Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, involves many different internal and external factors affecting a web site. Things like directory links, description tags, and URL structure. However, it is possible to categorize each of these smaller considerations into one of the three major aspects involved in SEO. These major aspects are as follows:

Internal SEO Aspects

A large part of SEO involves optimizing a web site internally; making sure search engine spiders can navigate it, adding ALT tags to images, creating a site map, entering valid META tags, and so on. Many of these efforts are not only useful for SEO purposes; they make sites easier for human visitors to use and navigate as well. It also includes the use of proper keyword density, original/unique content, SEO based web page URLs/filenames, and search query oriented titles. All of these factors are under the direct control of the web site operator, and they should be optimized before the other two aspects are attended to.

Link Popularity

Another one of the major aspects of SEO is linking, which is relevant both internally and externally. Obtaining inbound links on related web sites, blogs, social bookmarking systems, and directories often significantly improves a site’s search engine rankings. However, the wrong type of links can be detrimental or unhelpful, such as links on completely unrelated pages or sites which have been “banned” by major search engines. Outbound links to other sites also affect the search engine optimization of the pages they are located on, so (for example) users of a web site generally shouldn’t be allowed to post links on it without approval.

External Aspects

Other external factors include search engine submission, banner/image advertisements, and the SEO strategies of major competing web sites. Submitting a site’s domain name to search engines can help it become listed more quickly, especially if it doesn’t have any inbound links yet. Like text links, graphical advertisements count as inbound links, but only if they directly link to a web site (not a click counter or other redirection). Competing web sites’ SEO strategies can change how the internal optimization of a site should be handled.

When each of these three major aspects of SEO are properly attended to, a web site’s potential for success becomes much greater. This can take a lot of effort, but is typically a more cost-effective and long-term solution than purchasing pay-per-click listings or email advertisements.

While SEO basics state that your dynamic URLs should be search engine friendly, Google’s latest announcement states that they prefer you not use rewrites to change your dynamic URLs to static-looking URLS.

This change comes from Google due to the fact that they can better understand the purpose of a page based on its URL structure now. John Mu of the Google team had this to say: “One of the reasons for that is that we can use the information provided through the parameters to better understand what your site is doing with those parameters. For instance,the URL http://www.mysite.com/search.php?q=keyword can give us information about what is happening, it could even allow us to recognize that this is a search form and perhaps let us attempt other keywords that might lead us to content that we haven’t seen for your site. On the other hand, a URL like http://www.mysite.com/search/keyword does not give us any information at all about what the “file name” is used for.”

The question now is do you need to undo all of the dynamic URL rewrites you already have. While there is not a punishment for switching your URL formats it may take a bit of time. So, essentially changing your URL rewrites really depends on how many rewrites you have and how well those pages currently rank. One suggestion is to start with your lower performing URLs and see the effects of switching them.

Otherwise you may find that you lose ranking popularity and lots of time making a switch. And what’s most important is making sure your site doesn’t suffer in search engine optimization.

Web sites often need to redirect users to a different page, either because a page no longer exists, an invalid URL was entered, or the filename of a page has been changed. Two common types of redirection are 404 and 301; read on to learn more about them and what kind of situation each redirect is better for.

404 redirects send the user to a single “catch-all” page which tells them that the webpage they are looking for does not exist. It can then link to the home page, allow visitors to search the web site, or provide a list of links for each section. It is not specific to the URL the user entered, and will show the same information regardless of whether the URL was incorrect or outdated. According to wikipedia.org, a 404 redirect page should be at least 513 bytes for compatibility with some versions of MSIE. Example:

ErrorDocument 404 /notfound.html

On the other hand, a 301 redirect forwards visitors going to a specific (former) webpage to a new page. If the user is sending form data to a PHP file, such as a search query, this data will be redirected to the new page as well. This can give users a more specific replacement for the invalid address they are trying to reach, increasing the chance that they will stay on the web site. Example, for a site where the search feature has been moved to a new subdomain:

Redirect 301 /find.php http://search.example.com/results.php

So which type of redirect is better for web sites to use? This depends upon the situation. If a webpage has been moved or combined with other pages, a 301 redirect is probably best. However, if pages have been deleted and there is no similar content on the web site, or users are just typing in the wrong URLs, a 404 redirect is better. Many sites can effectively make use of both 301 and 404 redirects.

