Archive for the 'Google' Category

Page 3 of 4

How To Set Preferred Domain Settings In Google Webmaster Tools GWT WWW or Non WWW

Published on March 22, 2010 by iClick Solutions. View Comments

Google Webmaster Central Logo

Are you aware that there is a difference between using http://www.domainexample.com and http://domainexample.com for your site links?  If you use Google Webmaster Tools (GWT) you may have noticed in the settings area (as shown below) there is an option to set your Preferred Domain in Google Webmaster Tools.

Google Webmaster Preferred Domain Settings
Before I get into how you adjust your preferred domain setting in Google Webmaster tools I want to address why there is a difference between www and non www websites.  You can of course not make this change but we strongly recommend that you do!
Why? For Search Engines Optimization (SEO) reasons you should always use the same address for your website links so choose either with www or without www and stick to it. This is called canonicalization and it means picking the best website address or URL when you have a choice.

Because www.domainexample.com is not the same as domainexample.com and if you have different inbound links to both URLs, this could cause two problems:

  1. Some search engines will think that this is a duplicate content and penalize your site for this.  The search engines historically do not like duplicate content.  Being penalized is rare these days; however, Google will only show results for 1 of the domains which leads to the next reason.
  2. Sharing your website links (www and non www) will affect your Google PageRank.  To increase your Google PageRank you need to have high quality and relevant links going back to your website. If you have 2,500 inbound links to www.domainexample.com and 225 inbound links to domainexample.com then you will have different PageRank for both versions of the same website and you will lose valuable inbound links because they will be split into links for both websites.

To address this problem again pick one of the versions (we like the www version) and from now on only reference that address within your website and external websites.  You can also set a 301 permanent redirect on your server from non www to www.

Next and to get to the point of this blog post you need to set the correct domain in Google’s Webmaster Tools, click “Preferred domain” and choose the same URL that you chose in the previous step.  You are probably coming across this blog post because you went to go set your preferred domain in Google Webmaster Tools and got an error that you need to verify the other domain.  I know this is probably the case because that is what happened to us and after a lot of trial and error we finally figured out how easy it was to solve this problem.

Here are the easy steps on how you set your preferred domain:

  1. Log onto Google Webmaster Tools
  2. Click on settings on left side and choose the preferred domain
  3. You will then get the verify the other domain notice
  4. Click on Back to Home on Top Right corner
  5. Click on the Add A Site link on top of the Google Webmaster Tools home page
  6. Add the other version of your domain such as domainexample.com if the other version is www.domainexample.com
  7. After verifying this new domain click on settings and then set the preferred domain as the same as the other site.  As a reminder just in case you have not verified a website in a while in Google Webmaster Tools you verify your GWT account for www.domainexample.com either by using an HTML meta tag or using HTML file upload method.  If you are asked to verify your site, select the verification method that you used earlier for verifying your www-version of site, www.domainexample.com and hit “Verify” .Your website would be automatically verified and would be added to your sites in GWT.
  8. That’s it!  You will then see a note that “The Preferred Domain For Your Site Has Changed” and if you look in the settings area of both sites you will see they are now set to your preferred domain.

Now you have successfully set your preferred domain as “www.domainexample.com” i.e to the www-version of your website.  Let us know if you have any questions or if you found this to be helpful.

Use 301 redirect to keep SEO rankings if moving website or page

Published on September 15, 2009 by iClick Solutions. View Comments

A 301 redirect is the most efficient and search engine spider friendly strategy around for web sites.  A 301 redirect is not hard to implement and it should preserve your search engine rankings, and Google PageRank for a particular website or page.  If you change file names or move pages around, it’s the safest option.

Whenever you make changes to a web site, one of the most important considerations should be how to use 301 (permanent) or 302 (temporary) redirects to alert the search engine to your changes to avoid having a negative impact on your search rankings.  Whether you’re moving pages around or switching content management system platforms you will want to utilize.  As reviewed above, there are 2 main types of redirects which are 301 redirect or 302 redirect.

Programmers who are not search engine optimization experience may recommend using a 302 redirect which is temporary redirect.  Unfortunately a 302 redirect  does not transfer link popularity ranking from the old website to the new one.  That being said, the solution is to utilize a 301 redirect as defined earlier in this blog post.

Continue reading ‘Use 301 redirect to keep SEO rankings if moving website or page’

Ex-Googlers Launching Startups

Published on April 5, 2008 by iClick Solutions. View Comments

No one else in the industry has been able to compete with Google, so it may be that Google’s biggest disruptors will come from within.  Google will likely have to increase cash salaries and outright stock grants to retain its best people. This will likely further pressure the company’s profit margin which has declined over the past year.  Here’s a glimpse of ex-Googler’s starting up their own companies:

  • Gokul Rajaram, the “Godfather of AdSense,” is working on a stealth startup.
  • Louis Monier, Anna Patterson, Russell Power are working on a search service called Cuill (pronounced “cool”) — it’s said to index the web more economically than Google. Uses a web crawler called “twiceler.”
  • Jason Liebman, Sanjay Raman and Daniel Blackman co-founded HowCast, a network of “how to” videos. The pair company has apparently raised $8 million in funding.
  • Steffen Mueller started a “search engine community” called Topicle.
  • Vanessa Fox left Google for real estate search site Zillow.
  • Dan Daugherty is heading RentBits, a real estate rental site. He’s got support from fellow ex-Googler Tim Moynihan, who is COO of the site.

To read more check out Silicon Alley Insider

Pay Per Click Fraud Attack Plan Revealed By Google

Published on April 1, 2008 by iClick Solutions. View Comments

Defeating click fraud is a data problem, pure and simple, according to a post from Google on its blog.

That better data makes for better tools to combat click fraud isn’t exactly Earth-shattering news, but Google’s comments come at a sensitive time for the company.

While Google cracked open the doors surrounding its click fraud detection measures, the news comes at a time when the search giant is trying to explain some rather bleak click data to Wall Street. To be fair, Google posted its assessment of data and click fraud ahead of comScore’s report that the company saw only a modest 3 percent gain in its paid clicks business. But that report came after a disastrous report for the prior month that prompted many on Wall Street to suggest that Google, digital and the wider U.S. economy were showing greater signs of weakness than previously thought.

Read rest of article at iMedia Connetion.

YouTube Gets Adsensed

Published on October 16, 2007 by iClick Solutions. View Comments

Google has launched YouTube Adsense video units that let users monetize a YouTube video embed with text or image ads.

The product is not dissimilar to one of the multitude of slide products currently on the market, essentially you use the unit as a display point for your favorite content (in this case from YouTube). Site visitors get to play videos from your list with the ads displayed when these videos are played, and like Adsense you get paid when people click on the ads.

Check out the rest of the article at TechCrunch.