in turn link to you.

Creating a trackback is possible for any site that offers a trackback URL in its post. This will usually be found near the comment section. It’s not necessary to create one when two WordPress sites are involved, because pingbacks will automatically generate.

How to Eliminate Pingbacks and Trackbacks

Besides not approving them, you can disable pingbacks and trackbacks from ever happening in your comments section.

In some cases, when you’ve been receiving too much pingback spam, or you’re concerned your site is being linked to spammy sites and your SEO will suffer, you can simply turn this option off.

Go to your WordPress Settings, then find Discussion, and at the top uncheck “Allow link notifications from other blogs (pingbacks and trackbacks).”

Linking to your own posts within your blog posts will create self-pings in your comment sections. These are called internal links and are good SEO practices, and can be a good way for readers to keep track of your other related posts.

But if you don’t wish to see them in your comments, you can paste a bit of code by following these “no self-ping” directions.

Fortunately, your comment’s cousins do not all have to be invited to your blog. This is your party after all.