When a page’s location is changed, both types of redirect are better than leaving duplicate pages in place. Search engines do not react favorably to multiple pages with identical content, and the web site operator receives the added burden of having to update both pages every time a change needs to be made.

Webpage redirection can be set up through cPanel (or a similar interface), or by adding/editing .htaccess files (via FTP or File Manager). Other types of automatic redirects exist as well, such as 302 and 307 (like 301, but “temporary”) and META refresh – which usually isn’t recommended, but is better than nothing if a hosting provider doesn’t allow other types.

Making updates to your web site or blog has many advantages. Updates make visitors more likely to return on a regular basis, they can improve search rankings, and they increase the chance of gaining inbound links or being listed in directories. So, is there such a thing as too many updates?

There is, but only in some circumstances. Here are a few situations where too many updates could become a problem:

A. Low Traffic: If a web site has relatively few visitors, entering many updates could be a waste of time, because too few people will see each update. One approach is to update weekly or daily until the site starts to receive more traffic, then increase their frequency. This is more of a problem if each update permanently replaces the material which came before it, because it further decreases the chance of anyone seeing the previous content.

B. Massive Content: Some blogs have speculated that it can harm search engine rankings if a web site adds a large number of new pages at one time. This issue shouldn’t be a concern unless your updates sometimes involve adding several dozen or hundreds of individual pages on the same day.

If you pay someone to write a large quantity of articles for your website, consider adding them periodically instead of all at once. In addition to the possible SEO benefit, this may also encourage visitors to keep returning (because there will be new content each time they visit the site).

C. Limited Bandwidth: Updates will increase the amount of bandwidth consumed by a web site, especially if they cause users to visit more regularly. Using too much bandwidth is more likely to be a problem for sites located on free web hosting services. It is usually not very expensive to upgrade your bandwidth limit, unless there is an impressively large increase in traffic. If the updates do not replace old material, more storage space will also be used up; however, even the cheapest blog and web site hosting services typically provide enough space for hundreds of articles.

All of these problems apply to some web site operators, but most don’t really need to worry about them. Although there is such a thing as adding too many updates, far more web site and blog owners have difficulty finding the time and inspiration to post updates regularly enough.

Top search engine Google recently put an end to its AdSense referral program, but it has already introduced a new revenue-generating option for AdSense users. Google recently announced on its AdSense blog that they had launched a new feed advertising system, which makes it possible to earn money by putting AdSense units in RSS feeds.

The feed advertising program will include both pay-per-click and pay-per-impression advertisements. According to Google, they will be specifically targeted to the type of users who view RSS feeds. Content authors can customize the advertising in several ways that are specific to RSS feeds; they can choose how often the ads are displayed throughout the feed, as well as the minimum entry length they should be applied to. Google AdSense Help Center now provides a section on “Getting Started” and “Troubleshooting” the feed advertising system, and the AdSense blog offers a short explanatory video with screenshots of the new system.

When using any RSS feed advertising system, advertisers should take into consideration the kind of people who will see their ads. Generally, it can be predicted that people who subscribe to feeds are at least fairly skilled in using computers, spend enough time on the internet to have an interest in subscribing to these feeds, and have their own computers (rather than only using publicly available computers). Free RSS reader applications are available for almost any operating system, so anyone who can afford an internet connection has access to them. Users with recent browsers like IE 7.0 have built-in RSS support, so they might be somewhat more likely to use it.

This new Google AdSense program gives web site and blog operators another opportunity to generate advertising revenue, if they produce RSS feed content. As with other companies which are introducing feed based advertising, it also provides Google advertisers with another promotional option. On the other hand, some readers of RSS feeds are displeased with this change; such feeds were previously free of ads and other “clutter” often found on web pages. This was probably to be expected; sources of information seldom remain ad-free unless they require a subscription fee or are operated by the government.

On a more positive note, Google’s new feed advertising program may encourage some web site owners to introduce new RSS feeds, even if they were previously reluctant about using RSS. However, feed operators should be careful not to overuse advertising in their feeds, keeping in mind that this could cause some users to unsubscribe.