Zubaga’s blog

By Aiden O’neill

In the first article covering the Google Supplemental Index, I listed a few areas that should be addressed to help remove any of your webpages from the Google Supplemental Index. Hopefully those ideas have helped you determine what is causing you the trouble.

If not, don’t despair, I have a few more specific techniques that may help you even more. Keep reading. I have tested these techniques on a site that had quite a few supplemental pages. After making the changes, most of the pages came out of the supplemental index. It’s too early to tell what techniques moved the pages out of the index, as more testing is needed to isolate the causes.

Duplicate Content: I’m going to raise the duplicate content flag again, because I think it is very important and is related to something called ‘Canonicalization’. What that word means isn’t important right now. If you want to learn its definition, go ahead and Google it and read up, we have other issues to deal with.

Basically, in the internet SEO world, Canonicalization means to have established rules or procedures with how search bots see pages. When Google visits your website, they try to find your home page. However, there are many different ways you can access most homepages. For example, If you enter into your web browser http://www.yoursite.com and http://yoursite.com what page loads? The same page right? If so there is the possibility that the Googlebot will come along and index your site with and without the www. prefix. If that happens, your link popularity will be divided between the two ‘versions’ and can be seen as duplicate content (Two different URL’s with identical content). Even if you were to make all of your links back to your homepage the exact same style, outside sources may link differently to your homepage.

You can prevent both versions from being indexed by the of a use of a 301 redirect. Try copying and pasting this code into your .htaccess file. It will direct any request for a non-www page to a www prefix page. So a request for yoursite.com will get redirected to www.yoursite.com.

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^yourdomain.com [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.yourdomain.com/$1 [L,R=301]

Continuing on the same line as the www prefix, you should also consider whether the search engines are indexing your site as index.html or ‘/’ For instance, enter your site into your browser as http://www.yoursite.com/ and http://www.yoursite.com/index.html. What happens? Both pages load the same content and once again we are faced with the possibility of two different URL’s being indexed with the exact same content. You will want to tell any bots that visit your site, how you want it indexed. By copying and pasting the code below into your .htaccess file, you will redirect any request for a index.html page to the ‘/’ page.

RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,9} /([^/]+/)*index.php HTTP/

RewriteRule ^(([^/]+/)*)index.php$ http://www.yoursite.com/$1 [R=301,L]

Meta Tags: Another reminder about your metas, particularly your description meta. Make them unique for each page. I have experience in my supplemental indexes to believe that non unique metas are a quick way to the supplemental index and unique metas can be a quick exit from the supplemental index.

Links: Quality links from quality sites. Use keywords in your anchor tags is always a good idea but I would suggest you also try to get links that are more natural. Natural meaning, not using a keyword in the link, but instead just try some like ‘Click here’ or other non keyword text. That is natural, because your average webmaster may create a link to you but may not use a keyword loaded tag like you would. To a search engine, keyword stuffed links don’t look natural. Ask yourself what another webmaster would use to link to your site?

Follow these specific techniques and with some luck, you will have many of your sites removed from the supplemental index and back in the normal Google index. My experience with these techniques has shown pages removed from the supplemental index within 2 weeks. Will this happen for you? It’s too hard to say, as each site presents its own problems and circumstances, however ignoring these issues won’t get you anywhere but a longer stay in the supplemental index.

Aiden O’Neill is a writer and editor where visitors can save $50 off webhosting with the Hassle Free webhosting rebates. Read hostmonster reviews, bluehost reviews, and more reviews of webhosting companies.

By Ghazali Ridzwan

Expectations surrounding Web sites have changed. A static, brochure-style site is so yesterday. To capture the interest of today’s savvy Internet users, you need to design your Web site with interactivity in mind. The idea is to create a sticky site that keeps people engaged and encourages them to return.

You can accomplish this through a variety of methods, from posting timely content to creating communities of visitors. Your company will benefit by:
Developing better relationships with customers. The more compelling the site, the more visitors will come to rely on your organization for information or advice. This reliance ultimately leads to more customers, improved customer loyalty and lasting relationships.
Better standing in search engine rankings. The more hits you get, the higher your Google ranking. Posting fresh content regularly will help you draw more traffic to your site.
Insightful customer feedback. By using surveys and discussion forums, you can learn how customers feel about your company, products or services.

Here are some of the best resources to help you get it done :

Add a blog

Publishing a blog is a great way to share information of interest to your customers and to establish your company’s voice. It’s also a great communications tool for cementing relationships with prospects and customers. A blog, however, requires a time commitment on your part. You’ll need to update it regularly, and make sure you have something to talk about on an ongoing basis. A boring blog is worse than no blog.

Add a podcast to your site

Podcasting is the practice of delivering audio files from the Web onto a PC or portable media player like the Apple iPod. You can make your own audio podcasts (like a radio show) about issues important to your customers. Make your podcasts available on your site so that visitors can download them at their convenience.

Keep your site chock full of fresh information

A static site is a turn-off. If your latest press release is months or (God forbid) years old, it looks as if your Web site is a low priority; or perhaps that your company has tanked! Also, a continually updated site generally gets regular hits from new and returning visitors, and active Web sites score higher in search engine rankings than dormant sites.

Create a resource center; and stock it with relevant material

Educating visitors on topics related to your products or services will keep people coming back and will position your business as an authority in your particular arena. Along with posting the articles to your own site, offer them others to further drive traffic.

Refresh your site with a discussion board

Forums help you create a community where visitors can discuss topics among themselves and communicate directly with you. The greater a sense of community your prospects and customers have, the tighter the bond with your company.

Conduct online surveys

Adding surveys or polls to your site to get feedback on hot issues or to solicit input around product direction is a great way to engage customers. There are plenty of online tools available that make adding these capabilities pretty straightforward.

Ghazali Ridzwan is the friendly Web Consultant from ANTARAMEDIA (http://www.antaramedia.com), an agile web firm that specializes in design and developing dynamic web sites & solutions that enhances busineses. He has designed numerous award winning web sites and is passionate in creating useful web solutions that makes peoples lives more convenient.