Python SEO Website 404 Checker I hate wasting time doing the same thing over and over and over again*. So I wrote this little python tool to check for a 404 Header Response for a made-up URL on a domain to save me from the drudgery of doing it by hand, to give me absolute consistency of checking, and to give me an audit trail of URLs checked and responses. *unless it’s perfectly acceptable time-wasting like watching cat videos, obviously. #SEO #SEOTools #Python #WebDev #TechnicalSEO … Read More
How to Migrate a Website and Improve Traffic and Rankings I’ve never believed that SEO migrations cause traffic and rankings drops. If you approach and execute your SEO website migration correctly and well, you are likely to increase traffic and rankings. I’ve done it numerous times for big websites and small ones. Generally, the bigger the technical cruft, the bigger the uptick you might see, if you can resolve the issues. Read this tutorial to find out how to do it. #SEO #SiteMigrations #Redirects #GoogleSearchConsole #XMLSitemaps … Read More
Python SEO URL Checker for Canonicals & Redirects So, I got really bored and frustrated checking a bunch of domains for a client to see if their domains 301 redirected all variants from http to https and from non-www to www. There are only so many times you can type: curl -I http://domain.com Using my limited knowledge of Python, I crafted this simple little script to do the leg work for me and report back its findings in a readable format which can be slapped straight into an email that even devs can understand (j/k). #SEO #SEOTools #Python #CanonicalURLs #Redirects … Read More
301 Redirect PageRank Dilution Myth Resurfaces I’m full of back and forth this week, as Google yet again makes the point that 301 Redirects don’t dilute PageRank. And yet again, a number of webmasters are keen to decry Google’s message-bearers – and they have yards of stats to “prove” it. I’m kind of in the ‘Google’s right, but I don’t think they’re being wholly accurate’ camp, which is full of marshmallow, twinkly stars and the like. Click the link to read about the dilution row rearing its head yet again. #SEO #SEONews #Redirects #SiteMigrations #SEOMyths … Read More
TWIS SEO News & Updates w/e 22 Sept 2017 I enjoyed writing this week’s SEO News & Updates. So much so, I thought I’d share them with you lovely people 😉 This week: Google likes the algo monitoring tools – kinda. 301 redirects don’t dilute PageRank. Or do they. Bing says links still important. Who Bing? Google doesn’t use disavow for linkspam. *cough* This week Google says it doesn’t use click data for search rankings. Sigh. As well as some toptastic SEO Bits & Pieces. Read it all right now. #SEO #SEONews #Redirects #PageRank #Links #Bing #LinkSpam #SERP… Read More
Google Publishes m-dot to Responsive Migration Guide I’m afraid this is a poor guide from Google. Still, it leaves more room for people like me who are good at SEO website migrations, especially as people rush towards SSL certificates at a rate of knots with Chrome62 looming. Read this extract from TWIS SEO News & Updates w/e 15th Sept 2017 to find out what you should be doing. #SEO #SEONews #SiteMigrations #HTTPS #SSL #Chrome62 #Redirects #Google … Read More
How to Migrate Your Website from HTTP to HTTPS It’s likely you have done the sensible thing of reading my post about how your website needs updating from HTTP to HTTPS, and now want to know how exactly to go about doing it. Like all website migrations, it’s not always hard, sometimes it is a bit fiddly. It is exacting and you want to do it right so you don’t lose traffic and rankings. I’ve yet to lose traffic and rankings from a website migration of any size. Read this post for the full guide on how to do it. #SEO #HTTPS #Redirects #SiteMigrations … Read More
HTTP to HTTPS Website Update Required Due To Chrome 62 I want to help people deal with the upcoming Google Chrome update. If your website is served on HTTP, you need to ensure it is served via HTTPS by October 17th 2017. Google Chrome v62 will mark URLs served via HTTP as “Not Secure” when a user enters data into a form. In Incognito mode, the URL will be marked as Not Secure when the page is loaded. This will affect your website’s conversions, revenue and lower the user’s trust in your brand / site / service / product. #SEO #HTTPS #Redirects #SiteMigrations #WebsiteSecurity #DataPrivacy … Read More
Google Picks One Canonical Click to read about how Google picks a single canonical to index and how to avoid confusing Google with incorrect or inconsistent canonicals. Contact me if you are having issues with canonical URLs or redirecting URLs properly. #SEO #SEONews #Google #CanonicalURLs #Indexation #Redirects … Read More
SEO Website Migration Checklist To Do It Properly I’ve been listening to various SEOs and webmasters recently espousing how they do SEO Site Migrations and how they worry because they normally lose rankings and traffic for a while. I don’t understand that. I’ve done a large number of site migrations and I have never lost traffic or rankings – not once. In fact, the usual state of affairs is that I have gained traffic and rankings. This tutorial covers how I do it, with an Excel checklist into the bargain. #SEO #SEOTutorials #SiteMigrations #Redirects #HTTPS … Read More
How to Block Your Staging Server Click here to discover how to block your staging server from Google’s index, and how to remove URLs if it does get indexed. Contact me to get help removing your URLs from Google’s index, or preventing your staging and development URLs from getting indexed in the first place. #SEO #SiteMigrations #WebDev #Redirects #Indexation #GoogleSearchConsole … Read More
SEO Bits and Pieces w/e 11 August 2017 Read the SEO Bits and Pieces for w/e 11th August 2017. Chock full of smaller changes from the world or search. If you would like to discuss ways these SEO updates could impact your web business, please feel free to contact me. #SEO #Snapchat #LinkSpam #Redirects #Googlebot … Read More
Menu Tab Hits Google My Business At last! Google Local, in the US at least, is showing a menu tab for some restaurants. I can’t wait to be rid of the horrible PDF download, pinch and zoom. Read about it & how to move from PDF to HTML and structured data. If you would like to discuss ways to structured data can help your web visibility, please feel free to contact me. #GoogleLocal #StructuredData #Redirects … Read More
Google Gives Incorrect 301 Redirect Advice Wow. Google gave some incorrect 301 redirect advice, which you can read in this post. It centres around redirecting 404s and speaks from a Google perspective, rather than a webmaster / user perspective. If you would like to discuss the ways you should implement 301 redirects and the impact not doing them could have on your web business, please feel free to contact me. #SEO #Redirects #SiteMigrations #TechnicalSEO … Read More
Website Migrations: Google Takes 3 Months To Pick Up Large Site Changes Find out why Google Takes 3 Months to Pick Up Large Site Changes in this post. If you are planning a large site move you need to know this in advance as it could impact your web business. #SEO #SiteMigrations #Googlebot… Read More
SEO News: The Week In Search w/e 24 Feb 2017 This week’s updates and search snippets include: a Google My Business service area update; an announcement that Google and Bing take action on UK Piracy; findings that proximity upweighted in Local Pack ; a reduction in Google Star Rating threshold and advice to use caution with using the GSC URL Removal Tool. #GoogleMyBusiness, #GoogleSearch, #GoogleLocal, #StarRatings, #GoogleSearchConsole… Read More