Google’s philosophy has always been that faster speeds are better because Internet users just shouldn’t have to wait a while for pages to load. The company’s already made inroads in this regard. Two years ago, it unveiled the Zopfli compression algorithm, which was met with positive feedback from the industry. Feedback for Zopfli was so good that it has since been integrated into a lot of different compression solutions, everything from PNG optimizers all the way to preprocessing web content....
When designing the architecture and navigational structure of a web site, a sitemap can be extremely helpful. A sitemap can keep the navigation links organized by category, predict how any dynamic links will function, and keep the framework under control. Web developers are not the only parties involved in the process who can benefit from a well-structured sitemap. Many search engines, including Googlebot, can crawl through an XML file that contains the sitemap data to crawl and index the site's...
Speed. It’s an important factor in the recent Olympics, the Paralympics and even our day to day lives. Speed is also an important factor when it comes to Google. Their ethos concerns the provision of accurate, relevant search results delivered as quickly as possible to the user. To quote their Webmaster Guidelines: “Monitor your site's performance and optimize load times. Google's goal is to provide users with the most relevant results and a great user experience. Fast sites increase user satisfaction...
Most of the popular web search engines prioritize the sites that they index by two major criteria: content and links. The indexable content (i.e. content viewable in the source code) gives the search engine spiders material which they can store in their databases and sort according to relevance. The links within a site guide the spiders throughout the site's architecture. In many instances, web developers ignore the importance of links in creating a site that will bring them search engine results...
With hundreds of millions of users entering hundreds of billions of queries into major search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing, the importance of designing a site to be search-engine friendly cannot be underestimated. However, even the most experienced designers and developers can make simple mistakes that can cost their site thousands of views and (potentially) uncounted revenues. HTML Issues ... Sometimes, the “old-fashioned” methods are still the most effective. While many SEO...
‘Search’ is the web’s most utilized and essential function. The major search engines process billions of keyword requests daily, but there are still some websites and blogs that have yet to incorporate the vital feature. While customized search box solutions are offered by various business entities, I prefer to use only the results from major engines: Google, Yahoo!, or Bing. Many of the commercial packages employ a free trial period to entice buyers, which tends to include very prominently...
It doesn’t matter whether you’re an SEO, a developer, designer, information architect or any other myriad of digital based roles, we all want the same outcome; to do the best we possibly can for our websites. As an SEO myself, I’m interested in growing the performance of my client’s website in organic search. This is not something that I (or any other SEO for that matter!) can do single handed. We also rely on the skill of the web developer to implement and carry out our recommendations and technical...
Since 2010, mobile searches have seen a 400% increase and it is estimated that by 2013, there will be more mobile Internet users than desktop users. A mobile-friendly site can thus help you connect with your customers and drive conversions. Just because your website can be seen on your mobile phone does not however mean that its mobile ready. Mobile sites are designed with mobile users in mind and fit well on small screens. They are supposed to offer simple navigation capabilities and take advantage...